skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Despite Marc’s lack of sleep, we say goodbye to Mark & Bobbie after a slow Sunday morning of getting ready to leave our boondocking spot. We plan on heading to Montezuma’s Castle National Monument, just down the road apiece, and also thence north to Cottonwood and the Tuzigoot ruins. Both were built by the Sinagua people in the ancient past; around the 1100-1300 time period.
Montezuma’s Castle is a cliff dwelling, much like the much more famous Mesa Verde National Park ruins in Colorado, but on a simpler and smaller scale; it is estimated only 35 people lived here. Although it’s nice to see, it’s not something we were overwhelmed with and it occupied us for a mere 30 minutes. However, this park will forever be etched in my memory as the place where I picked up one of the best deals about growing older: the Golden Age Pass which allows seniors (and up to three people with them) free lifetime access to all national parks, monuments, wildlife and BLM facilities for only the $10 onetime fee. My money will stay at Montezuma’s Castle since whatever park receives the payment gets it for improvements.
We wandered towards Cottonwood, another 15 miles north of Montezuma’s with the idea of settling in for a night of paid camping at Dead Horse State Park. There were no non-electric sites so we ended up with a water and electric pull through site. As an aside, Marc seemed to have difficulty in negotiating the correct loop road to access the pull through spot we had been assigned, which required two entire trips around full circle. As if that wasn’t bad enough, when we returned later in the day from further touring he again picked the wrong loop road which put the Freightliner at the back of the rig instead of the front, requiring yet another tour around the entire one-way loop. As we pulled in I told him if this time he wasn’t correct to let me out; that I was too embarrassed to ride around the loop anymore with him… as if he were showing off the truck and looking like total newbie’s! I finished up by laughing and quipping “You don’t even know how to negotiate a campground!” We stay in one so seldom—if it doesn’t involve dirt roads, ruts, and crossing washes and gullies, he’s lost his touch!
Early afternoon found us touring Tuzigoot, a larger ruin of approximately 235 people built in late 1300’s on a small hill overlooking the very scenic Verde Valley just east of Clarkdale. Looming over us on the western flank of the Mingus Mountains was a large copper smelter which long ago spewed yellow tailings over this entire area which created a decidedly unhealthy and dusty experience for ruin visitors. Since, the company was required to do cleanup by placing dirt over the tailings and planting native vegetation so there is only a faint trace of yellow left to the soil. Wild burros graze on it today.
Tuzigoot has a small loop trail which allows visitors to circle the ruins, with one section of wide stairways which accesses an interior room, highly reconstructed, and access to the roof which affords 360 degree expansive views. We find it slightly more interesting than Montezuma’s Castle and the views of the countryside are engaging as the smoggy air has finally cleared due to the high winds we’re having.
From the ruins we decide to walk the streets of the charming historical district of Cottonwood, dating from the 1930’s. It is surprisingly filled with many wine tasting establishments, funky shops, and antique stores mixed in with civic offices. Marc can’t help himself from a stop at the candy store where we indulge in a pound of taffy, although it is not the coastal “salt water” kind we are used to. Even Marc is captivated by Larry’s Antiques, which boasts over 2 acres of antiques and seems to fulfill that billing with a mix of various rooms, buildings, nooks and crannies and outdoor areas. I found prices to be quite reasonable and offer up several items which particularly caught my eye.
Our day ends quietly in the campground after I had made a final purchase at a rock store of an additional book I have been wanting , The Gem Trails of Arizona. Although we didn’t plan on any rockhounding this trip and didn’t bring our tools, this reading will supply me with new ideas and locales for future trips. No time soon however—it’s just about time for the rattlesnakes to emerge.
Tucked into what one could mistakenly think is Tuscany, Italy, among towering and now leafless Arizona sycamore trees, is a shopping center like none other. Crowded with people this fine 75 degree Saturday in Sedona, we too mingle with the others and gawk and photograph our way through woven alleyways spilling into numerous courtyards filled with colorful tile, magnificent artwork, and fountains.
People stroll and take their time, marveling at the boutique shops or sit sipping wine and dining al fresco at the numerous restaurants. Some of the shops are Hansel and Gretel quaint, like Red Rock Candle & Gift and others feel like an open air marketplace in Europe with wares like exotic rugs on display. We ourselves all eat at the Oak Creek Brewery and Grill and enjoy a fine meal. Musicians are set up scattered throughout playing soft background music, selling CDs of new age jazz.
Being a fountain connoisseur, my heart is happy as I encounter a new temptation in every plaza or courtyard. They are relaxing and beautiful. Gosh, I get to thinking, I could live here it is so enchanting.
For those who enjoy artwork, there are myriad galleries and all sorts of patio artwork on display. It’s a not-to-be-missed experience if one is visiting Sedona.
It’s Friday and we’re off and away by 10 a.m. headed down the interstate towards Marc and Bobbie’s Sedona boondock to meet up with them. A long five plus hours later, after a lunch stop, navigating the traffic through Phoenix, and a couple of kitty breaks (truck travel makes the cats nervous and they need to use the litter box more than normal) we spot the Johnson’s A frame chalet high on a scrub hill looking like a beacon. We are just about set up in our own adjacent scrub spot between Pinion pines when Mark returns from picking up Bobbie from art class in Sedona and we all do the meet and greet. It is a real pleasure to finally meet someone you already feel you know and consider friends and over the course of the next couple days we find those feelings fully justified. The evening is spent getting to know one another sitting outdoors enjoying the balmy temperatures until coming darkness causes them to fall and our appetite bell to go off for dinner.
The one thing that could majorly cause a problem on this trip has happened; somehow Marc’s C-pap mask has gone missing from his machine so he gets very little sleep and wakes with a terrible sore throat Saturday morning. He leaves on a wild goose chase trying to find a medical supply shop open in either Cottonwood or Sedona, only to be thwarted. It is a major setback that has him thinking of cutting the trip short and returning home. He realizes just how much I have counted on this opportunity to get out of Yuma and takes pity on me and will try to make it through, but he will spend the rest of the nights obtaining only a couple hours of sleep per night.
We decide to ride along in Mark’s truck for a down and dirty tour of Oak Park Village and Sedona. It’s a very busy area, with tourists so packed in on shopping frenzies that there is not even room to pull over to take pictures. After finding all trailhead parking lots jammed full and hordes of trekkers headed for the red rock vistas, we give up any thought we had of hiking and head instead for a lunch at the very scenic Tlaquepaque shopping center, styled after an old Italian Tuscany village. We meet another fulltimer, Wanderin Lloyd, and all enjoy a very tasty lunch at Oak Creek Brewery. That evening we host Mark and Bobbie to some of Marc’s smoked pulled pork as we huddle together in our rig due to the high winds. It’s another satisfying, leisurely day.
Tlaquepaque is such a singular experience; I will cover it in its own entry following this post.
