Sedona, AZ

SUN., NOV 20, 2022 thru SAT., NOV 26, 2022

After leaving Winslow, AZ on Sunday morning, Nov. 20th, we had views of the San Francisco Peaks mountain range. Sooo pretty! We arrived in Cottonwood, AZ at Dead Horse Ranch State Park near Sedona. The campground is completely full! We did not expect that. We’re here for the week! Interesting story how the park got its name. The Ireys family came to Arizona from Minnesota in the late 1940s looking to buy a ranch. At one property they discovered a dead horse lying by the road. When Mr. Ireys asked the kids which ranch they liked the best, they said ”the one with the dead horse.” The family named it “Dead Horse Ranch,” and when Arizona State Parks acquired the ranch in 1973, the Ireys made retaining the name a condition of the sale. 

The state park has several camping loops and hiking trails. The afternoon we arrived we saw two folks riding horses on a trail behind our campsite. That was a first! The Hannafords are at the site next to ours! 

Monday was a chore day. Tuesday, Nov. 22nd, the four of us enjoyed a pretty drive to the old mining town of Jerome, where we spent the day exploring this funky town. In its heyday (1920s) it was the largest producer of copper, gold and silver in Arizona. Today it’s considered a ghost town with a population of 476. It sits up on a hill with beautiful views. Historic old buildings have been re-purposed to be art galleries, saloons, and eateries. But there are still enough vacant half-standing buildings to give one the feel of a ghost town!

One upscale gallery had floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over a spectacular mountain view. Gary was ready to buy the building and move in! Several other galleries were located inside a defunct auto repair shop. Still another gallery had a Puschiva statute, as seen on AtlasObscura.com, where you make offerings.

The old Bartlett Hotel has a few walls still standing. It became unstable in the 1930s because of slides due to mining. Gary is amazed that several of these half-standing buildings are allowed to remain. 

There is a famous landmark in Jerome called “The Sliding Jail.” The jail was built in 1905. In the mid-1930s during dynamite explosions at the copper mine, it slowly crept 225 ft from it’s original location into the middle of Hull Ave. The road was altered to go around the jail. Eventually the jail was moved to this new location.

Lastly while in town, we ate at the oldest restaurant in Arizona, Bobby D’s BBQ. Delish!

A fun day exploring this quirky ghost town. Back at our tiny homes, we were treated to another pretty sunset in the evening.

On Wednesday we headed to Sedona! First stop: Chapel of the Holy Cross. It’s built high atop, and directly into, the red rocks of Sedona. Unfortunately being the day before Thanksgiving and school vacation week, it was packed with tourists. No available parking for a big dually truck! Cheryl did a masterful job negotiating the traffic! Sooo we snapped a photo from the truck and continued on. 

Next stop was Tlaquepaque Arts & Crafts Village, pronounced T-la-keh-pah-key, and it means “the best of everything.” It was built 40 years ago by a man who had a dream to create “a village in Sedona reflecting the flavor, sights and sounds of Old Mexico.” He succeeded! It was the most spectacular shopping experience I’ve ever had! There are 50 amazing galleries built around vine covered stucco walls and arched entryways, cobblestone streets, and giant sycamore trees woven into the setting and thru some of the buildings. Plus, being the day before Thanksgiving, there were several musicians playing. Just a beautiful setting. 

Then it was time for our “Mogollon Rim” A-Day-in-the-West Jeep Tour. Oy. Cheryl & I picked the bumpiest jeep tour possible! Two hours of being jostled! We did laugh a lot! “Badger” our driver was full of good info, and we had some nice views of Sedona’s beautiful red rocks. But we won’t be repeating that experience again! Afterwards it was time to head home and sit in a cushy chair!

Thursday was Thanksgiving! It’s my favorite holiday… all about being with those we love, being thankful, and enjoying good food! We had a wonderful day with the Hannafords! Cheryl & I shared the cooking and did a traditional meal. She took on the Turkey! We laughed a lot, played a game (Joe won) and watched the Patriots lose unfortunately. A wonderful day with wonderful friends who have become family. 

On Friday, Nov. 25th, we decided to avoid Sedona because of holiday crowds and focus on areas outside the city. First stop: Tuzigoot National Monument. The word “Tuzigoot” is an anglicized version of an Apache word meaning “crooked water.” Tuzigoot preserves a 2-3 story Pueblo ruin on the summit of a ridge. This was a thriving community for 400 years. At it’s peak in 1300 CE, 225 Hopi called Toozigoot home but up to 8,000 Native Americans lived in neighboring villages in the area. 86 rooms have been excavated on this site and their walls partially rebuilt (out of 110 ultimately uncovered) which gives one a real sense of what it must have looked like at the time. The most important members of the clan had the hilltop “apartments.”

After Tuzigoot, we headed to the small town of Clarkdale to visit the Arizona Copper Art Museum. Fascinating place! It’s housed in the old Clarkdale High School that closed in 1950 and was vacant for 40 years before being turned into this gem! The town of Clarkdale was founded to handle the smelting operation for the copper that was mined in nearby Jerome. The town is named after William A. Clark who bought the smelting operation and expanded it making him one of the wealthiest Americans ever! Copper is big in this area… making the town of Clarkdale a natural home for this museum. One of our favorite exhibits was “Trench Art” from World War I. Soldiers, mostly on the Western Front, collected enormous amounts of spent shell casings and turned them into art while they were in the trenches. Remarkable! There was also an enormous amount of kitchen copper cookware on display… some of it incredibly heavy!

From there we headed to the small downtown area of Cottonwood and walked the Jail Trail Riverwalk. Well, three of us walked it. Gary passed on that. At the end of the trail we landed at the old jail, thus the reason for the trail name. It is now a gift shop. We all did walk through the cute downtown area before calling it a day!

Sat., Nov. 26th, the pod did a 2-mile hike in Dead Horse Ranch State Park where we visited and old Mexican cemetery and climbed a ridge for some nice views. We also enjoyed Happy Hour around a campfire and were treated to a beautiful sunset once again. 

Tomorrow we move on to see the London Bridge!