Farwell to Camp Verde/Sedona

April 30, 2016

Our 11 days in Camp Verde went by very fast and we managed to see a lot while we were here.  One day we drove into Prescott, AZ and I managed to turn left when I should have turned right.  Yes, I know Gerry said to turn right!!  We turned on the GPS and our destination was going away from us and that was the first clue.  Finally I was able to make an U-turn and get back on track.

We finished our shopping and it was dinner time so Gerry looked for a nice brew-pub in the area.  There was one on our way back so off we went to find it.  The Lonesome Valley Brewery Co was in a nondescript building in a small strip mall.  They only had 5 choices for the beer and the waitress gave us a small glass of three of them for a taste.  We each liked one and ordered a pint to be had with dinner.  I ordered a Gyro and Gerry had Fettuccini Alfredo and we both were pleased with our food.  If you are in the area, try it out.

As a bonus they had a geocache right in front of the pub and I managed to add my 1499th find to my list.

We went to Sedona on Sunday after a nice morning rain.  The desert was taking on a greenish color as we drove up there.  We've been to Sedona a number of times and really don't care for the downtown area and usually just drive through it.  

Gerry did want to stop at an Art Fair in a shopping mall so we stopped there for her to check out the Navajo Indian jewelry, blankets, woodcarvings and other items.  There were a number of tents and tables set up and it was well attended in spite of the damp weather.

   
After checking out the Art Fair we drove around the beautiful neighborhoods in the area.  We both really love the Southwest homes and if we had a spare million $ or two we would buy one.  The views from these homes are spectacular in many cases.

Of course, the whole area around Sedona is full of beautiful red rock mountains.  Trying to describe them would be like trying to describe the Mona Lisa painting so I will just post some photos we took of them on a rainy day in Sedona.

Nice backdrop for the Chapel of the Holy Cross

Chapel of the Holy Cross

If you've never been to the Sedona area and have a chance to see it, take the opportunity.  It is a beautiful area and a hiker's paradise among the rocks.  

We visited the area for the first time in 2001 and loved it.  Here are a few photos from that time.

Gerry is waving bye for now so I will close the blog on that note.  

Triple Crown & Sedona

Gerry and I both have a love of horse racing and always make it a point to watch the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes. (Triple Crown).   California Chrome had won the first two races and looking for the crown today at Belmont.  Each race is a different distance and it takes a special horse to win all three.  We were hoping to see the first triple crown winner since 1978, but it wasn't to be.  CC came in 4th and didn't really seem to be competing during the race.  What a disappointment.  

The owner of California Chrome was very upset after the race since a horse that only ran one leg to the crown won the race.  That horse was fresher and primed for this race.  I also think if they are going to call it the Triple Crown, then each horse should run all three races.  

Since we don't receive NBC at the campground, we decided to drive into Sedona and watch the race at an Irish Bar.  We had a great corned beef sandwich and a couple good beers.  I even had a chance to throw some darts, but my aim has seriously deteriorated over the years.  Hard to believe I used to be good enough to win beers throwing darts.

Only two bulls eyes

 

Dollar bills on the wall

This says it all.

Very smooth beer

We rode around Sedona for a while and checked out some of the sights.  It was a busy Saturday with a number of Pink Jeeps running up and down the street.  We've shopped in the stores before and almost every thing is overpriced or out of our comfort range.  We also found a 3/4 acre lot on a steep hillside for sale for only $249K.

Since we aren't early morning people, Gerry decided to go to the 5:30pm Saturday mass so we could sleep in Sunday morning.  The church was quite different from other churches and quite interesting.  The altar had large windows on each side one could see the red rocks of the mountains.  It was quite a beautiful setting.

After church we went riding around the area on back roads and managed to get some great photos of the area.  The photos don't come close to really showing the beauty of the area.  The red rock mountains were beautiful in the late afternoon sun and were stunning.  A couple of the photos below were taken in 3D, but it doesn't show up on my computer screen.  Viewing them on our 3D TV is very impressive.

Cathedral Rock

Side view of Cathedral rock

We would have taken more pictures, but the battery on Gerry's camera ran out.  I think sunset is the best time to take photos in the area since it highlights the rocks even more.  We drove down some gravel roads and were off the highway more than a few miles and were wishing we still had our Jeep 4X4 and able to explore even more.

Our neighbor next door stopped by for a visit this evening and we sat outside on the patio talking for a couple hours.  She is a little younger than we are and travels with three dogs in her Tiffin motorhome. She has been on the road for 10 years and loving it.  She noticed our South Dakota tags and was curious why we picked there for our home address.  After discussing why, we chatted on and on over various subjects.

She lost a arm in an accident just after she graduated from high school, but manages to do everything very well with one arm.  She only mentioned the accident in passing and didn't dwell on it.  You have to give her a lot of credit for her great attitude.

That was our day, how was yours?

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.  

 

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?