Verde Valley near Sedona, AZ

April 27, 2009

Montezuma Castle — many years ago I passed the road sign several times before I knew Grandpa Ron but I never took the road to find out what it was. Then one weekend Grandpa Ron took me to Sedona, AZ, for my birthday so we could explore the luring area. We did follow the sign to Montezuma Castle and began a whole new journey of Native American Indian studies. It wasn’t a castle. It wasn’t built by Montezuma. We explored the Sinaqua ruins that had been abandoned in the early 1300s that afternoon and talked about our impressions all night long.

The next day we explored the nearby Tuzigoot Monument and added to our newfound interest. Since then we have explored many Southwest Indian National Monuments but there are still a lot left to see.

We also enjoyed the Verde Canyon Railroad trip. The station isn’t far from Tuzigoot. The scenery is fantastic. We pointed out many cliffs and caves where the Sinaqua may have lived so many years before us. It was a very spiritual experience.