Wupatki

While at Williams, we went on a trip north of Flagstaff.  Sunset Crater and Wupatki National Monuments.  Sunset Crater is the largest cinder cone in the area marking volcanic action in the area. Wupatki is an area of unique and wonderful ruins of people who lived there a thousand years ago.  Some of their structures and relics remain to give us incite into their lives.  The visitor center is filled with stories and pictures to helps tell their story, but the actual pueblo sites are the highlights.
The first site we visited was named Wukoki.  The structure is build on a red stone outcropping and incorporates the rock as part of the building.  The construction was amazing.  Notice the straightness of the corners.

The park visitor center is located close to the largest structure in the park, Wupatki.  

At the peak several hundred people lived in this multilevel pueblo.  Walking around it was amazing.  Even though the site was 1000 years old, it was occupied in the 1940s.  It didn't become a National Monument until 1939 and the second Ranger and his new bride occupied two rooms of the pueblo as their government-provided housing.  No electricity, no plumbing, water had to be pumped into a tank and 55 gallons lasted a week.  And, of course, the government charged them rent.
The couple lived among the people and became family members and had a life enriching experience during their several years there.