California and Arizona Part One

View from Cottonwood AZ

Hello to all.  To continue the report on our travels…

We spent 15 days in November in Needles California.  We learned that staying more than about a week in one place is too much for us.  Perhaps this will change, but for now we will be cutting down our stays to about a week.  The weather there was pretty good.  Cool in the evening and not too hot during the day.  When weren’t exploring the area we spent our time learning to live in the trailer and observing others in the RV life.  While there were new folks coming in everyday to spend just one night, it seemed that the majority of the park residents were spending the winter or lived there full time.  Mostly everyone was friendly (especially to Georgiana).  George’s assessment was that the RV park was a nice place to stay, Needles not so much.  Other than the weather a main park attraction seemed to be the rates   We signed up for a month long stay (because it was cheaper than the daily or weekly rates); and our stay for the 15 days cost us about $15 a night and if we had stayed twice the length the cost would have been just a little more than half that amount.   People had been coming back for years and years and we witnessed more than one new arrival greeted by those already there.   There were lots and lots of Canadians in  the park; a most agreeable nationality.  There were also crazy people.  We met a couple  who were living in a trailer even smaller than ours.  She seemed ok but he was certifiable.  I was doing something with the trailer shortly after we arrived and this gentleman stopped by to say hello and inform me (in about 10 minutes) that Mexican gangs had been chasing him because he had discovered the Lost Padres Mine and that the gang would have caught him except he was able to find a medicine man to say some magic words, that he could read mountain features leading to old Spanish mine locations, that the contrails above us were actually “chemtrails” (look it up, I had to),  that the US government were building highways from the Gulf of Mexico north to aid in the Chinese invasion of North America,  and of course he had seen aliens. And there was much more.  Thankfully, his wife came by to lead him off after a short time.  After that I tried to limit our conversations.

Wickenburg Western Museum.

We left Needles on November 22 and headed south to Glendale (very near Phoenix) to spend Thanksgiving with my sister Marilyn and her husband Sam.   George saw her first (of two) roadrunners on the way.  We stopped in Wickenburg, AZ and toured the Western Museum.  Very impressive artwork.  My boys would have loved it.

Marilyn and Sam's Kitchen

Waiting with Treasures

Turkey Outside

We spent six days with Marilyn and Sam in their beautiful home.  We had a very nice Thanksgiving with  Marilyn, Sam, niece Sara and her friend.. We ate our first outside Thanksgiving. Marilyn and Sam went out of their way to make us feel comfortable and at home.  They showed us around the area and George got to do her first ever Black Friday shopping (though it didn’t turn out very well as the line to the cash register was so long they gave up and abandoned their treasures).   I encouraged them to hang in., but they wouldn’t. 

 

It was great to see Marilyn and to get to know Sam.

 

We left Glendale on the morning of 11/28 and headed  north towards Flagstaff. Three hot air balloons floated along the highway as we left town.  Our destination was the Dead Horse Ranch State Park which is pretty much located in the city of Cottonwood AZ.  The park covers 423 acres and is situated along and above the Verde River.  While there were beautiful campsites nearer the river we chose one up on a hillside with views of the city of Cottonwood and the old copper mining town of Jerome.   The park has hiking trails (which you have to share with horses, and horse poop), fishing, cabins for rent, and lots of places to camp.  There were few campers around during our stay.  We went for walks around the park, watched people fish in the “lagoons”, and just hung out.   Lots of park rangers and campgrounds hosts.  They all very friendly.  Unfortunately we only had two warm days at this park.  It cooled down and began to rain, then snow at the higher elevations.  The park had “freeze warnings” where they wanted your to disconnect your water at night, schools were closed in Flagstaff, and portions of the freeway that runs from Flagstaff to Phoenix were closed because of snow and weather related accidents.  Bummer.

Montezuma Castle

Jerome

Tuzigoot Nat. Monument

Arcosanti

Ed and Aggie

Being “toughened” from our years in Alaska we still went exploring-weather be dammed.  We did limit our exploring to around and south of Cottonwood though.   We toured the old town of Jerome which is now a tourist attraction on a mountain side.  We drove over the mountain to take a brief look at Prescott (which we learned is pronounced Prescett-like biscuit).  We went to the Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot National Monuments.  Very impressive.  Our tax dollars well spent.  We also took a tour of Arcosanti.  This is an impressive physical representation of one man’s dream.  It’s a good thing we are living in a small trailer and have no home to send items to or George would have busted us.  She did purchase one Soleri Windbell.  Thanks go to Ed and Aggie Bostrom, old friends from Bethel that clued us into this place.  They live just south of Prescott.  We stopped in for a short visit and they were kind enough to share a meal with us.  Not just any meal but a meal Ed’s  mother used to make.  She would have been proud.

We had a couple of small Cottonwood items of note:

On 12/3 we went out in the morning  to do a bit of shopping and were prevented from doing so because the local Christmas parade was starting and blocking the street.  It was pretty cold as we watched from the car. The locals gave it their Arizona Christmas best.   There were kids, cops, firemen, cheerleaders, football teams, kung foo fighters, mayors from several nearby cities, Santa being pulled by a horse, and lots of tractors.  

George collects the sweets

Also for the 3rd we had purchased a ticket for the “Chocolate Walk”.  This was a deal where the city leaders and merchants got together and sold you a sack and a map.  This permitted you to walk around town and pick up a piece of chocolate at each store on the map.   It was kind of fun (I guess).  We went into some places we probably wouldn't have, got some candy, and gave the merchants a shot at selling us something.  They got us for a loaf of bread and a Mexican cook book from a second hand store.  Some of the candy looks pretty good.  I’m saving the potato dipped in chocolate for last.

We are leaving this spot in the morning and heading down to the Tucson area.  We hope it will be a bit warmer.

Chuck and George

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