Postcard from Phoenix - Architecture: Old and New

A few weeks ago, in a single day, I was fortunate to get up close and personal with modern and ancient marvels that show just how ingenious the human mind can be. Creating something beyond what has ever been done before is where human beings demonstrate their finest traits - striving for the unattainable.

First in Phoenix - the new University of Phoenix stadium, home to the NFL's Cardinals and last year's Super Bowl. What makes this indoor football stadium so unique? Look at the picture. See anything not quite right? Yes, it is an indoor football area, but the football field appears to be outside. What? How can this be? Here is the ingenious part:

Because of Phoenix's hot weather, designers of the stadium knew it had to be an indoor stadium, but they didn't want the field to be that terribly hard artificial turf. They wanted the game to be played on real grass, as it should be. But grass cannot grow and survive inside - it needs sunshine...and Phoenix has plenty of that.

So they designed the stadium with a "portable" field that stays outside when there is no game...then slides on rollers inside the stadium on game day. Pretty ingenious, hey? You can see the doors on the stadium that open to let the grass move inside. After the game, the grass is moved back outside for repair and maintenance for the next game.

Later, that same day, I drove north on Interstate 17 towards Flagstaff. A little more than halfway there I came to the turnoff for Montezuma's Castle National Monument, which is only a couple of miles off the highway. I headed over with camera in hand to see this incredible example of ancient architecture done by a tribe of native Americans that have passed into history.

The castle was built by a tribe known as the Sinagua. It was named Montezuma's Castle in the 1860's as it originally was thought to have been built by the Aztecs. The last known habitation by that tribe was around 1425 AD, so the structure's construction was obviously much earlier than that, probably in the neighborhood of one thousand years ago. The five-story stone and mortar dwelling contains 20 rooms and once housed about 50 people. It sits about 70' above the ground. A natural overhang shades the rooms and shelters them from rain and the blazing sun.

Believe it or not, visitors to the area in the 1950's could go inside and tour the place. But, as you might imagine, to much damage occurred and it was subsequently stopped. But, thanks to the Internet and the National Park Service who still send the occasional archeologist inside to check on conditions, you can take a virtual tour on their Web site and see what this amazing place is like inside.

Sometimes I can despair of the follies of mankind, but every so often I get to see a different viewpoint. Shakespeare said it best:

What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how
infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and
admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like
a god! the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals—and yet,
to me, what is this quintessence of dust?