Montezuma Castle National Monument

We packed a lot into our yesterday. It was windy and chilly, but also sunny, and so it was nice being out in the sunshine. The plan was to visit the national monument, and then to visit a quilt shop in nearby Cottonwood, Arizona. Before we left, there was time to stitch up the next section of the stitched inchies. Yesterday's "assignment" was to stitch the "flat" portions of the piece. The 3-D parts will come soon enough. (Cue shark music.)

After that, it was time to get going. The national monument is less than 2 miles from where we are staying.

Montezuma Castle is a five-story, 20-room dwelling, built by the Southern Sinagua farmers sometime between 1100 and 1300. It can be seen in a cliff recess 100 feet above the valley. It was so named because the early American settlers believed it was Aztec in origin. Once we arrived at the visitor center, we took a short walk out to see it. I'll show you some of the signs we passed along the way that explained what we were looking at. I'm sorry some of them will be hard to read, and so I'll remind you again that you can make the images larger by clicking on them. The valley was green with lots of trees, and so shadows also created some weird lighting as we went.

Before we go, let's just get the rules straight. Please put your peanuts away.

It's only about 100 yards down the path before the castle comes into view. Look up, and there it is.

Here is a little information about the parts you can't see, although the supportive pillars can be seen as small round circles near the top and to the right of the brightest portion.

Here's another image standing on the other side.

This next image shows the pathway we walked down. The trees we are approaching had snow white trunks. They were very pretty. Of course, leaves are gone from most all the trees at this time of year.

Here's the informational sign about these white trees, known as Arizona Sycamores.

To our right were several of these Velvet Mesquite trees.

They are a large tree. Without any leaves, I don't think I could identify them if I saw them again.

As we approached the wall, a volunteer held up this poster board and talked some about the interior.

There was much more to this than meets the eye.

This is how it looks as you stand there, but there is much more to see where the holes appear in the rock face. A friend told me if one has binoculars or a telephoto lens, it is possible to see ladders inside. (Thank you very much...we'd been and gone when I learned that bit of information.)

Also looking up, we could see hundreds of mud swallow nests. The birds are gone, but the volunteer said he'd seen one that day. Maybe they are on their way back from their winter homes.

Sorry about all these signs. This was a large dwelling, but a small exhibit. It was more "read" than look.

Can you imagine trying to raise a child here? And can you imagine climbing these ladders all the time to get in and out?

There was another structure at the foot of the cliff. It is known as "Castle A," and is now badly deteriorated. It was once an imposing five-story apartment-like building with about 45 rooms.

In the center of each of the two remaining rooms was a rock "basin." Each held a few inches of water from recent rains. We weren't certain of their function. Were they to hold water? To grind corn? Both? Hard to say.

Family tasks included grinding corn, cooking, weaving cloth from locally grown cotton, drying skins, and making baskets. A few items found at nearby Tuzigoot national monument suggest a broad network of trade. Macaws were brought in from Mexico, and some of the decorated pottery probably came from the north.

This sign included pictures of some of their footwear. Think of them as the original Birkenstocks.

They lived principally by farming and supplemented their crops with hunting and gathering. The valley offered an abundance of resources: water from rivers and streams, and fertile land alongside the waterways. There was sufficient game to sustain them, including deer, antelope, rabbit, bear, muskrat, and duck. They also mined a salt deposit a few miles way from Camp Verde. There is evidence to suggest that salt was traded throughout the region.

Standing near this creek, it seemed as if this would have been an idyllic lifestyle. Looking to the right of the flowing creek, I saw this:

To the left, I saw this. It was a wide creek, and the water was flowing swiftly.

Continuing around the loop, there was a diorama showing what the interior might have looked like.

The little figures inside were about two inches tall.

Also, along the way we were able to learn about some the the trees and shrubs growing here. Of course, you needed desperately to know about this one.

Up close, it was easy to see the "catclaws." I've circled one in red, but these limbs were covered with them every few inches.

Also, we learned about the many uses for juniper, beyond making gin.

We were standing beneath this very large juniper as we read the sign.

And, of course, I've mentioned the prickly pear cactus many times. Here are some ways it was used.

And if you've forgotten what they look like, here was the example beside the sign.

When we reached the prickly pear, we were nearly back to the visitor center. There is another national monument about 15 miles away, Tuzigoot, but we didn't go. We might still go back, but I doubt it. You can read more about it right here. Instead, we drove to Cottonwood to see a quilt shop. Our navigation unit drove us through a residential area where we had a good view of the red cliffs near Sedona.

Finally, we could see the quilt shop as we approached. Yay!

I'll tell you more about it in a separate post.

We intended to drive back to the RV from there, but then found a pet store and a grocery store. We needed both, and so we stopped and picked up a few groceries and some Advantage for the kitties. We applied Advantage before we left home, but it seems like a good time to do it again. The kitties were not happy about this. We bought them a new toy, and they forgave us...at least, Sadie forgot all about it when we gave it to her. She has tossed it around and killed it repeatedly ever since.

Smitty is not so easily appeased. He sat on his window perch refusing to be consoled by such a scant offering.

Sadie, don't cheapen yourself. It isn't pawssible to launch a successful purrtest if you actually play with the toys they give you. Do I have to tell you everything?

With that nasty task out of the way, I spent some time on the sixth snowflake. It just needs the outer lightest stitching done, and then it will be time to add the beads.

You might recall I was musing about straight stitch vs. stem stitch for this. I've done the longest lines in stem stitch. The shorter ones for the lightest color will be fine done with straight stitch.

We were planning to barbecue last night, but Mike needed some wood pellets for his Traeger. We headed into Camp Verde to an Ace Hardware store for those. I rode along just to see the place. It's a cute little town, and right near the middle of the main drag, you can turn to see this state historic park. You can read more about it right here.

There wasn't a lot to see here beyond a small museum. It was open, but it was going to cost something like $7 per person to go inside, and we weren't really up for that. Instead, we parked near the "jail" and took a look.

The windows were barred, and so my pictures also appear through bars, but here's what was inside. To the left, a desk, and directly to the rear, a jail cell.

To the right, a wood burning stove.

After that, we headed back to the RV, and that was the end of our day.

Today we'll get out and explore Sedona. There is a quilt shop there, and we also want to see the formations known as Cathedral Rock and Castle Rock. This is our last day here. We'll move south tomorrow.