Friday, February 26, 2010

Wow! Wow! Wow! and more Wow!

We met our friend Ralph for coffee this morning, got a look at his house and a quick tour of the neighborhood. Then we took off for Sedona. Before we even got out of town we saw the Frank Lloyd Wright exit and realized Taliesin West was at our fingertips. We slammed on the breaks, took an immediate exit and sought out the house. The house certainly is not Falling Water. It is a teaching facility and not a museum. The structure does not incorporate all of the Wright aspects of melding furniture, art and space into one experience. This was Wright's ongoing experiment using students to continuously try out new ideas and materials. But it was a good tour; the guide was very knowledgeable.

Next, we headed for Sedona and then, voila! Montezuma's Castle was ahead of us. What could we do but stop. The name is a misnomer. At some point the site was named because someone determined the cliff dweller people who lived there were descendants of Aztec refugees. But, in fact they were more than likely a part of the Sinagua culture who had left the Flagstaff area. No one is allowed into the dwellings any longer in order to help preserve the structures. They were first constructed in 700ce and abandoned around 1400.



Toward the end of the day we arrived in Sedona. What a beautiful, beautiful area. The more time we spend in the west the better we are able to see the subtle differences in the areas. Sedona has lush green forests at the base of great red cliffs as opposed to other cliff areas that have very few trees or plants. Tomorrow we take a jeep tour and will get more information about the formation of the area.