January in Arizona – Two Floridians trying not to Freeze - COMPLETE - 5-8 - Page 3 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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I forgot to mention that we went to Barnes and Noble near our hotel to pick up a book that I had been unable to get before we left JAX - “The Roadside Geology of Arizona”.
We woke up at the Homewood Suites around 8am, and after having breakfast at the free breakfast buffet with WAY TOO MANY AUBURN fans... we loaded up the Rav 4 and hit the road north. Our first stop of the day was at the Columbia store to find another pair of hiking pants for Chris. Columbia’s website didn’t tell us this was an outlet - and they didn’t have any mens pants that met Chris’ needs. They did however have 2 shirts and a zip up fleece that met mine. Sorry honey!
After a bit of shopping and purchasing 4 liters of water to drink over the week - we loaded in the car, we drove north along I-17 commenting on the landscape as it changed from desert w/tall branching cacti, to grassland, and then to a lush valley.
Our plan for the day was to visit Montezuma Castle National Monument, as well as Montezuma well, then on to Sedona and the red rocks. It took about 2 hours to get to Montezuma National Monument.
We pulled into the parking lot to see lots of blue and orange - more Auburn fans. We unloaded the backpacks, tripod, etc and headed for the visitor’s center. We paid our $5.00/ea entrance fee and I got my National Parks Passport stamps. After perusing the displays in the visitor’s center - we headed out onto the 3/4 mile loop trail that takes you to the castle.
The Visitor's Center
The Monument had recently celebrated 100 years - so they had a sign for each decade of the Monument's history.
The castle was built by the Sinagua Indians approximately 1,000 years ago - and was abandoned about 600 years ago. It is five stories tall, has 20 rooms and only accessible by ladder. Up until the 1950s you could actually climb the ladder, enter the ruins and take a tour with a guide. The National Park Service saw how damaged the castle was becoming, they closed it off to tours -and now you look at it from the ground. Archeologists believe that when the Sinagua left the valley, they merged with other modern tribes like the Hopi and Zuni - based on the similarity of items used by the tribes.
Chris was hoping to see some snakes this trip (I was not...)
Montezuma Castle
The paved loop trail
RANT -- there were signs that specifically said "do not climb on ruins" - so this lady puts her puppy up there.... ok.... so not respecting the ruins, the rules, etc. GRRR RANT OVER
More ruins - these were ground level and are called "Castle A". They are less preserved.
Chris brought his tripod - and it came in very handy on this trip!
Beaver Creek - the life blood of the valley.
A diarama of what the inside of the ruins looks like.
Chris with the castle
Me with one of the large sycamore trees
Me and the castle
After we completed our loop of the trail - we headed to the Montezuma Well - another site included in the Montezuma National Monument site. I’ll do another update for that - since there are lots of photos.
If you want to see ALL of our photos - here is a link from Day 1 and Montezuma Castle - Arizona Day 1 and 2 - part 1
Thanks so much for that link - this will be a great spot for the kids to see this summer. About that dog? Some people.......
__________________
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
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Well... Don'tcha Know.
Our next planned stop was at Montezuma Well - but first we stopped for a quick lunch at the Sonic right near the highway. Neither of us had eaten at a Sonic in YEARS and decided we need to get some lunch, it was the only option - and so Sonic it was. After a cheeseburger, chicken tenders and onion rings... we headed on to Montezuma Well.
Located about 11 miles from Montezuma Castle, Montezuma well is a natural sinkhole 368 feet wide with 70 ft tall cliffs towering over the water’s surface. Our first stop was the “pithouse ruin”. This was a a home to the Sinagua’s ancestors who had not yet learned how to build pueblo structures. They dug large holes below ground, and then erected wooden covered tents over them. The ruins of one of these structures has been found at the Montezuma well site and has been preserved.
Pithouse Ruin
After we examined the pithouse ruin, we continues on to the well itself. The water coming from the well is a constant 74 degrees - warm in the winter and cool in the summer. And 1.5 million gallons of water flows into the well daily from three or four large underwater springs. Some of these vents are located more than 50 feet below the surface of the water. The water exits the well through a cave 300 feet long, emerging into an irrigation canal constructed by the Sinagua to water their fields about 1,000 years ago. This canal is still functioning today. This site was the first time that the National Park Service used SCUBA to explore a site in the 1960s. Along the walls of the well are cliff dwellings and at the bottom is the ruin of a swallet - a cave that the mouth had been walled off to make a protective structure. It was sort of funny to see graffiti from 1896 written on the inside of the well walls from the first visitors to the well.
Cliff Dwellings
Chris descending the stairs into the well
Chris at the bottom of the stairs
Swallet at the bottom of the well
graffiti from 1891
The well is also home to species of animals only found there including a unique form of amiphod and of leech (yuck). The water in the well is too basic (has too much ammonia) for any fish to live there - but an invasive weed has taken hold and now the rangers have to cull the weed on a weekly basis. However, the weed does serve as food for over-wintering ducks... lots of ducks.
Chris' favorite sign
1,000 yr old irrigation canal that captures the water from the well
The well "walls" and the irrigation canal
See how clear the water is?
Beaver creek - just like at Montezuma castle
Me at the top of the well
Can you see the hidden Mickey? My DH took this!! I think he is getting converted... you know the signs - seeing Mickeys all over the place!
Other ruins on top of the well
Me sitting next to the irrigation canal, Beaver creek behind me.
After our day playing around the well - we decided to get back in the Rav4 and head to Sedona to check into the Hilton.
If you want to see all of our photos for this part of the trip - here is a link to our photo album - Arizona Day 2 - part 2
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
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