We drove two hours to Flagstaff. Love this town....cooler weather and lots of pine trees at an elevation of 7500 ft. We went to Walnut Canyon National Monument.
Magnificent views with 240 steps down to dwellings sheltered by overhanging cliffs that were home to the canyon's only permanent inhabitants more than 800 years ago.
The cliff dwellings were occupied for little more than 100 years. The people were called Sinagua and it is believed that they were eventually assimilated into Hopi culture.
The canyon builders took advantage of natural recesses in the limestone walls. Over millions of years, flowing water eroded the softer rock layers, creating shallow caves.
The canyon homes were situated on cliffsides facing south and east to take advantage of the warmth and sunlight. Archeologists believe that it was the women who built the homes.
To form walls, builders gathered limestone rocks, shaped them roughly, then cemented them together with a gold-colored clay found in deposits elsewhere in the canyon. Wooden beams reinforced the doorways. Finally, the walls were plastered with clay inside and out.
The people built terraces and small, rock check dams to conserve water so that they could grow crops such as corn, beans and squash on top of the rim. They also hunted deer, sheep and numerous smaller animals.
We had dinner at Black Bart's Saloon. All of the waiters are students/music majors at Northern Arizona University (NAU) and boy did they put on a show!
They were bursting into song the entire time we were eating. They had wonderful voices and performed some old favorites as well as tunes from a variety of musicals.
The boys had a swim in the motel pool.
Some iPad time......
And a bit of reading before turning out the light.
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