Montezuma's Castle

Last weekend I visited an extraordinary place called 'Montezuma's Castle.' It was built by the Native Americans sometime in the 1300s (estimated.) What makes this so extraordinary is that the Native Americans usually didn't build permanent dwellings; the tribes moved within their lands. There were several tribes that inhabited this particular land. One being the Hopi, the other Sinagua peoples.

This ancient dwelling has twenty rooms inside, with several other mini rooms on the outskirts. We weren't allowed inside the dwelling, as it is protected by the National Park Service. But I did manage to take quite a few photos of this amazing place.

This dwelling was built by a natural spring, which the water source still remains intact to this day. In this little valley, it's lush with greenery compared to the desert outskirts. It was so beautiful that I had to capture much of the greenery. I even managed to get a closeup photo of a lizard. (Sorry I don't know the name of it!)

After experiencing Montezuma's Castle, we headed up into the nearby mountains to a town called 'Strawberry.' There, we saw the first schoolhouse ever built in Arizona. The schoolhouse was closed for tours, but I did manage to get a peak inside the windows. It even had a cute outhouse (shown below) and a smokehouse! It was fantastic.

It was a nice little trip to celebrate Mother's Day. For those who don't know, I am in love with nature, especially pine forests. I always feel at peace whenever I'm in the mountains and deep into the forest. Someday I'll have my little cabin in the woods. It's my life goal.

I'll also throw a little personal update here. For starters, I feel really bad about not making as many posts etc. My life has really taken a turn in a different direction. I am stretched thin in my personal life everywhere, though I must say that I have been able to gain a sense of normalcy the past two weeks. Because of the drastic changes, I have to make personal cuts in my creative life. Writing is always number one. It's an outlet for my heart honestly. Same with art, though it can't be as frequent. This leaves me with the cosplay stuff. I do have two costumes to shoot this year - they are already waiting to be shot with my photographer. I plan on seeing him later on in the year. Because of my crazy busy schedule and being a mom, I have to make sacrifices. Here's what I came up with.

I will still continue to upload cosplay photos into albums for the next three months. These are for those who have supported me (subbed.) After that, I will make cosplay posts (old and new content) for all, including photos to download within the posts. I don't want those who have subbed to me to be disappointed in my lack of new content. I want everyone to just enjoy this site for fun, as it had always been my goal for everyone (members and non-members.) Meanwhile, I took the subscription service down and will honor the time remaining to those who are members.

Anyways, I just wanted to say that since it was weighing heavily on me. Meanwhile, I don't know if anyone has noticed, but I added a fanfiction page which I will talk more about in another post. I also took away the 'home' page, and made my blog the home page. I also did a mini refresh on my store page.

I do hope to get ahead of my blogging and website stuff in the next two weeks. I have several posts to make about writing, games (multiple new ones I've been playing), art, and cosplay stuff. Also, for those of you who have messaged me recently, I will be getting back this week. I am so sorry for all the lateness. Between the kids, school ending, visits from my parents, etc etc etc....my life is a whirlwind of craziness. It's slowing down little by little each day.

I hope you all have a good week! I'll try and get another post later on in the week.

Take care all!

-Beth

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