Wickenburg, AZ Statues

Yvonne came by this afternoon and took us out to lunch at the Tumbleweed Restaurant in Wickenburg.  It is a small cafe located in a building that used to be part of a plant nursery.  There are two patios and 3-4 small rooms where they serve meals, plus a bar area.  Gerry and I had their special Taco salad with Catalina dressing and it was great.  We ordered the "lighter side" taco and it was more than we could eat.  Yvonne had pork sliders and said they were great also.  

We would like to hang around another day to take advantage of the $1.00 Margarita special during happy hour on Wednesday, but we have to hit the road in the morning.

They had a number of neat signs in the restaurant and this one caught Gerry's fancy due to the cute saying for the wine ad.

After lunch Yvonne took us on a guided tour of downtown Wickenburg.  They have put a lot of effort into making the downtown area interesting and have erected a number of statues that depict events and people from the past who lived in Wickenburg.

 The first statue was by the train station is called "School Teacher with Luggage".  The post on the right side of the statue has a button to press that explains the meaning of the statue.  The statue depicts a young school teacher arriving by train in Wickenburg in the early  1900s seeking to settle in Wickenburg to teach area children and perhaps corral a local cowboy.   The school house was one room and had eight grades in there at one time.  Some of the older students were close to her age and would take off to help with ranching chores and then come back to school to continue their education.

The second statue was called "Owner of the Hassayampa Hotel" and depicted Mrs. Elizabeth Smith, the original owner of the hotel in the late 1800s.

The "Miner Leading his Donkey depicts the early mining activity of the late 1800s culminating with the discovery of the Vulture Mine by Henry Wickenburg in 1863.

The "Cowboy and Dance Hall Girl" statue depicts the evening social activity in early downtown Wickenburg. 

The last photo above is a small bronze piece of a Tarantula on the sidewalk.  It was very real looking and they had others including Gila Monsters, Roadrunners and Rattlesnakes.  The rattlesnake looked so real that they had to put up a sign by it so it wouldn't scare people to death.

There were two other statues that I didn't get a picture of including the Vaquero with Guitar and Jail Tree Felon.  The jail tree felon looked very real from a photo I saw of it.  If we had time, I would go back and get the other two statue photos, however we are leaving in the morning and vehicles over 30ft long are banned from the downtown area near the statues.

I stopped and picked up two geo caches after we got back to the motor home and later we went over to Yvonne's for a very nice dinner and chat with her.  She told us about her trip to London this past summer to see part of the Olympics and also a visit to Ireland.  Sounds like she had a great time on the trip and she has a lot of nice memories.

That was our day, how was yours?   

Bananas & Milk Duds

Gerry got an email today and I thought it was so funny that I included it on my blog.  This is the first time I've done this, but thought it would be more interesting than me telling you about my broken tooth and sitting here in the desert.   

BTW:  I have an appointment on Thursday morning at the dentist at Rita Ranch & S Houghton RD to get the tooth fixed. We will be staying at the Pima County Fairgrounds for a few days and then travel around for a couple weeks and return to CCRV for the winter.

It's hard to believe that this is blog posting 600 for me and people still read the blog.  

Enjoy!

BANANAS & MILK DUDS

Below is an article written by Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated. He details his experiences when given the opportunity to fly in a F-14 Tomcat. If you aren't laughing out loud by the time you get to 'Milk Duds,' your sense of humor is seriously broken.

'Now this message is for America 's most famous athletes:



Someday you may be invited to fly in the back-seat of one of your country's most powerful fighter jets. Many of you already have. John Elway, John Stockton, Tiger Woods to name a few. If you get this opportunity, let me urge you, with the greatest sincerity... Move to Guam .

Change your name.

Fake your own death!

Whatever you do.

Do Not Go!!!

I know.

The U.S. Navy invited me to try it. I was thrilled. I was pumped. I was toast! I should have known when they told me my pilot would be Chip (Biff) King of Fighter Squadron 213 at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach .

Whatever you're thinking a Top Gun named Chip (Biff) King looks like, triple it. He's about six-foot, tan, ice-blue eyes, wavy surfer hair, finger-crippling handshake -- the kind of man who wrestles dyspeptic alligators in his leisure time. If you see this man, run the other way, Fast.

Biff King was born to fly. His father, Jack King, was for years the voice of NASA missions. ('T-minus 15 seconds and counting .' Remember?) Chip would charge neighborhood kids a quarter each to hear his dad. Jack would wake up from naps surrounded by nine-year-olds waiting for him to say, 'We have liftoff'.

Biff was to fly me in an F- 14D Tomcat, a ridiculously powerful $60 million weapon with nearly as much thrust as weight, not unlike Colin Montgomerie. I was worried about getting airsick, so the night before the flight I asked Biff if there was something I should eat the next morning.

'Bananas,' he said.

'For the potassium?' I asked.

'No,' Biff said, 'because they taste about the same coming up as they do going down.'

The next morning, out on the tarmac, I had on my flight suit with my name sewn over the left breast.

(No call sign -- like Crash or Sticky or Leadfoot. But, still, very cool.) I carried my helmet in the crook of my arm, as Biff had instructed. If ever in my life I had a chance to nail Nicole Kidman, this was it.

A fighter pilot named Psycho gave me a safety briefing and then fastened me into my ejection seat, which, when employed, would 'egress' me out of the plane at such a velocity that I would be immediately knocked unconscious.

Just as I was thinking about aborting the flight, the canopy closed over me, and Biff gave the ground crew a thumbs-up. In minutes we were firing nose up at 600 mph. We leveled out and then canopy-rolled over another F-14.

Those 20 minutes were the rush of my life. Unfortunately, the ride lasted 80.. It was like being on the roller coaster at Six Flags Over Hell. Only without rails. We did barrel rolls, snap rolls, loops, yanks and banks. We dived, rose and dived again, sometimes with a vertical velocity of 10,000 feet per minute. We chased another F-14, and it chased us.



We broke the speed of sound. Sea was sky and sky was sea. Flying at 200 feet we did 90-degree turns at 550 mph, creating a G force of 6.5, which is to say I felt as if 6.5 times my body weight was smashing against me, thereby approximating life as Colin Montgomerie.
And I egressed the bananas.

And I egressed the pizza from the night before.

And the lunch before that.

I egressed a box of Milk Duds from the sixth grade.

I made Linda Blair look polite. Because of the G's, I was egressing stuff that never thought would be egressed.

I went through not one airsick bag, but two.

Biff said I passed out. Twice. I was coated in sweat. At one point, as we were coming in upside down in a banked curve on a mock bombing target and the G's were flattening me like a tortilla and I was in and out of consciousness, I realized I was the first person in history to throw down.

I used to know 'cool'. Cool was Elway throwing a touchdown pass, or Norman making a five-iron bite. But now I really know 'cool'. Cool is guys like Biff, men with cast-iron stomachs and freon nerves. I wouldn't go up there again for Derek Jeter's black book, but I'm glad Biff does every day, and for less a year than a rookie reliever makes in a home stand.

A week later, when the spins finally stopped, Biff called. He said he and the fighters had the perfect call sign for me. Said he'd send it on a patch for my flight suit.

What is it?? I asked.

'Two Bags.'

Double Header & On the Road

There are two signs that Gerry loves to see while we are on the road.  It was a special day for her when she was able to get both signs in one photo.  For those who know Gerry it would be easy to guess what one of the signs would be.  Any ideas?   Well, I guess I shouldn't keep you in suspense any longer.  The photo below explains it all.

We planned on hitting the road early this morning and were up before 8am. ( We aren't early risers )  Then we heard a knock on the door and it got louder before we could get there.  It was the neighbor next to us who took over 45 minutes to park his 5th wheel the other day.  He didn't want to tell us goodbye or good morning but blurted out "move you car, I want to leave".  My comment to his rude outburst was that he should turn to the right and leave that way, but I would move the car.  Then he replied that his truck wasn't pointing the way I suggested.   What a JERK and LOUD Mouthed old coot he was.  Once I moved our car, he still needed  help from his wife and the camp ground manager to pull out of his spot.  Then he hit the highways.  Watch it, they are out there.

We only had a short drive today so we didn't bother to hookup the car and tow it to the next place.  I thought we were out of the mountains, but I was wrong.  Once we got on I-17 ( or as they say in California  "the 17" ) there was a 7 mile climb and then a 9 mile 6% downward grade.  Finally we were out of the mountains and on flat land for the remaining trip.

We are camped at the North Ranch Escapee park near Congress, AZ.  Yvonne, the widow of my old friend Gerry C spends the winter at the park and we stopped in to visit with her for a few days.  She came by the motor home and visited for a few hours and then we went out to dinner at a local restaurant.  We enjoyed meals and company and spent two hours at the restaurant.  She dropped us off at the motor home and we settled in for the night.

That is when a fly was put into our ointment.  We had a bowl of ice cream each and when I bit into my mint chocolate chip ice cream I felt something hard in my mouth.  Yep, I broke my tooth in half and now have a gap where the other half should be.  It looks like there will be a trip to the dentist ASAP to have it repaired as in a crown.  The dentist can install the crown in two hours and I hope we can get an appointment for Thursday or Friday.  

I don't always respond to comments on the blog since most people wouldn't see them the next day unless they reread the blog.  I do appreciate comments even if I don't respond to them.  Nice to know people take the time to read the blog.

We are watching late night tv out here about the Hurricane Sandy which is pounding the east coast.  They are calling it the Perfect Storm.  According to the projected path it will pass right over our cabin.  I hope the wind isn't to strong and we can come out of it unscathed and no damage.  There isn't much we can do about it out here and will have to wait and see how it fares.

We just hope that there isn't any huge loss of life to this storm.  Things can be replaced, but lost lives can't.

I called our neighbor at the cabin to see how things were going out there.  He was in Ocean City, MD about two blocks from the ocean which was pounding the surf and had high winds whipping around them.  The bridges are closed so they will have to ride out the storm.  I wish them luck.  

Sedona & Motorhome wash job

We had made an appointment to have the motor home washed today and they showed up at our door around 8:30am.  It was still in the high 40s, however they were ready to go.  The water here at the park has a high mineral content and would spot the motor home if we used that water.  The mobile wash people brought in their own water that was softer and also treated with a green wash soap.

I was a little concerned when they brought out the power washer and leery that it would damage the unit.  They stayed far enough away from the mh and all went well.  First, they went up on the roof and washed it.  It sounded like a company of Marines were marching on the roof, but it wasn't a problem.  Then they came down and started working their way around the mh and finally they cleaned the windows really well.  The finished product was great and I think we are about 20lbs lighter due to all the dirt being removed.

I know that if the motor home could talk, she would thank me for the cleaning.  It really does shine and looks like a new unit.  It took over 2 hours and if we would have had to do the job, it would have been twice as long and days of sore muscles.  Well worth the price to have it done by professionals.

We took a number of photos in Sedona the other day and I didn't want to overwhelm everyone by putting all of them out there at the same time.  Gerry had gone in the chapel and took these shots inside looking from the rear of the chapel toward the altar.  

 It is one of the most beautiful chapels we have ever seen and can see why it is one of the most visited spots in Sedona other than the Red Rocks.  

If you are ever in Sedona, make sure you put this place on your bucket list of places to see.  Trust me, it is worth it.

















I think we may have found a spot that the "Pickers" would love to see.  Actually, I am sure pickers found all these signs and sold them to the pottery barn where they are on display.  With the dry climate out here, the signs should last forever.

Gerry continued to work on her card crafting and finished up the Halloween cards and they are in the mail.  Look for yours in the next few days.

Our son-in-law Henry is working on a blog of his own.  He intends to publish what he calls the Picture Of the Day (POD) in the blog.  He has been sending emails with POD attachments and thinks a blog may be a better way of presenting the pictures.  He has a theme each day for the pictures, so it should be interesting to see how he presents the blog.

His blog today included some pictures of our grandson Sean's brother-in-law's wedding yesterday.  They held the wedding at their farm in the pole barn and the reception in tents near the house.  The bride rode to the wedding on the lap of her future husband while driving a John Deere tractor.  Amazingly, the wedding ceremony, reception all went off very well and people loved it.  I think they may be on to something with this wedding.  I would include pictures but don't want to plagirize Henry's blog.  

 

S l o o w S a t u r d ay

Gerry decided she wanted to work on her card crafting today, so I was forced to watch college football.  I was happy to see Georgia beat Florida and then later in the day Arizona beat USC.  Both games were upsets according to the experts, but Georgia handled Florida fairly easily.  Arizona had to come from behind and then hang on at the end with USC throwing a Hail Mary pass that the receiver actually had his hands on in the end zone, but couldn't hold on to the pass.

College football is so much more interesting to watch due to the intense fan support.  The players also show more emotion and actually seem like they enjoy playing the game.  

I am surprised by how high scoring the college game has become.  45-42 scores are common and some scores run into the 50+ points scored by each team.  Some college basketball teams don't score in that range.  I do prefer a high scoring game over a 3-0 game.  I remember when I was in high school watching a football game where they punted on third down just about every series.  It was all about getting good field position and then kicking a field goal or possibly a touchdown at the end.  Boring!

It has turned cold around here the last couple nights with the temperature down in the low 30s.  Our heat pump doesn't work very well once it gets down to the 30s.  We do have a diesel heater that will keep us toasty warm and comfortable.  I think it will be running this evening as they are calling for cold weather again.  Time to get out of here.

Sunday I should have a really nice picture of the motor home after getting a wash job in the morning.  The motor home is very dirty and really needs a bath.  

As you can tell it's been a really quiet day around here.      

Jerome, Arizona

The last place to visit in the area is Jerome, the site of old copper mines.  It is set on the side of a mountain and to get there you have to drive up switchbacks that are very steep.  If you lose your brakes, then it would be curtains for you.  

There are many buildings up there that have been restored and are now being used as restaurants, bars and other commerical enterprises.  We took a number of pictures and loved visiting the place, but I sure wouldn't want to live there.

Main street

Main street

Old school house, now an art center

Jerome nude statue

Looking up toward Jerome

I had intended to write about the history of Jerome and there was so much to be written, so I copied this article from a newspaper.  It is quite lengthy and may tire some people from reading it, but Jerome is an interesting town and has a real wild west history associated with it's growth.

 

The history of Jerome, Arizona is a much longer one than that of the town itself. Before Jerome was Jerome it was the site of a small dig mined by the local Yavapai tribe. The Spanish were the first Europeans to explore the Verde River area in the 16th century. Antonio de Espejo and a troop of Conquistators came through the area looking for El Cibola (the mythic Seven Cities of Gold). Local natives showed them a spot on what later became known as Cleopatra Hill where they mined copper for their jewelry. Legend has it that the Conquistators found a large vein of gold, mined it, and hid it somewhere in nearby Sycamore Canyon. An old coot named Jerry the Miner spent nearly thirty years in the canyon looking for the treasure. He claimed to have found a helmet and a breastplate left by one of the Conquistators. Some people said that he actually found the gold, but these claims have never been verified.

It wasn't until 1876 that American pioneers became interested in the area. An ex-calvary scout named Al Sieber was exploring the Verde Valley looking for gold. When he saw the old mines on the side of Cleopatra Hill, he thought they had potential and so he staked a claim. It wasn't long before other fortune seekers followed his lead. One of those fortune seekers was Nora "Butter" Brown, an enterprising Madam who opened Jerome's first bordello.  Others, such as Angus McKinnon and M. A. Ruffner filed claims not long after. In 1883, investors bought the McKinnon claim for $15,500, and in 1888, Montana Senator William A. Clark leased the mining rights and in 1889 bought control of the claim and formed the United Verde Copper Company. The United Verde Mine eventually produced over $1 billion in copper, gold, silver. 

The town of Jerome was incorporated on March 8, 1898 when Arizona was still a territory. It is said that Jerome was named for Eugene Murray Jerome, a New York investor in the early mining operations of the United Verde and cousin of Jennie Churchill.  From the beginning Jerome was a wild town with minimal law enforcement, building codes, or real government. It was so wild that it earned the title "The Wickedest Town in America". Some wags said that Jerome's sinful ways finally got the attention of higher ups. They attributed these fires to divine retribution. Regardless of the source of these fires, by incorporating, the citizens of Jerome were able to adopt a strict building code and establish a fire department. One of the department's first challenges was a fire in a major mine shaft. The shaft collapsed, killing close to a dozen men. Fortunately, many men were saved due to the efforts of the local firemen and an unlikely ally.

Jerome's reputation for gambling, alcohol, drug abuse, gun fights, and other assorted mayhem only grew after it incorporated. The population grew by leaps and bounds through the next few years, and, when World War One came the price of copper soared and, along with it, the number of miners needed to tear the ore out of the mountain. They came from Mexico, China, and all over Europe - Irish, Italian, Hungarian, Polish, Slovakian, German - to work the mines in the unlikely town of Jerome, Arizona which clung stubbornly to the side of a mountain 5000 feet in the air. During the war, the International Workers of the World tried to stage a strike to obtain better pay and working conditions for the miners. The strike was brutally crushed by the mine owners with the help of the National Guard and the strikers were actually deported out of Jerome in railroad cattle cars and dropped off at the California border.

It was during the boom years of the twenties that Jerome reached its roaring peak. The population of the town swelled to 15,000 people. The mines were working twenty four hours a day. Hotels were dedicated solely to servicing miners. Hotel rooms were rented in eight hour shifts to accommodate the 24 hour working schedule. And because the miners were working all day and all night, the businesses of Jerome were also open around the clock. Prostitution and gambling flourished. Bootleggers supplied the town with all the illegal alcohol it could consume. Opium dens were as numerous as laundries and run by the same Chinese owners. There were three movie theaters, bars, restaurants, schools, tennis courts, swimming pools, bowling alleys, pool halls, drug stores, department stores, churches, brothels, opera house - all the virtues and vices of a classic wild west boomtown.

But, as with almost all the other boomtowns, the good times finally came to an end for the town of Jerome. High grade ore became scarcer and harder to dig out of the mountain. The price of copper fell. And in 1929 the Great Depression began. As quickly as it built itself into a money producing machine, Jerome fell into the depression along with the rest of the country. The mines closed in 1930. There are few records of the town during this period. People were hanging on with their hopes and prayers. There was no other real employment for a hundred miles in any direction. Finally, in 1935 Phelp Dodge bought up a majority of the mining rights in and around Jerome. They decided to blast the ore out of the mountain, creating a huge open pit just to the north of town. For the next few years, Jerome suffered the consequences of this type of mining. The company would explode up to 250,000 pounds of dynamite at a time, blasting the mountain to smithereens and carting the ore to the smelter in Clarkdale by way of a full scale underground railroad. This constant blasting shook Jerome down to its roots. One whole commercial block of downtown Jerome actually slid down the hill. A movie theater, a pharmacy, a pool hall, a JC Penny's, and other businesses crumbled, slid downhill, and had to be dismantled. Jerome's famous "Sliding Jail" can still be seen hundreds of feet downhill from its original location.

When the second World War came, copper prices surged once again and the town experienced a mini rebirth. However, once again, good high grade ore became harder and harder to get out of the mountain, and, after the war, the prices dropped once again.

Finally, in 1952, Phelps Dodge closed its operations in Jerome. This time the closing was final. There was no other work for the unemployed miners and the company made no provisions for them. They had no union to look after them after the owners broke the back of the unions in 1917. Consequently, Jerome suddenly became a ghost town. Families sold their houses for bus fare out of town. Those who couldn't sell just left their homes, many with the furniture still in them. The population dwindled down to perhaps fifty hard core individuals and families. They were suddenly faced with governing a town with an infrastructure designed for a population of 15,000 people. Needless to say, many buildings, streets, facilities, and utilities began to deteriorate. All through the fifties the few that had stayed behind tried valiantly to save the town they loved. They established the Jerome Historical Society The Society bought up as much property has they could, concentrating in the commercial district. In spite of their efforts many structures were lost to slippage, vandalism, and speculators. Their attempts to promote the ghost town aspect of Jerome met with some early success, however. There were always those fascinated by the old wild west and would go out of their way to experience what was left of that romantic period. 

The town remained quiet, empty, and out of the way through the early sixties. It was the perfect place for someone who didn't want to be found to hide - someone who needed some Operating Room. It wasn't until 1967 when a new group of pioneers found the deserted town. A group of young people, disenchanted with what they saw as the hyped-up over-commericialzed and life destroying American dream and looking for a place to live a simpler life, closer to the land, stumbled onto Jerome. They moved in and started rebuilding and restoring the town. Initially, there was some resistance from the residents that had stuck it out and gone through the hard times, naturally enough, but when it finally became obvious that the odd looking young people loved the town and were determined to make a go of it, the diverse elements became a community.

Through the seventies, slowly but surely, the outside world began to intrude upon the town. Speculators moved in attempting to create tourist friendly businesses. House prices rose steadily. Large structures such as the old grade school were purchased and remodeled into restaurants and bars. It became a place where, once again, a person might make a dream come true - a dream of wealth, a dream of enlightenment, a dream of romance.

By the eighties, the town was in full swing rebirth. It was roaring once again. No longer out of the way, it was being drug kicking and screaming back into the mainstream.Jerome has always held an undefinable ghostly, mystical energy. You can ask almost anyone who has spent any time here.

Since those days, Jerome has slowly built itself into a town that is haunted, over the shoulder, by its past while it moves, lurching in circles, into the twenty first century.

Sedona & Red Rocks

Today was our daytrip to Sedona, AZ to see the beauty of the area.  As most everybody knows Sedona is well known for the red mountains in the area  It is a photographer's delight to be able see all this beauty.

We have been here before and took many pictures then and duplicated many of them today.  Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I will let the following pictures speak for themselves.

Chapel of the Holy Cross 

 If you look closely at the above picture you can see the Chapel of the Holy Cross which is a well known Catholic church in Sedona.  It is stunning and the view from the Chapel is equally stunning.  It is a very popular spot and the parking lots are always full of visitors.  If you are in the area, make sure you take the time to view it.

This rock formation is very well known.

 

 There is a huge house across the road from the Chapel and it dominates the homes in the area.  Many people have wondered who owns this 8,200 sq ft home and it seem that Ioan & Elena Cosmescu own the house. They live in Phoenix and he is an inventor who owns patents in the medical field (something called an ESU Pencil is the latest patent).  The home was listed for sale at $29 million but was pulled off the market.

Cosmescu home

 As you enter Sedona from the east on Rt 179 you come across this more modest but equally distinctive Monolithic Dome home called Xanadu.  There are small units behind the the blue egg and the other domes are painted in the colors of the rainbow.  You can take tours of the home for a modest price, but we didn't choose to take the tours.

We drove down to the commerical district of Sedona and tried to find a place to have lunch, but the traffic was too heavy and parking space was at a premium and we headed for West Sedona to find a place to eat.  That proved to be a little more difficult that we expected, but we finally found a Pizza & Sub shop that satisfied our cravings.

After that we were tired out and started to head back to the motor home and got sidetracked to Cottonwood and their "Old Town" area.  It is only about 4 blocks long but looked really nice and they had a number of restaurants and shops.  

While we were in that area we took the opportunity to check out the Dead Horse Ranch State Park and it's campground.  They have three sections that we could fit into, however they only have water & electric with a dump station.  The sites were nice and well spaced apart with many pull thru sites.  

After that we hurried home in order to see our Thursday night TV programs and arrived in time.  We hate to miss Person Of Interest and this was the 1st time we've seen it this year.  Great program.

Since most of you have been in bed for three hours now and I am tired, this will be it for tonight. 

Goodnight!   

Prescott, AZ

We picked Camp Verde as a base to check out some of the towns nearby including Prescott, Jerome, Sedona & Flagstaff.   Today was Prescott's turn for us to check out and we packed some cold water in the car and hit the road.  We headed down I-17 to Rt 169 and skooted over to Prescott.

The drive there was very interesting even in spite of how brown the fields were.  There is a certain beauty to the harshness and barrenness of the landscape.  

We combined sightseeing with some geocaching and the first geocache led us to a small park as you enter Prescott.  There is a major intersection near the park and it's easy to overlook the park, but the GPS directed us there.  There is a statue located there showing some of the early settlers.   The other structure is dedicated to members of the US Armed forces who served our country.  The park stands out in another way since it has beautiful grass, which isn't something you see out here all the time.

Early Settler Statue

  
We drove around the downtown area including Whiskey Row and found it very interesting.  There are a number of beautiful homes on Nob hill including "The Goldwater House" which was built in 1894 by Henry Goldwater who was an uncle of Barry Goldwater.  The Goldwater brothers founded a mercantile company and were prominent businessmen of Arizona for almost a century.  The home now is a vacation rental unit.

The Goldwater House - 1894

One cache was located next to the old Sante Fe Railroad depot in downtown Prescott.  The old structure has been restored and is now an office building attached to a shopping center.  They were working on the building when we were there and couldn't see inside of it, but it was a really interesting from the outside.

Old Sante Fe railroad depot

Prescott is an interesting town and built on the numerous hills and mountains in the area.  I don't think there is a single spot other than local football fields that are level for more than 120 yards.  It is also a mile high and combine that with hills, it must be difficult to walk around a lot.  At least it is for old people like us.

We decided to return to our campsite by driving through Jerome, AZ.   As we were leaving Prescott, we drove by Watson Lake just north of town.  It is a crystal clear lake and has a bright blue sheen to it.  Beautiful lakes like this really stand out in the desert.

Watson Lake

Just up the road from the lake was an area called Granite Dells with huge boulders piled on top of each other.  There was a narrow road through the area and we took a side trip to view the boulders up close and personal.   Areas like this interest both of us very much and we can't pass them up.

Granite Dells

There was an area called The Canyons with a locked gate just down the road from the Dells that had a cache near the front gate.  Since we couldn't get in to purchase a vacation home there, we just took a picture from the entrance.  They closed the gate about 15 minutes before we arrived there - darn it.

 

The Canyon

This area was a favorite of old time Cowboy actor Tom Mix and he filmed many westerns in this area with the granite boulders as back drops.  Now I have to look up his old films and see if I recognize any of the area in his films.

 Since it was getting late and we had a long ways to go, we reluctantly had to leave Prescott and head back to the campground via Jerome, AZ.   We have a day trip planned for Jerome & Sedona for Thursday, but since we had to drive through there to get back, we took a few photos.  It was almost dark as we arrived and captured this photo as we entered the town.

Jerome at sunset

 We stopped at a Strombolli's restaurant in Cottonwood on the way home.  Gerry wanted some Italian food for a change and we used the GPS to find an Italian restaurant.  The food was plentiful and very good.  I ordered a half pitcher of Rolling Rock beer that was priced at $3.50 which was a great price for 2 1/2 glasses of beer.  It had a great taste, so that made it even better.

Oh, btw, we found 9 geocaches and had a lot of fun with the search.  The nice thing about geocaching is finding out of the way places that you wouldn't normally see in an area.  Try it, you will like it.

That was our day, how was yours?