Phoenix and Area

We had a wild storm in Casa Grande the night before we left. The next morning, it was dark and cloudy and cold but the rain held off and the wind had died down, so off we went. Not before it poured on me while I was hooking up the car of course. Wet drive but the 50 mile an hour winds of yesterday stayed away. The sun was shining when we arrived at our resort in Phoenix.  

Nothing special about our site other than its about twice as wide as most places we have stayed. The first few days were cold but right now its 85F. 

Here's something you don't see at every campground. An abandoned horse racing track just behind the resort. Apparently built in 1966 and went bankrupt in 1970. The land is owned by the campground but there aren't any plans to park RV's in it yet. This is about 5 miles west of Phoenix.

After settling in for a day or so, its time to get out and see some countryside. We've been told that the town of Sedona is something to see so we're going to. This area has many mountain ranges separated by huge valleys like this one. 

One of the must see sights from Phoenix to Sedona is Montezumas castle. It once was a village of about 35 people built on the side of a cliff. Access was by climbing long ladders which could be pulled up to prevent attacks. That's it behind me. It was abandoned in the 1100's. I gotta admit, the Anasazi cliff dwellings in Colorado were more impressive; see our blog of our trip to Texas. Still, something else off the old bucket list. 

After leaving I-17 and heading toward Sedona, we are starting to notice the terrain is changing. More vertical slopes and the soil is getting redder. 

Right in the town of Sedona is this rock formation called Bell Rock. Very impressive. 

The town sits right in the middle of mountains and rock formations like this. Everywhere you look are scenes like this. Its probably one of the most beautiful areas we been to.  

Here is part of the town and the view they have. What a great spot.

A lot of the buildings here are made of the same red clay and blend into the landscape. Its a very lovely and clean town. A lot of tourists though. I guess other people have heard of it as well. 

Grammie packed a nice picnic lunch and we found a lovely town park to stop and enjoy our lunch and the scenery. 

That rain storm we had in Casa Grande dumped over a foot of snow in Sedona. Some of it is still melting. Glad we weren't here during the storm; all the roads were closed for nearly 2 days. 

We decided to take a back road heading home. It was only a few miles longer than the interstate and promised more scenery. It was all of that. Our first indication was the sign stating no vehicles over 40 feet long. This was Jerome, and old mining town. The town is all switchbacks and we must have reversed direction about 6 times as we climbed through the town. Some streets were too narrow to pass another vehicle but , thankfully, we seemed to be the only ones on the road. Hmmm. 

A rest side stop just above Jerome allowed the car to cool down and for Grammie to buy some new jewelry. Ask her to see them when you see her. The native lady sitting made the jewelry on the reservation. 

We climbed to over 7100 feet after leaving Jerome. I can see why those in a hurry might choose the interstate. That snow that dropped on Sedona is still around at this altitude. It was a beautiful drive although it did take about 2 hours longer this way. Another great drive in a beautiful country.

One of the reasons we decide to stay in Phoenix is because they were having an RV rally at the time we were passing by. It was at the Phoenix racetrack where NASCAR races are held. Its a huge place and seats about 90,000 during a race. We spent the day seeing lots of vendors and buying a few necessities. Imagine our surprise when we spotted Harveys smaller brother in the parking area. We've never seen one that looks like Harvey before and now we've seen 2 this trip, amazing. Still smaller but in better shape than the last one we saw in Yuma. That made our day. We'll soon be on our way to our next stop; we're planning on staying at Flagstaff so we can go to the Grand Canyon but, its higher in Flagstaff than the 7100 feet we were at and they had 3 feet of snow during that storm. Here's hoping that its warmed up there and the roads to the Grand Canyon are open.