Sunday 19th February – Montezuma Castle National Monument

Waking to more heavy clouds and rain assisted us in making our next decision.  Our ‘Krazy K’ host had told us that a full site would be opening up today.  Last night I think we were basically parked in their back garden for the night as it was the only space they had left with water and electric!   I gave them a call and settled the bill for one more night so now we could relax and wait for the skies to clear.

It felt like a ‘reset’ morning.  We caught up with friends and family on Facetime and did a block lesson of Spanish (we are still trying to do between 10-15 minutes each a day on our Duo Lingo apps.  It’s getting very difficult now!). We’ve done so much over the last couple of weeks.  It’s been amazing and it’s good to have some down-time to reflect on where we’ve been and how lucky we are to be on this trip.

Our next National Monument location, Montezuma Castle, was a mere 5-minute drive away.  We had lunch as the skies started to brighten and went to enjoy the gap in the rain.  This is another example (like the ‘Aztec ruins’) that was completely mis-named by a Spanish explorer but the name has stuck.  This five-storey, 20 room dwelling was built and occupied between 1100-1300.  It is not a castle and it is not Aztec, so Montezuma Castle is a complete misnomer! But it's very impressive none the less:

I love the 'jigsaw-like' patterns of the bark on these trees

The rooms were open to tourists until the 1950s but when the numbers of visitors shot up they realised that permanent damage was being done to the historic structure and it is now off-limits.  The view is still impressive though, but it was only a 100-yard flat walk to see it, unlike yesterday’s ruins!  I think I find attractions that involve more personal effort more rewarding.  Maybe we’ve seen a puebloan ruin too many, but Simon thought I seemed more impressed with the Arizona Sycamore trees (above) and a fight between some hawks and ravens…

A picture from a distance to assist with scale

Beaver Creek that runs past the monument was the source of water for the Sinaguan people.  No one knows why they migrated away from their homes.  Maybe due to overpopulation, disease or conflict.  Maybe it was just time to move on? There was a small museum again in the visitor centre but the whole visit only took us 30-40 minutes.  Did I mention we saved $20 entrance fee with our National parks pass?  No?  Well we did!

Timed to perfection, the rain was coming down again as we left and returned to our ‘proper’ campsite for the night.  I took advantage of the first ‘exercise room’ at a campsite that I had seen.  Don’t imagine anything too fancy…. The treadmill didn’t work and the dusty equipment had clearly not been used for some time.  But I enjoyed getting an opportunity for some badly needed weights work and spent nearly an hour and a half in there.

Back at the RV, Simon was preparing to concoct his first ever Shepherd’s pie.  It’s smelling tasty so fingers crossed for a tasty dinner!  Very tasty indeed.

Something else momentous happened this evening.  I have been playing catch-up with this blog since we arrived in Boston in October.  I’ll be honest and say that, some nights, I have been suffering from Blog-slog!  It has been a bit of a grind on occasion, doing a couple of hours writing every night.  But tonight, I have finally caught up and written an entry for EVERY day up to today.  The plan of writing today’s entry and then filling in the gaps has finally worked.  It feels amazing.  I enjoy re-living the moments we have enjoyed, but now I can enjoy them as I post them online, rather than having to wrack my brains from scrawled notes.  We will be able to go back to watching films or playing games in the evening, or both!  Hmmmm, we do bicker less when we aren’t competing though….  Scrap that, Simon has a lot of proof reading to do... but I can relax!