Jerome, Arizona

It was another hot day around here, but we decided to get out of the motor home and go sightseeing.  We've been to Jerome a number of times in the past and have always enjoyed visiting the area.  

There have been many blogs and articles written about Jerome and rather than add to this list, I am attaching a clicky to one of the better websites touting Jerome.   
Click here ====>      Jerome Article  

We made the Jerome State Park our first stop to get a nice view of the valley looking back toward Clarkdale and Cottonwood.   It also provided us with a view up the mountain toward Jerome and all the houses built on the hillsides.  The large building at the top center of the photo below is the Jerome Grand Hotel which is still in operation.

This Spanish Mission style building, constructed in 1926, started out as the United Verde Hospital, opening January, 1927. In 1930, it was written up as the most modern and well equipped hospital in Arizona and possible the Western States. The Hospital was closed in 1950 as the mine operation was being phased out. The building stood unused for the next 44 years until the rehabilitation plans started in 1994.

The building is one of the highest public structures in the Verde Valley, (5240 Ft.). As the last major building constructed in Jerome, the building was not only to boost the pride of the town in its classic design, but was built fire proof and able to withstand the blasts of up to 260,000 pounds of dynamite set off by the mine and sometimes felt as far away as Camp Verde, a distance of 20 miles. How this 30,000 sq. ft., five level building of poured in place, reinforced concrete, was constructed on a 50 degree slope is an engineering marvel even by today's standards! ***  Copied from the Jerome Grand Hotel website.

We noticed the house below and took a closeup of it since it looked like it would not be out of place in the Swiss Alps.  It is also shown in the photo above at the bottom center.

The Little Daisy Mine is just outside of the State Park and is in remarkable shape for being almost 100 years old.  The cage that I am in descended 1900 ft down to the mine and was used to bring workers down and ore back up.  There is noway that I would ride this cage to the bottom and then work there.  Just not my bag!

They had their own generator station built next to the mine shaft.  At first they depended on Childs generating station to supply power, but they soon exceeded the power of the station.  They then built their own electric power station and the details are shown below.  All I can say is they built things to last in those days, unlike the cheap junk we import now.

The next three photos give you an idea how large the power generating equipment was.  Keep in mind they had to haul these large pieces of equipment miles up the side of the mountain and install it.  It would be extremely difficult to do so now but I can imagine them using mules to haul it up there.

This is part of downtown Jerome and some of the 100 + years old buildings.  Many are still in use but there are sections where only the walls are still standing.  There are mostly bars, restaurants, art galleries and other touristy things to see and do.   We did stop and buy some fudge at a shop we've been to a few times in the past.  No T-shirt though.

I had downloaded some geocaches in Jerome, but parking near them was very difficult and there were many people sitting around near the caches.  Maybe next time we can pick up a few of them, but not today.

We did drive around Clarkdale a little and were impressed by the town.  It was very neat and orderly with a lot of old homes restored and in great shape.  They have a very nice park in the center of town with a bandstand in the middle.  It reminded us of how small towns used to look before the big box stores ran the shops on main street out of business.  

We last blogged about Jerome in October of 2012.  You can connect to the blog at this address.  

Jerome - October 2012 

That was our day, how was your?

Tuzigoot National Monument

Tuzigoot National Monument was our destination today and we really picked a hot day for the visit. We had planned on taking the 1/3 mile hike to the buildings, but it was just too hot for us to try it. If we get a chance, we would like to drive there very early one morning and make the hike before the heat becomes unbearable.

Many ancient sites in Arizona had been discovered and were uncovered. It wasn't until the 1930s they got around to working on the Tuzigoot pueblo on the outskirts of what is now Cottonwood, AZ. Tugizoot (Apache for “crooked water” ) is the remmant of a Southern Sinagua village built between 1100 and 1400 AD. It crowns the summit of a long ridge rising 120 feet above the Verde Valley. The original pueblo was two stories high in places, with 87 ground floor rooms. There are few exterior doors, entry was by ladder through roof openings. The village began as a small cluster of rooms inhabited by some 50 persons for 100 years. In the 1200s the population doubled and then doubled again.

Aerial view of Tuzigoot - copied from an internet site

The people slowly left the pueblo over a period of a few years and the village was emptied of all people and stayed that way. While it isn't a well known monument, it was very interesting visiting there. The people were mainly farmers and the Verde River flowing by the area contributed greatly to their ability to raise crops. The land near the river was fertile and with a constant water source the village flourished.

They have a very nice visitors center at the monument made out of local stones.  Inside they have a number of artifacts on display, and while it is a small display, the quality of the artifacts is impressive.

There was a "virtual geocache" at the visitors center and we had to send in a picture of one of us at the entrance to the center with our GPS in view.  Since Gerry is more photogenic than I am, I tricked her into posing for the shot.

Tuzigoot visitors center.

The mines in Jerome just west of the Tuzigoot National Monument dumped slag and waste from the mines down the hillside for years and it covered the fields that were used by the people hundreds of years ago.  There have been some efforts to restore the area around Tuzigoot and there is now grass growing where the waste used to be.  It is far from a complete success, but hopefully it is a start and over time the area can be back to it's natural state.

We also took some time to geocache while we were out today and found five interesting caches.  A couple of them were very difficult to find, but eagle eyed Gerry managed to search them out.  We kept the geocaching to a minimum due to the heat, but had fun finding the ones we did.

A stop at the Tavern Grille in Old Cottonwood for dinner was most welcome after the running around we did earlier.  It was just our luck to have a new waitress and she had to keep running back to her trainer to get prices and other information.  We treated it like a game and I told her it was an effort on my part to have her learn the job better.  She kept smiling, I just hope she didn't deposit anything in my food.  Most likely she didn't, since we both enjoyed our meals.

That was our day, how was yours?

Quiet Days

It just dawned on me the other day that we have been fulltiming for 8 years now.  It seems like just yesterday that we backed our motor home out of the driveway and headed for Gettysburg, PA and Drummer Boy Campground.   It was the beginning of a new adventure for us and we've enjoyed the ride.

We agreed that if either one of us wanted to settle down and move back to a house that the other would do so without any argument.  That discussion has been had a few times but neither of us are ready to come off the road.  We enjoy the freedom of this lifestyle and when a location we are in becomes boring, we move on. 

It is getting harder to blog about new places since we've been to a number of them before.  I don't want the blog to be a repetition of past postings and that is why there are gaps in the blog now.  We still visit some of the old places, but don't blog about them.

We are enjoying our time in Camp Verde, AZ and have explored the area a little more and at the same time picked up a number of geocaches.  I check the area where we will be for the day and download caches in the area.  Since it has been running around 100 degrees the last few days, we limit the time we spend searching for the treasures.  

It looks like we will extend our stay here another few days and avoid the real heat in the Tucson area.  When it gets up around 107-109 degrees it is a good place to avoid.  Yes, I know it is a dry heat, but even so, it is HOT.  I hope they have the pool open at Cactus Country RV Resort when we stop there for a week or so.

Gerry has been having some problems with her camera so we haven't taken many pictures lately.  We did take a ride on Saturday and checked out old Cottonwood and Clarkdale.  We plan on taking a train ride on Tuesday and wanted to see how long it took to drive there.  These are some of the sights we saw on our way.

Camp Verde, AZ

Nice foot bridge over Verde River

Kokopelli

Children playing in Verde River

That car is older than me

Converted gas station to burger & malt shop.

So, we are still here and enjoying ourselves.  What about you, are you having fun?

Countries visited

It has been a slow two days around here in Camp Verde.  We went to Pizza Hut and ordered their $5.00 all you can eat spaghetti & meatballs on Wednesday and enjoyed the meal.  Of course we each had a beer and they cost $4.25 each, so there wasn't such a great savings.  Next week we will stick with water and still enjoy the spaghetti.

Gerry is working on her card making hobby and has stuff spread all over the motorhome.  It looks like dinner will be served on trays this evening, but that is fine with me.   It looks like cheeseburgers are on the menu for tonight, with home made french fries.  Yummy!

While Gerry was doing her card thing, I ran a few errands and paid for another week here at Rancho Verde RV park.  After that I went geocaching almost got skunked finding one.  I finally found two caches and entered them into the computer.

I ran across a program the will create world maps where you have visited and was fooling around with it.  Just for kicks I entered all the countries I remember visiting and entered them into the program.  This is the result of that effort.

It looks like I have a long way to go filling in all the white spaces with green.

Hot time in the ole campsite

We both knew it couldn't last forever and enjoyed the nice weather we've had the past month or so.  That all came to an end today with temps around 104 degrees and no wind.  We have two air conditioners in the motorhome and they both were running full blast today and working hard to keep it cool inside.  I had already put the outside window shades down and that helped cool the unit, plus we have shade from a tree next to us.

This was a good day to stay inside and watch movies, so that is what we did.  "Acts Of Valor" was the movie of choice today and it was a good one.  It was more of a tribute to the Seal Teams and the sacrifices they have made defending our freedoms.  If you get a chance to watch the move, take it.  Lots of shooting and violence, but that is what they have to deal with.
  "Act of Valor" follows a Navy Seal squad on a covert mission to recover a kidnapped CIA agent, and in the process takes down a complex web of terrorist cells determined to strike America at all costs. The filmmakers had unprecedented Naval access resulting in high-octane combat sequences and never-before-seen military operation scenes which are composited from actual events in the lives of the men appearing in the film and their comrades.

Our luck continues to be good on this trip.  We have the bikes on a rack on the rear of the Saturn.  We've used this particular bike rack for at least 12 years and it's been a good one for us.   A local Mexican restaurant was our destination for tonight and as we pulled into the driveway, one of the straps holding the bike rack on the car broke and the bikes dropped down almost to the road.  

I parked the car and got out to check the damage and immediately a couple came over and offered to help us.  Turns out they were fellow RVers and wanted to lend a hand.  Nice to see the bond that RVers have with each other.  We chatted a while and I assured them we would be OK.  Thanks, you guys.

We removed the bikes from the rack, took off the front wheels and stored the bikes in the back of the Saturn.  Now I will have to find a new strap for the bike rack or buy another one.  I do have a rack for the motorhome and may just go back to using it.  

BTW:  The meal was great at the restaurant and we had good service.  The food is real Mexican cusine, rather than Tex-Mex, but we enjoyed it anyway.

That was our day, how was yours?