One of the greatest things about vacationing with Jill is the food. We made the famous chocolate chip cookies. We ate at Cafe Rio, The Barrio Cafe, and The Wildflower Cafe. We also made some fabulous lunches, really tasty eggs, and great waffles. We even packed an awesome lunch on the day of our hike.
Jill and I also went on some adventures. I was all for seeing some desert flora, so we went to the Botanical Gardens. A few times a week the Botanical Gardens holds a flashlight tour where the gardens stay open late and visitors can move from station to station learning about the flora and fauna of the desert. We learned about the scream of the Woodhouse Toad, a really enormous beetle, king snakes (which we got to touch), tarantulas and scorpions. We also learned all about Mesquite tree, Saguaro cacti, and Palo Verde trees. Jill could pretty much survive in the desert now.
These cacti above were really hairy--they are called the Old Man Cactus. (Note the flashlight in my hands. We are prepared to learn on the tour.) We thought the cacti below looked like big, prickly beach balls.
And these cacti look like snakes. Below, Jill and I pose after dark on the flashlight tour.
On Monday Jill and I took a roadtrip. Our first stop was Montezuma's Castle, which is an ancient cliff dwelling built by the Sinagua tribe. The 20 room, 5-storey structure is built into a recess in a white limestone cliff about 70 feet above the ground. The Sinagua (Spanish for without water) began to built the structure around 1125 A.D. and lived there until the early 1400s when they left for unknown reasons, and the tribe virtually vanished; there is no Sinagua tribe today. The name, Montezuma's Castle, is a misnomer. Early explorers thought it was constructed by the Aztecs.
Next we made our way to Tuzigoot, another Sinagua ruin. This was particularly exciting for Jill because she had been involved in a case that dealt with land disputes around the area. Tuzigoot was built on a big mesa, and visitors can climb up and see the ruins up close. You even get to go inside one of the rooms. In its heyday about 300 people lived at Tuzigoot--about the size of my high school class. Here's Jill with the rooms and the valley beyond. And then the two of us with the ruins behind.
Just like Montezuma's Castle, these structures were begun about 1000 A.D. and then abandoned around 1400. During the Great Depression they were excavated with funding from the C.W.A and W.P.A.Next stop: Sedona. Jill and I went on a hike among the red rocks. It was beautiful and so fun to hike. Here we are getting started.
Gazing at the view from the top of the climb. Jill looks so tough and prepared with her Camelback.
We saw a Mickey Mouse cactus and some pretty awesome rock formations.
What fun! Jill, thanks for all the good times. Here's to 11 years of friendship!
7 comments:
You guys look like you had a great time!! It made me miss home. I haven't been back (except for a small one-day stint last August) for a really long time. At least not long enough to go hiking and do the fun things I used to like doing. Did it give you a better appreciation for The Host?
I am so jealous! What a blast!
Oh yeah. I thought about The Host a lot while I was in Arizona.
How fun to get away with your girlfriend! Great pictures. Makes me want to go hiking.
Wow, you guys did a lot! I'm glad you had fun on your little vacation.
How did you pack so much into just 4 days? How fun! Loved all your pictures.
So, this is pretty lame that I am asking you a totally unrelated question on your blog...but Nate, do you remember how long the hike is in to the natural waterslides? And how strenuous is it? Robynn is thinking of taking her kids. Just comment on my blog if you have times.
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