OCTOBER BREAK

Throughout the entire duration of October Break, I referred to October Break as Spring Break. I couldn't get it right, for the life of me. And normally, ANY break is crammed with trips, outings, and adventures - but this one was quite lacking. A couple of semi-sick kids meant everyone felt well enough to play, but not well enough to travel far from home. So we loaded up on Disney movies and at-home activities to stay entertained. Once Friday rolled around, though, I was itching for any sort of adventure. It boiled down to another trip to Prescott (and Goldwater Lake) OR a new excursion, learning about some of Arizona's first native peoples. The latter won out and, on Friday morning with my mom in tow, we set out on an adventure. Our first stop was Montezuma Castle. A park ranger taught us that the Sinagua women built the castle as the men fetched the stones. They also kept dogs, turkey, and parrots as pets. After getting our fill of the castle, we headed north a few more miles to Montazuma Well. A short hike up brought us to the edge of the well, where more Sinagua once lived. The well remains at a near-constant level, having 1.5 million gallons entering daily through an underground spring while another 1.5 gallons escapes through cracks in the rocks. Montezuma Well supplies Beaver Creek and rushing water can be heard on the hike back down. Finally, at the urging of one of the park rangers, we headed a couple of miles further down a dirt road to the V-bar-V Ranch, which contains a huge petroglyph site of the Sinagua. We hiked about a half mile in to see the petroglyphs and they did not disappoint. Another ranger on site was able to educate us about the proposed meanings of many of the drawings. My kids were even asked to demonstrate the method used to make the drawings. Overall, it was a fun day. Not your typical adventure and my kids probably did not find it as exciting as others we've been on, but they still seemed to enjoy it.