Montezuma Castle Tuzigoot

Tuesday, Julia and I took off across the desert on I-17,
Destination Montezuma's Castle.
We both were wishing for a closer look.
The visitor's center was very good.
They even had clothes on some of the women.
Why do they always depict them half naked?
How do they know?
If they could make clothes for the bottom half,
they could have made clothes for the top half.

After the exploration of the castle we took off to find the missing princes and princesses.
Thank goodness for this dirt road, it would have been a very long walk in the heat.
The story goes like this at geocaching.com
"The Royal Family of Montezuma is having a celebration. We let all of the royal grandchildren leave the castle to go play until it was time for the party. We told them all to keep the castle in sight. Some of them did, some did not. It's time for them to come 'back to the castle'."

(Julia looking back at the castle in the distance.
Who lets their grandchildren play this far from the house?)
Prince Everett-found, left little blue car.
Princess Tegan-found, left bracelet.
Princess Anabell-found, left bracelet.
Prince Spencer-found, left car.
Prince Isaac-found, left car, took bullet casing.
Prince Paxton-lost, we couldn't see the castle at all and he was very close to the river. We hope he did not drown.

All of these geo caches were in pill bottles.
We found 2 other caches before heading back to Camp Verde for lunch.
It was very hot.
So after consulting the map,
we decided it was just as close to travel through Payson.
There we collected some pine needles
and had a blizzard.
It was a long, fun adventure.
We arrived home at 4:30 pm.

Camping with Buddy

This blog is some what about Buddy.
On June 6th Julia, Buddy, Pamela, Daniel, Ginger, and myself had the opportunity to spend some time in the woods.
First stop Tonto creek below the fish hatchery. We spent the late morning and early afternoon lounging next to Tonto Creek. We read, soaked our feet, (the water was cold, cold, cold), rested on our blanket and just enjoyed the cool breeze and the sounds of the creek and trees.
Buddy was not too sure about it.
He was probably still pondering his time riding in the crate.

Julia had some time to play with the camera.
Good thing, I did not seem to take too many pics myself.
We couldn't check in the the Canyon Point Camp Ground until 2 pm. We arrived, set up and then delivered the suburban to Mikie who was up the road a few miles helping with the youth conference. Pamela had her own suburban.

Over the next few days we enjoyed reading under the cool pine trees, looking for geo caches (some found, some not), walking the dogs, watched a few movies, played some cards, and just napped and rested.

Buddy was braver at Willow Springs Lake. He ventured into the water himself. I thought he hated water judging by bath time at our house.

Julia, Daniel and Ginger.

Buddy had some issues with being cold.
Good thing he doesn't mind being wrapped up like a baby.

Let Summer Begin !!!

School is out and I'm ready to go. I must have some form of cabin fever.
Julia and I have found that we share some interests, one is archeology.
When I was 11 I was able to take an after school class at Franklin .
I don't remember the teacher's name but he taught us basics for dating Hohokam pottery and even took us out to a place where we could pick up a few pieces and try our skills.
It was all very fun and still today I have those few pieces of pottery.

Julia expressed an interest two years ago.
So finding I had a comrade who was willing to trek through the heat and the desert,
she and I (and Andy K) took off south to the ruins.

It was only a 45 min drive.
We were able to explore some and then go inside the visitors center, cool off and watch a movie. Andy K was a good sport. We had fun, some lunch, they napped (on the way home), and I got to go for a drive in a cold car.

Hopefully over the summer we can log on a few more adventures.