Weekend Adventure in AZ

A Castle?

It was my last weekend with the rental car, so I decided to make the most of it.

The RV park where I was staying was minutes away from Montezuma Castle National Monument, which I had never heard of before getting to AZ. On Saturday, I took a walk back into time to see how people built homes into the sides of the hills of northern Arizona. There was even a narrated diorama on the walking path that was really interesting.

The Arizona Sycamores in this park were beautiful. You can see some of the dwellings from the ground, but they stopped tours of the actual dwellings in the 1950s. Unfortunately, it looked like the park had recently disturbed by vandals, including the area by the creek. 😦 There may have been a sign that I may have ignored, so I could grab a peak at the creek (pic below).

After my visit to Montezuma Castle, I had time to stop at the Camp Verde library, which was great. They had a great assortment of used books for sale, so I found some more books for the road.

Then I headed south to meet a former co-worker for lunch. We ate at a restaurant in Anthem, AZ, and it was so great to catch up. We estimated that it had been 10 years since we had last seen each other, and it was like no time had passed.

After lunch, I found a new pair of hiking boots at an outlet mall close to the restaurant. I discovered, after walking part of the Grand Canyon rim trail, my feet are now too old for my hiking shoes. After three different stores, I found a very comfortable pair of hiking boots that support my old feet and have some ankle support, which my old hiking shoes were lacking.

I headed back to Camp Verde for a massage that I had scheduled, and my massage therapist gave me a bunch of recommendations for the rest of my time, including a small mining town called Jerome.

Sunny Sedona on Sunday

I thought I’d take advantage of being close to Sedona and take a day trip to visit. I found a local breakfast spot – Cafe Jose – and headed up there early Sunday morning. The potatoes were awesome, and the cinnamon roll was even better – a great way to start the day.

I also scheduled two trolley tours with Sedona Trolley. This tour made it easy to see the city and some of the sights surrounding the area.

Red rocks of Sedona! We also went to the Chapel of the Holy Cross, which was surprisingly tiny but lovely. One of the great parts of the tour was that trolley dropped us off at the chapels, which was great because parking near the chapel was pretty limited. The afternoon trolley drove up to the north canyon, which was so peaceful that I managed to fall asleep on the trolley, so the pic on the right is my post-nap face.

From Sedona, I decided to drive up to Jerome, AZ – a small, former mining town. This drive was not for the faint of heart, which I didn’t realize until I was driving the road. If you go to the Jerome link, you’ll see some excellent pictures on their home page to give you a sense of how far up the mountain I was. I went to the local museum, which had a lot of great information about the origins of the town, when it became a ghost town, and how it has recovered. I also grabbed some lunch at Clinkscale, a local restaurant.

There were probably other shops or sights to see, but I wanted to get to Prescott, Arizona, so I finished lunch and drove to Prescott. Coming out of Jerome, you drive through the Prescott National Forest, which was just amazing. It had recently snowed, so it was extra lovely. I was on the interior side of the road, so I had fewer butterflies taking that road down the mountain.

When I got to Prescott, I parked near Whisky Row and walked around. I had hoped to visit a historical site (Sharlot Hall Museum) instead, but it was closed because of recent snow. There were some interesting shops and plenty of bars. I had a nice walk around the square and in the nearby neighborhoods.

A view from Jerome.