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&Nbsp;       VERDE VALLEY, Ariz. - It seemed that Sedona, Ariz., had received too much advance publicity when we visited earlier this year. The hype - "a mesmerizing experience," "breathtaking monoliths," "spectacular scenery," "the most beautiful setting in America," "a once in a lifetime experience" - made it sound like an instant Venture Bound story, but it was hard to get a handle on what to say about it.         We found our story south of Sedona at Montezuma Well and Montezuma Castle. Leaving Interstate 17, we followed another car five miles over a winding dusty road, always managing to stay far enough behind so we could see the road, but not far enough to keep our rental car from becoming coated with a thick layer of dust.         Sitting in the Upper Sonoran Desert, Montezuma Well is 368 feet across in an ancient cavern fed by subterranean springs of 76-degree water year-round. A side cave in the limestone cliffs takes the water down the hill to form Beaver Creek. The experts claim the well has been producing an unvarying 1½ million gallons of water a day since prehistoric times, but even using dye and divers, they have not been able to figure out where the water is coming from.         In any case, this became the center of a settlement for Sinagua Indians from 900 to 1400 A.D. The name is Spanish for "without water" - sin agua. Despite their name, the tribe used stone tools to dig a mile-long canal from the creek to the flatlands to irrigate their corn, squash, beans and cotton.         It took us a while to spot the cliff houses underneath the rim of the cavern because they were the same color as the surrounding limestone. Entry to these houses would have been by wooden ladders that could be pulled down to prevent interlopers. Wayne took a walk on a steep path leading down into the cavern,...

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