Monday, October 19, 2009

The Surprising Verde Valley, Arizona

We've already been camped here at the Zane Grey RV Park, in Camp Verde, for five days and it's been a beautiful five days. Here's some of what we've seen...
The hillside town of Jerome - former mining town, redlight district and ghost town now filled with shops and galleries. DSC05018
The Mongollon Rim escarpment which, more or less, is a one edged canyon. We drove 30 min. on a bumpy, gravel road to get there. DSC05056
Quail Country Quilt Show - reminded me a lot of Janet's Guild Quilt show but a bit smaller. IMG_3478
The beautiful red rock spires surrounding Sedona including a sunset view. There were two wedding parties at the river taking photos and one had a Native American flute player that added just the right musical atmosphere. DSC05202
The planets orbiting Jupiter, the Ring Nebula, and a star cluster through the telescopes at Lowell observatory. It was a beautiful new-moon evening and we could easily see the Milky Way without even needing the telescopes. DSC05212
Montezuma’s Castle and Well. Considering the fact that Montezuma never left Mexico, there are a lot of things here named for him. Early explorers mistakenly assumed the ruins they found were left by him, but they were actually much earlier inhabitants of this land. DSC05213
Tuzigoot ruins of a 1000 year old town - rebuilt by the WPA in the 30's along with a beautiful little museum also built by the WPA. DSC04993-2
Beautiful vistas and views in every direction along the beautiful Arizona horizon. DSC04708

We also kayaked in one of the small-ish Dead Horse Ranch Lagoons as well as biked to get a closer view of Sedona's Cathedral Rock. Panorama 3 
Zane Grey RV Park Street View
Yesterday, we took a day off from driving around. Ellyn learned to play "Hand and Foot" cardgame with two of the women  from the RV park. We really like this small shady RV park - it's very relaxing and the people are very nice. Perhaps, we'll get a chance to visit, here, again in the spring.