Sunday, July 9, 2017

Our Trip To Montezuma Castle

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It’s just Katie, my youngest granddaughter, and  me on this road trip.  It was really hot, although not as hot as down in the Phoenix area where she lives.

It was a bit of a distance to the ruins.  You can no longer go into the ruins, only an occasional archeologist can go into the ruins for study.

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I have included most of the signage, explaining much of the history.  If you are interested, you should be able to click on the image to enlarge for reading.

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Zooming in.

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These holes are additional homes to the left side of the castle.

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More signs.

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There was also an interpretive Ranger  out in the heat with the rest of us with some great information.

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A diorama showing what the rooms look like on the inside, created when they no longer allowed the public in the castle. 

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Once we finished visiting the castle, we were back out on the road.  If it wasn’t so hot we could probably have stayed longer.  We would start to head back north, only through Prescott.  It was fortunate that we went when we did as one of the roads that we took was closed because of the Goodwin Wildfire that consumed more than 25.000 acres a week or so later.

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In the picture below on the left is a view of the Camp Verde in the Verde Valley.  The next four are of Jerome AZ.

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We say goodbye to Jerome and head into the Red Rock Country. 

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We head back to Flagstaff by way of scenic Hwy 89A along Oak Creek Canyon.  It was a nice drive even though there was construction and we had a brief wait time for one way traffic. 

It was a long day but still enjoyable and was fun doing it with my granddaughter.  She is  the one taking all the pictures.  I will do some more posts of our other road trips.

I hope that you are having a great summer.

Thanks for visiting

IMG_2971   I’m glad they left me at home, because of the heat.

Susan and Angel

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Granddaughter’s Visit

This is just a short post about about a week long visit from my youngest granddaughter, Kaitlin.  She took off a week from her high school volleyball practice.

We had a good time even though it was hot for Flagstaff, but definitely not as hot as where she lives in  El Mirage, near Phoenix.  She was here for their hottest of 120*+.

While she was here, she did a lot of the cooking.  She was open to learning some good

knife skills and following recipes.

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This is the meatloaf that she made in my “Perfect Cooker”, with a spinach salad.  It was really good.

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That is selfie was taken in front of Montezuma Castle National Monument just north of Camp Verde AZ.  

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Katie is somewhere on the left joining the last group taking advantage of the archeological program at Elden Pueblo just about a mile east of where I am parked.

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Later that day we headed over to Lomaki Ruins near  Wupatki Pueblo.

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Here, Katie is up close and personal at Wupatki Monument.

This is just a quick post and will do more on each location.  She took over a hundred pictures.

I hope that you all are keeping cool.

Thanks for visiting

IMG_3307   Of course, they left me at home for most of their trips.

Susan and Angel

Monday, June 12, 2017

Arizona Snow Bowl Ski Lift And Wild Flowers

Occasionally we would see deer off in the woods on our drive up to Humphrey’s Peak where we would set up the PSAR (Preventive, Search and Rescue) tent at the trailhead.

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Once up there, this one of the views.  That’s Kendrick Mountain where they are currently fighting a wildfire to the north.

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On Saturday, the winds were forecasted to be slightly less than Friday or Sunday, so I took advantage and took the open chairlift up to Agassiz Mountain.  It was a long way up there.  It took 30 minutes to get to the top.  This is just the beginning, that’s the peak.

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The farther I went, the higher the chair was off the ground.

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Follows; are pictures on the way up.

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Getting close to the top, there is still snow on the ground, some parts very deep.

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At the top it is 11,500 feet.  You can see the the false peaks, but not the actual Humphrey’s Peak. It’s behind those peaks, at 12,633 feet.  The picture to the right is a zoomed in view of what they call the “ Saddle”  along the ridge,  Robert, the Interpretative Ranger had a scope set up where you can see some of the hikers on the trail.

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He was kind enough to take my picture.  Yes, it was a bit chili, so I needed the jacket, although it wasn’t as windy as I expected.

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Behind me is a view of Kendrick Mountain.  The haze is the smoke from a wildfire.  Normally, just to the left of the tree line on the right is where you can see the Grand Canyon, but not this day.

Below is a view to the west.  I believe that is Mount Williams on the right.

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Geological Information on the area and on the wild flower that exists only on this  mountain.

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Time to head down and back to work at the Trailhead.

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This is about half way down.

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Almost down.

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Once down, it was back to work.  Below are some of the wild flowers beginning to bloom.

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It seems that this may be my last weekend at the trailhead.  I may be reassigned to help in the office at  the Rangers’ Station.

Working at 9,300 feet is probably not the best location for my health.  I’ve been to the doctor and we are adjusting my blood pressure medicine.

In the meantime, I hope that you all are healthy and happy enjoying your summer.

Thanks for visiting

IMG_2377  I sure am happy when Mom gets home.

Susan and Angel