April 28, 2016 Cottonwood-Sedona, Arizona

70’s, mostly cloudy and threatening rain most of the day.

The view of the dispersed camping area from my bike ride this am. This one is smaller and more crowded than the others we have been to.  We visited Montezuma’s Castle National Monument. This is the cliff dwelling part of it.  You can’t go in it, just view it from the bottom.

They have this nice diorama of it so you can see what the inside looks like. The diorama was made in 1951 when they closed it walking through.  There were many other stuctures around it, this is part of what is left of what they call Castle A, which was much bigger.

Next we visited Montazuma’s well National Monument, near by. It is a huge sink hole with a spring. Very unusual for the desert. In the top left corner you can see a couple cliff dwellings above it. There was a large pueblo that was on the edge of the well. The well marks the point of origin several Native groups in the area. Oral tradition tell of the spirit of the great water serpent that still lives there. The Yavapai call this “Ah-hah Bavilwaja”-water monster.

Yucca, blooming cactus, pink flower and scarlet guara. The indians built these canals from the outlet of  the well for up to 7 miles to irrigate their crops.

Mountain mahogony flower, golden columbine, maiden hair fern near the outlet of the well and a mallow seed head. Out side the monument the Indains have  the Cliff Castle Casino.

On the way back we stopped at the Verde Brewing Company. This is the empty glass of Out on Bail IPA that John had. I tasted the Honey Pot Stout.  When we got back to camp the storm was hanging out over the mountains to the north of us, kind of where Jerome is.

We went to V-Bar-V ranch heritage site to view petroglyphs. This chiminy is all that is left of the ranch house there.  There are a few rocks here with over 1000 petroglyphs. They aligned the rocks at the top so that the sun shined of different glyphs at different times of the year, equinox’s, solstices etc. Helped them know when to plant etc.

This is a closer up of part of the panel and another section.

Purple nightshades, salsify and daisies. After the petroglyphs we hike Bell Trail. John on the trail

This petroglyph is supposed to be a cougar on an elks back. One of the unique ones to this site. Shart the trail Arizona style, larkspur and a pink flower. We had lunch by this lovely pool.

Spiderwort, blue water flower, another interesting petroglyph and a cactus flower. Another view of our lunch spot.

Hiking back out. We went to Sedona next. I went to college in Flagstaff some time over 40 years ago most of this area was just out in the country. We could take off hiking anywhere and camp anywhere. Now it is all fancy city. It is still a lovely area, but sooooo different to me.

Our destination in Sedona was the Oak Creek Brewery. Here is John with his Snake Charmer IPA. I think this is the fanciest brewery I have been to yet. Another shot of Sedona where I was used to seeing country.

Sunset at camp. There is a rainbow to the far left of this photo. The clouds are from a rainstorm that just past before sunset.

April 26-27, 2016 Camp Verde-Cottonwood, Arizona

We went to a lower altitude at Camp Verde, only around 3,000 feet and it was mid 70’s and sunny. Very pleasant.

The bus at the Zane Grey RV park outside of Camp Verde. Very nice park, the cleanest park I think I have ever seen. Lots of trees and shade. We came to plug in, charge up the battery some, do laundry  and dump.  We took a walk along the nature walk in the park along West Clear Creek. Lovely.

Green trees and blue sky. Lots of flowers. Senicio, pink penstamen and desert honey suckle bush.

A feather with the sun behind it, grass seeds, more desert honeysuckle and red penstamen. Another view of the creek.

Flag seen in the RV park. Mallow, big beetle, orange desert honeysuckle and a mustard.

Two shots of golden columbine, poison ivy (my favorite, not!) and aster buds. Another view of the trail.

Pampas  grass, money flower, deformed aster and thistle. We moved to BLM free camping today outside of Cottonwood, Arizona

John treated us to  pedicures today. John getting pretty! I was feeling wild, so got my nails painted purple!

After the pedicure we visited ‘That Brewery’ in Cottonwood -to let my nails dry John said. . .  A couple signs on the wall at That Brewery. The Used beer was by the bathroom.

Masterpiece in progress. Sunset from our campsite.

April 25, 2016 Jerome, Arizona

Jerome is north of Prescott. It is down the mountain, across the valley and up the next mountain. It was founded in 1876. It is built over  what was the largest copper mine in Arizona. It is on a 30 degree slope so the houses have one story on the back and three on the front. The streets are very narrow. The population peaked at 15,ooo in the 1920’s, but dropped to 5,000 in the 30’s. It became a ghost town when the mine closed in 1953. It has been restored and is now a National Historic district, bustling tourist magnet and artistic community.

Jerome from the Jerome Grand Hotel. We stopped at the Asylum restaurant for lunch in the Jerome Grand Hotel. The hotel building was the hospital from 1927-1950. It sat empty for 44 years until 1994 when it was bought, renovated and turned into the Grand Hotel. Note that the menu says lunch for the committed!

John at the Asylum for lunch. A couple signs seen.The chief surgeon’s house is now a  B and B, I think the snake sanctuary is a way of saying keep out of the garden. The second sign was seen in the ladies room of the hotel.

Our second choice for lunch was the Haunted Hamburger if the Asylum was closed. Even the non renovated buildings are prettied up.

In the Mine Museum I saw top left the chinese laundry machine, the amulance car from the mine, the toilet car from the mine train and in the last photo the tall copper thing is a steamer for towels in the barber shop. This storm over the Verde Valley blew into town with rain, snow and high winds. Brrr.

John at the Bordello for Jerome-food, booze and gifts. The Audry headframe is the largest wooden head frame in the world. John is standing in the elevator of the headframe on a piece of glass over a 1000 foot mine shaft. The shaft is supposed to be lighted, but it wasn’t today.

Jerome from below during the storm. One of three streets in town with the renovated buildings. The dash temp in the car is 44 degrees.

What is this white stuff?? Snow! It is time to head to a lower altitude.

Sunset back at camp.