The Tuzigoot Monument

Thursday a.m.
I started this last night but didn’t get too far. It’s another bright blue sky here in Arizona but a little on the cold side. Had to turn the big heater on in the middle of the night and that was with the electric blanket on! By Sunday it is only going to be in the low 50s here during the day. We’ll be heading for Vegas on Monday.
Had a dream this morning. We were in a campground and some guy wanted to back his boat? out so Bill was moving the Alfa with the slides out!!!! I was freaking out. I should never go back to sleep once I wake up – the dreams are too weird.
We’ve watched a couple of Barcelona soccer games lately – two in three days and their great player Messi made six -6- goals – three in each game. He is amazing and so young (24) and so CUTE and not a prima donna.
Bill is in seventh heaven – while in Frys – grocery store – he went to the deli counter and found Boars Head Mortadella (the real Italian kind with pistachos), Prosciutto and Pastrami. Bought a pound of each thinly sliced and had the clerk package them in four ounce packs. Will freeze three packages each. He had himself a big mortadella sandwich when we got home. Also found some really good Italian bread that comes in a small package so he can eat it all before it goes bad.
Did you ever wonder why the coffee pot drips coffee when you pour it into your cup holding it over the counter but not when you pour it over the sink?
When I’m working on the laptop here in Alfie I sit on the bench seat instead of one of the chairs. Because the seat is low I tend to sit on my feet until they fall asleep. Ouch. I need to stop that – my knees really yell at me when I stand up. Where have the years gone? Will be 73 –I was going to say next week – but it is tomorrow!!!! Dang.
So back to yesterdays adventures.
From Montezuma Castle we set off for more ruins. Sedona and the Verde Valley have done a lot of road upgrading. They are really into traffic circles now and they are every where. Why do I bring that up? Well as we left the castle and headed back towards Cottonwood I made a mistake in giving directions to Bill at the traffic circle just before the I-17 on ramp. So we ended up taking a ride through the Camp Verde Indian Reservation on the Reservation Loop Road. Good thing it was a “loop” road or we’d probably still be out there driving around the desert. No, not really, but it was kind of funny. Got a few strange looks. Got back on the Interstate and set off for the Tuzigoot Ruins in Clarkdale, AZ. Tuzigoot means “crooked water” in Apache. We’ve been there before too but it was such a nice day……
Passed through Old Town Cottonwood on the way. This place is called “Ye Old Hippie Emporium” Tye dyed t-shirts and everything.

Just the town.

An old gas station. Check out the pumps and the car.

On the road to the Tuzigoot National Monument. Sure glad we have the “Old Farts Pass” it has saved us a lot of money over the years.  Just today at least $20.

First sight of the ruins up on top of the hill.

I forgot that the walk up to them is kind of steep. I really need to get more exercise! Some information about them.  The village was built between 1125 and 1400.

A typical room. They sure weren’t very big. Lots of hard work went into them.

Looking down into the valley at some of more of the ruins.

Some more information about the area and the people.

The valley – you can see forever.

Looking the other directions. That is Jerome over on the mountain. The ranger was saying there are 84 miles of mine tunnels un the Jerome area. 84 miles! Could go in there and never come out. When we lived in Vegas the man across the street had been born and raised in Jerome and he told us that there used to be men employed by the mining company whose job it was to find people lost in the mine.

More info about the dwelling.

Looking up at the highest room.

Inside this room.

Looking down at another section of the ruins mto the North.

Looking towards the Ranger Station and museum. To the South

Bill waiting for me. See the areas down the hill without green vegetation.

These areas are from the old mining process. This is where the “slurry” was pumped. Full of chemicals and almost 40 feet deep according to the Ranger. Ish.

So enjoyed the walk and the fresh air. And as always saw and learned something we didn't know before.

Today - don't know what we'll do but something will present itself.

Indian Ruins in Verde Valley, AZ

Wednesday
It got pretty windy last night and temperatures today are noticeably lower. Even I wore a jacket when we set out on our excursion today.
Oh Willie, Poor Willie. The part under the tail light is really black. Just a little bit of the road.

Or maybe I should say Happy Willie – this is what he is made for. Hum…not quite dirty enough.

Today we went to Montezuma’s Castle – We’ve been there a couple of times before but always see or learn something new. (Click on it to enlarge it) I think the first time we were here was in the early 1970s - when the kids were real little.

The Sinague (Without Water) farmers built this five story 20-room dwelling in the early 1100s. It is 100 feet above the valley floor. As you walk down the path from the Park entrance you round a corner and there it is. A real WOW moment.

A closer look at it.

These “apartments” are to the side of the main dwelling.

Montezuma Castle reached it maximum size around the 1300s. The cliff dwellings were built along major streams in the valley. This is Beaver Creek. It is a small river but was a dependable source of water.

Closer still – some of the windows.A couple of them are round.

Inside this window is a ladder. The ladders were pulled up into the dwellings to keep out their enemies.

A cross section illustration of the building. Can you imagine building that? If it were up to me I'd be living on the floor of the canyon.

Another look at the whole cliff dwelling.

Just a picture of the area surrounding it. Lots of trees.

This is another dwelling right beside the “castle.” It is on the canyon floor and is not as well preserved. It is called Castle A

Some of the rooms of Castle A

One of the rooms with a grinding stone – “metate” sits on the ground.

A window in the wall above.

 

Lots of interesting things to look at. These trees were neat. It is an Arizona Sycamore – the bark is real colorful.

by the 1400s the dwellings had been abandoned. No one knows why.
A short video about the dwelling and the life of the people who lived there -  you can make it a little bigger to view.

We did even more today - visited the Tuzigoot Ruins too.  More later.

Drive up Schnebly Hill Rd

Tuesday – first day of November already.

Well Direct TV settled its dispute with Fox so all my gnashing of teeth was for naught. I’ll still be able to watch my Speed channel – at least until we get to Mexico – I know we can pick up Direct as far as Hermosillo – after that not sure as we have a newer receiver now – maybe it will work further south.
A little wind here today feels good – After spending the last two days kind of quiet we decided to get out this morning. Driving to Sedona we again passed this huge Catholic Church – Immaculate Conception – it wasn’t here last time we were here. Dedicated in 2009. Certainly is impressive sitting there all by itself.

Went into Sedona and had breakfast at the Coffee Pot. A very good restaurant that has 101 different omelets that you order by number. Very, very good food and nice atmosphere.  

It’s named for the rock formation behind it.

See the coffee pot shape

After filling our tummies we headed for Schnebly Hill Road. It’s a rough dirt and rock road that climbs the hills for a stupendous view of Sedona.

Rough Road - no kidding!

The first little bit of it is paved then it turns to dirt.

It isn’t really bad – especially for Willie – he is 4 x 4 and has skid plates underneath and is lifted quite a bit.

Lots of beautiful scenery. The whole road is only 13 miles long. From Sedona northeast to I-70

Looking down at Sedona

In the late 1870s early settlers using picks, shovels and blasts of black powder created a rugged wagon road out of a steep canyon to join a dirt road going from Phoenix to flagstaff. The road doesn’t seem much better now. Still very slow drive.

Labors worked 12 hours a day to carve this passage through the mountains. It took six months.

The new route reduced the time required to make the trip from Sedona to Flagstaff from four days to t

Carl Schnebly used the road to transport lumber and wagonloads of produce to Flagstaff. He then petitioned for a post office, the first names he picked were to long to fit on a cancellation stamp so he settled on naming the site Sedona – after his wife.

Another view  Kind of panoramic at one of the pull offs.

More view – love the colors

The road goes up and around lots of rocks.

Looking up at some of the rocks.

Another view from the car as we drove along.

Way up the hill. Notice the pointy rock on the left – this is a zoom view

Same area long shot – see pointy rock. And the city way way down there

Look at these guys! Are they crazy? Over 5000 feet high and rough rocky road.

More of the road.

Vista Point Schnebly Hill

Zoom view

The road we came up down the hill

Continuing on the road towards Interstate 70 – high mesa – road was better here.

It was a wonderful drive - well I should say ride - as I didn't do the driving.
Hopefully this is a video of a small portion of the ride.

We have extended our stay here until the 7th.