Montezuma Castle

On our way up to Sedona we took a short detour to see Montezuma Castle. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing; we drove past a sign, Chelsey asked about it, I said it was neat, we decided it wasn't far off the highway, and we stopped. I had seen the castle 20 years ago; Chelsey may or may not have been there as a child, it's not clear. Even as a more adult visitor, however, I thought it was still neat. Just the idea of a little community being built three stories in the air is fascinating, at least to me. You do learn some different things when you see it as a 30-year-old instead of a 10-year-old. For instance, I was under the impression it really was a castle for Montezuma, the Aztec king. But the castle has nothing to do with Montezuma. Apparently, when the Spanish came through the area, they named everything after Montezuma (see the nearby Montezuma Well). I guess they thought his empire extended farther than it actually did. But the name has stuck. Also, it's not really a castle, more like an apartment building or maybe a small village on the cliff face. Still fascinating.
Also interesting (possibly only to me) were the lizards we saw on the path near the castle. They were big and/or colourful.
-Jason