Weekly Photo Challenge: On the Way…Montezuma Castle

I’m popping in for just enough time to answer the Weekly Photo Challenge: On the Way.  Then it’s back to very little internet until next week.  I’m enjoying my unconnected time, connecingt instead with family and nature.  But I do miss all of you and look forward to being able to interact more.  As I said in a previous post, thanks very much to everyone who visits and comments even when I can’t return the favor right now.

Michelle mentioned how she takes her camera with her on her trips and often comes across many wonderful photo opportunities “on the way” to her ultimate destination.  That’s one blessing of a phone camera: it’s always with me!  While her lovely photo was taken from a plane, I mostly drive, so my photo is one from a stop on the way from one place to another.  On our way from Mesa to Sedona, Arizona, we stopped at Montezuma Castle, where we saw this cliff dwelling.  The Sinagua lived here for about 250 years before abandoning it for unknown reasons.  Designated a national monument by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, visitors could originally climb into the cliff dwelling.  But the practice was discontinued in 1951 to prevent further damage. The area has nothing to do with Montezuma, but was coined by early settlers.