April 7, 2010 Tuzigoot and Sedona

If you have read this blog for a while, you may know that ruins fascinate me.  And in the Verde Valley, there are a number of National Monuments as well as other ruins from the native peoples.  So today’s adventure was to Tuzigoot National Monument.

Tuzigoot is an Apache phrase that's been translated as "crooked water".  Tuzigoot is an ancient village or pueblo built by a culture known as the Sinagua. The pueblo consisted of 110 rooms including second and third story structures. The first buildings were built around A.D. 1000. The Sinagua were agriculturalists with trade connections that spanned hundreds of miles. The people left the area around 1400.   There were around 50-60 of these pueblos located in the Verde Valley and about 10,000 people.   Some of these ruins have been destroyed but many are slowly being excavated (by various groups) in order to preserve and protect what is left.

View of Tuzigoot from below:

 

More info:

 

And the pueblo:

  

 

Cement was used to stabilize the structures but the National Park Service is finding that is not working well so they are slowly replacing the cement with the original building materials found in the valley.

 

Views from the top:

In the middle of this picture is Jerome – notice how it is built on the side of the mountain:

The Visitor Center contained a number of artifacts that were excavated from the site and a lot of great info.  The National Park Service always does a great job on their museums. 

We stopped in the Cottonwood Historic District and came across this great little hamburger place – “Bings”.  The burgers were great and the French fries were okay.  This was outside of the diner:

And the inside:

 

There was an antique shop/yard next to Bings that we checked out.  There was some really neat/old stuff – I think he had a little bit of everything.  There were a number of items that he was selling at a high price that I have at home.   Hmmmm, maybe I should put them on eBay for some extra money – LOL!

It was still early and we decide to take a road trip to Sedona – about 20 miles away.  As we came up the hill into Sedona this is what we saw:

 

The pictures do not do this justice.   There were these HUGH MONOLITHS just rising from the valley floor and the colors, oh my.  This was more than just the WOW factor, it was Jaw-Dropping!!!  We found out about a number of hikes and drives that get closer to these giants and that is on our agenda.  We may move up here next week – :-)))   All I can say is BREATHTAKING!!!

Enjoy!

 

Stay tuned for even more adventures!!