Sedona: Montezuma's castle

Our last stop before heading back home to our daughter who we were missing a bit, was Montezuma's Castle. It's a big mud apartment building built up on the face of a cliff. I think it's either 4 or 5 stories tall.

Pretty impressive that this was all built back sometime between 1000 and 1400 AD, I think.

A few hundred yards to the left they had built a ground-level apartment building-type structure, also using the limestone caves there. It's collapsed, mostly, but many of the walls are still in tact. They must have gotten pretty hot in the summer.

They built near this river as their water source. And with trees that have leaves that change color! Lucky people.

I think it's just around fall that I get a little tired of all the Palo Verdes and Mesquites around here. The rest of the year I don't mind, but there's something about the fall leaves that I miss. And maybe the cooler temperatures. But come winter, I'm glad to live where I live. And luckily we live close to beautiful places like this that we can go get our autumn fix. It was a great trip and we really enjoyed our time together and being free of childcare responsibilities. (Thanks Mom and Dad for making this fun trip possible!) (Scroll down to see the rest of our Sedona trip.)