2013 Winter Trip - Stop 7

March 14 thru 27, 2013

Another travel day.  These are not Vonna’s favorite of days.  She loves it while we are there, but not the traveling.

We were up and got ready to go early.  Was a hard to tell our neighbors good-by, but we will see them on a trip soon.  It was nice having people to spend time with.

Near our Trailer at campsite

We were off to the Verde Valley.  It was a nice drive, climbing the hills and getting into a green area.  We are from the central valley, mainly going from home to the bay area, and used to green grass and rolling hills with mountains off in the distance.  As we got to the campsite we were both tired, but had to find a nice site.  We drove around, not easy pulling a 32’ 5^th wheel.  We found a couple, I liked one, Vonna another.  We decided to go to the first one we liked, and found a perfect one.  Neither of us had seen it before.  

Breakfast at the Nelson's

We were setup, and resting before we knew it.  The rest of the trip runs together for me.  It was a fast stop, less than two weeks, but a lot to see in the area.  I will try to hit the high lights of what we did.

The closest town is Cottonwood, and we had to pick up some mail the first part of the week after we got there.  We decided that we would go on to downtown and look around.  There were some little shops there, and Vonna had a great time looking at everything.  There were a couple of antique stores that we looked in, and they had some very interesting items.

We wanted to try and make the railroad trip into the Verde Valley – they say it is the local version of the Grand Canyon.  We started there the first time, and we were running late and didn’t get there on time.  The second time we found out that we needed reservations, and they were booked till the day after we were leaving the area.  The ride looked like a lot of fun, and we will try it again.

Downtown Jerome

From Jerome overlooking
valley

The first time we missed the train we were off to Jerome, a local ghost town up in the mountains.  It was an old silver mining town.  It is a small town with a lot of little shops.  It was an interesting place to go, and the view was wonderful.  We had lunch at a little hamburger place over-looking the valley.  We had a wonderful day, and didn’t get back to the trailer until late.

Elvis?

Over both week-ends we stayed around the campsite.  On Friday night they had an Elvis impersonator.  He was very good and we enjoyed him both times.  Nice hearing old song from our youth.  Then on Saturday night, both weeks, they had a country band that came in.  They were great, singing new songs and old songs.  Vonna said that it reminded her of her dad.  The people danced the night away.  We danced some, but not like some.  The first week there was an older gentleman named Doc and his wife.  They were quite the dancers, and she was an actress I’m sure.  They were all over the dance floor all night, and she acted out every movement.  I would say they were 70 to 75 years old, but hard to tell.  There was another couple the second night and Vonna talked to him.  He said that he & his mate had been dancing together for 15 years.  They were good dancers.

There was a lady both weeks that danced every dance, either with her husband or line dancing with a group of ladies.  She was teaching some of the other younger people how to line dance.  She had a lot of energy, and the singer announce that she had just had her 90^th birthday a few weeks ago.  She was showing everyone up.

NO MORE PICTURES!
At the Blazn'M Ranch

One HOT fire!

One GOOD Looking
Cowgirl

Another day we decided that we were going to a dinner show at the Blazn’M Ranch.  This was a working ranch when the owner started the show some years back.  They have a small town with a bar, a museum, a couple of shops, photo shop, a target range to shoot a western 38 or 45, a hay ride around the ranch, and a roping ring that they will teach you to rope.  The dinner was great, beans, coleslaw, potato, barbeque chicken, and ribs.  Oh, I forgot the homemade biscuits.  The food was worth the price.  It was one of the best we have had on this trip.  And they brought out seconds, and I had more ribs and another biscuit.  I forgot to tell you that it was all served on the old metal plates, and the drinks were in metal cups.  I was full, and they brought out applekrisp with vanilla ice cream.  Makes me hungry just writing about it.

After dinner they had a group singing some of the old cowboy songs.  The singers were really good.  They were not just a group that sang and played, but they had been voted best cowboy singers in a couple of areas.  They was also a comedian that was a part of the program that was funny, and also sang very good.  We both were very glad we found out about the place.  We will also go back for another round of beans, chicken, ribs, and entertainment the next time we are in the area.

Off Road coming into Sedona

Lunch in Sedona

We had heard a lot about Sedona and off we went one day.  Sedona is about 5000 foot elevation, and about 30 miles from our campsite.  It is one of the most beautiful places we have visited.  It is really hard to explain, but Vonna said that if she was going to live in the desert or Arizona, this would be the place.  The town had some nice little shops, split into different areas.  There are 5 or 6 different shopping areas, different items in each area. 

Sedona

We went to what is called the Uptown area first, and spend most of our time there.  

Mountain around Sedona

Vonna found a few items, but decided that she could live without them.  She was looking for a silver cross, and knew exactly what she had in mind.  She found a few close, but not exact.  We looked on both sides of the street.  We found some fudge that was really good, and a pizza that was not as good as the view, but ok.  The view was great!  Red mountains, all different colors.  I wanted to take some pictures with my camera, but wasn’t carrying it that day.

Alan on Left,
I think

Anyway, Vonna did find a caramel apple and got that, and we decided to go to one of the other shopping areas, called Tlaquepaque. This place was built like a traditional mexican village.  It was a little hard to make our way around, but we found all of the important ones.  It was a higher class area, the first place had free wine, coffee, cheese, cookies, etc.  After that we found some places that were really interesting, and finally as we went into the last place, Vonna found a silver cross, almost exactly what she had in mind.  She had to go to another store for the chain, but it was worth the trip, and we had a great time.  We would love to go again, maybe even take a tour of the backlands there.

Finely found it!!

Well, Monday morning before we left was the day we were going on the train ride.  Since we couldn’t ride the train we decided to drive around and see what else was around the area.  We found a couple of towns that we blinked and missed, and some nice country side.

As we got into Camp Verde there was a casino and we stopped there.  We played with about $20.00 for a couple of hours.  It was fun, but we were hungry and decided to look for a Mexican food restaurant.  The address was funny and not where it said.  We drove downtown, but there was nothing there, and back.  We found the restaurant up on a hill near the main road.  It was well worth waiting for.  We finished the day, got back to the trailer and relaxed.

The next day was pack up day.  Laundry, fill up with fuel, and get ready to roll to our next location.  This is not the fun day, but we make it fun.

This is one of the areas that Vonna and I have really enjoyed, and I’m sure we will be coming back.  Hope to see you on the road.

Vonna's New Boyfriend