The US has some neat national parks / monuments!

On Monday, we had the opportunity to visit a couple of National Monuments in the area.

The first was "Montezuma's Castle" which was evidently mis-named on both accounts - not anything to do with the Aztecs (Montezuma) and probably just a multi-family living space (not a castle). It was very interesting though - similar to some of the cliff dwellings we've seen in Mesa Verde.

"Montezuma's Castle" is to the right (I'm in the foreground in the middle with hat and jacket).

This was the second set of dwellings at the site - but they showed evidence of having burned.

The information we read indicated that it is surmised that the village had located here due to the proximity of the creek and the ability to grow crops.

We then went to Tuzigoot - intended to be the word for "Crooked River" but was mis-spelled. This one was on a low hill, and the rooms were available to be explored more closely.

On our way up

Looking over the site

Further up

This area was rebuilt

Looking down toward the visitor center

As our last stop of the day, we went to Jerome, a town further up in the mountain from Cottonwood - formerly a copper mining town. We visited the state historic site which was at the Douglas Mansion. Due to the other things we had done during the day, we didn't get to see a lot of it, but it was interesting nonetheless.

The town of Jerome is built on a hill - so there are steps to connect.

A stone outside the museum