Roosevelt's a big deal because the 1906 Antiquities Act preserved places like our destination today of Montezuma Castle. I tried to name my kitten Teddy, but he lacked the presidential presence to pull it off. I digress...
Today we drove north towards Flagstaff to see Montezuma Castle. Drove? We actually hung on for our lives. I'm being only slightly overdramatic: the speed limit is 75, which means people were driving much faster. Plus there was a stop and go quality to the freeway that bordered on terrifying.
Montezuma Castle is a beautiful Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwelling.
It's amazing with what we know from science and anthropology that so many questions remain about the people that lived here. Why did they build so high up? Why did they leave? Where did they go?
It's equally amazing that while the Castle was being finished here in Arizona, Notre Dame was completed in Paris. It's hard to understand how both civilizations existed at the same time and were so different.
While I am drawn to anything Rooseveltish, my traveling partner is drawn to native plants. And lo and behold, the NPS did a dandy job marking these. There was cataclaw, cholla, pinyon, something that may or may not have looked like a churro, and sycamore with beautiful bark.
There were other plants, but I was pretty wrapped up in the churro debate and probably missed some. 😳
Lunch was at a great local place in Camp Verde-such a great burger.
The rest of the day was car-ride shenanigans.
Sycamore bark ... looks might like some varieties of eucalyptus. Keep your eyes on the road ahead!
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