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01/14/2008 IF YOU ONLY SEE THIS SECTION CLICK HERE FOR HOME The Trip Home |
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Last Updated 8/20/05 The trip home from my graduation started at around 5 am. We wanted to see some sites and have some fun on the way instead of driving the more then boring Interstate 10 freeway straight home. Instead we traveled up highway 17 to the 40, back into California to the 15, drove Route 66 for awhile and ended up cutting across from Apple Valley to the Antelope Valley, down the 14 home. Got home around midnight. Whew! that was some drive. Along the way we did a bunch of hiking in and around some of the historic sites that are available to be seen. Wish we had a month to do this as there is so much to see and do along the route we took. |
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| Montezuma has never been to these locations in Arizona. Early settlers misnamed the sites. The Native American's that created these prehistoric apartment complexes and farmed the local lands were remarkable and learning about them is fascinating. I first saw Montezuma's Castle and Montezuma's Well in the 1960's when I was around 10 years old. Returning to show my son gave me some reserve as revisiting places of ones past is frequently disappointing. In this case, the parks systems have done a remarkable job of maintaining, restoring and upgrading and the experience of seeing these locations again was exceptional. | ||
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There are dwellings for 40 people built into this one cave in the cliff. Remarkable architecture for a prehistoric culture. | |
| another view of 40 person unit. |
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My son stands next to what is left of a 200 person unit that burned down shortly before the civilization mysteriously disappeared. | |
| Miniature layout of the original complex gives a pre-recorded tour of the 40 person complex. This was in better repair when I was a kid; however, there seems to be a replacement for it in the main museum where one can take a virtual video tour that turns as the viewer turns and allows a much better look at the inside of the ancient dwellings. |
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Montezuma's Well. A different location from the castle above This picture is deceptive and does not show how deep and wide the well really is. Thousands of gallons of 20,000 year old water mysteriously fills this well and flows out through a cave to help feed a river on the other side of the bluffs. Look at the TOP of the full grown tree in the lower half of the picture. This well is deep and wide. The reflection of the clouds from the sky almost makes one wonder which way is up. |
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| There is a guy down on the trail and his speck in the camera helps give some idea of the size of the well where ancient natives built their homes in the caves along the walls and on the bluffs above. We walked to the bottom of the well and then walked back up to the top and down to the river on the other side of the rim of the well. |
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one of the homes built into the wall of the well | |
| Where the water comes out to feed the stream on the other side of the hill. |
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From the mouth of the outlet to the stream. Taken while listening to a geology lecture on the formation of the well. | |
| While we were in the area, we stopped and wondered through Fort Verde. Those viewers that are used to seeing the old west in black and white westerns will be surprised to see no picket walls around this fort. Just some very quaint homes facing a parade ground. |
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| We wondered through the homes which are decorated in furnishings of the period and viewed the museum as well. However I hesitate to put to may more pictures on a page that may start to load slowly. If enough email requests come in, I will make a separate page for them. |
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The excitement on the way home came in the form of pounding rain and hail with lightning and thunder crashing down on us. The downpour became so intense at one point that everyone parked. I did not even realize how many vehicles were around us until the deluge let up enough to let us see the other parked cars. The picture to left shows us driving in one of the more visible moments. | |
| Below is some of the beauty we saw on the way home along Highway 17, 40 and 15. | Again, if everyone wants to seem more, I will create another page with the fort and scenic shots on it. | |
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