It's Christmas, best wishes to everyone! Well, the weather in Arizona is wintery, translation, it is raining, which we are told is typical for the area during the winter months. Most of the hiking trails consist of red rock and red sand, which becomes slippery red rock and red muck when it is wet. So we drove to a scenic area near Sedona and saw Cathedral Rock from the roadside instead of hiking to it in the steady rain.
The Red Rock Canyon area around Sedona is just beautiful to behold and well worth the effort to explore it by car or on foot.
On Thursday, Dec. 26th we drove South of Cottonwood to the area around Prescott, AZ to explore two more National Monuments. The first one is called Montezuma Well, a sink-hole in the desert with a natural spring that has been there for centuries and continues to flow today.
The well provided much-needed water for the Sinaqua Indians for centuries and they built pueblos and cliff dwellings in and around the well, some of which still exist for people to explore.
These dwellings which were built between 1100 and 1400 are built right into the steep sides of the sink-hole which houses the natural springs that create the well.
From there we drove a few miles further to the second National Monument called Montezuma Castle, one of the best-preserved cliff dwelling in the Southwest.
This 900-year-old structure is built into the cliff-side, high above the river valley below where many more stone structures or their remains are still visible to travelers.
Huge oak trees thrive alongside willows and numerous types of pines near the river's edge.
It began to rain again and continued for the remainder of the day. We didn't have snow like we were expecting but it grew cold as the rain continued. The mountains around Cottonwood did, however, receive snow, which accumulated to several inches.
On Friday, Dec. 27th it was cold and rainy when we awoke so we only walked briefly around the city of Cottonwood's County Campus a few blocks away from where we are staying. There is a very nice memorial military park there with tributes to each branch of our armed services and the K-9 service dogs who have given their lives in aid to our combat troops in times of war.
There is even a memorial to the women who helped win World War II by working long hours and making sacrifices to help the war effort by producing the materials of war in the defense plants from 1942 to 1945.
Alas, Mom, Dad, and I are all growing weary of our travels. We have been on the road now for almost seven months, traveled over 21,000 miles, visited 20 states, explored 21 national parks, 20 national monuments, 14 national forests, 6 national wildlife preserves, 34 state parks, dozens of municipal parks, and 3 tribal parks.
We are considering returning to our home in Rochester to see our family and friends, whom we miss dearly, and continuing the rest of our Great Adventure at a later time 😐.
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