Williams, AZ

Weather was a little crazy, but we had a wonderful week.  We decided to travel one day early due to the forecasts of snow and 3 inches of rain in the Camp Verde area.  We actually had snow at least two different nights (3 inches one of those nights) and the warmest nights we had were in the 30s, with a low about 25.  Most of the days were nice, just a couple with wind.

Trip to Grand Canyon South Rim (we did the Red Route on the shuttle bus)  with Tiffany and her family.  We also did the IMax and enjoyed the wildlife - mostly elk and deer.

Trip to Chocolate Falls on Navajo Indian Reservation - best times to see.  Road was good, but gravel for about 10 miles.

Winslow, Arizona:

Meteor Crater, which is the world's best preserved meteorite impact site.  About 50,000 years ago - a  meteor 150 feet across traveling at about 26,000 miles per hour hit land. The Crater is 700 feet deep (60 stories deep) and over 4000 feet across, 2.4 miles circumference.

Route 66 -  On October 13, 1984 Williams, Arizona, was the last point on US 66 to be bypassed by an Interstate highway. 

Helicopter Ride - Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopters - on a EC-130 Eco-Star jet aircraft over North Canyon, South Rim, Dragon Corridor, Eastern Gorge and Imperial Point.  Craig upgraded our seats to the front of the helicopter along side the pilot.  It was a great flight, fortunately we had switched to fly one day earlier to prevent being grounded by high winds coming in on the day of our flight.  It was a really eery feeling going over the side of the canyon wall.

Grand Canyon Winery & Grand Canyon Brewer - We enjoyed an afternoon in the Grand Canyon winery, which is connected with Paige Springs and Arizona Stronghold.  Very good red wine blends and they also have a good selection of microbrews.  We also walked across the street one day to the Grand Canyon Brewery and had dinner and had a beer sampler and then each of us had a glass of beer - definitely worth coming back to.

Bearizona:  We went through Bearizona on Wednesday, as it was suppose to be one of the nicest days.  This park was created in 2010 and has a walk through and drive through area of the park, with lots of Keeper demonstrations to include the Birds of Prey.  They are doing mostly animal rescues.  

Introducing a new river otto to the group.  

Lucy  - a 3 band Armadillo - one of the smallest
Armadillo species

Next time in the area:  Deer Farm, East side of Canyon and yellow shuttle bus route, Sunset Crater Volcano and Wupatki, Grand Canyon Caverns outside of Kingman, Hopi Tours & Hopi Arts Trail in Tuba City, lakes in the local area

Flagstaff:  Planes of Fame Air Museum, Riordan Mansion, Walnut Canyon

Further East:  Monument Valley, Petrified Forest

Page:  Lake Powell, Glen Canyon

We left early Thursday morning as the winds were supposed to gust to about 50 mph most of the afternoon.  We got into our site at about 11:30 and then got shook about in the motorhome from all the wind (gusts to sixty plus so far).  Worst part is all the blowing wind and dust!!

Cottonwood, AZ

Arrived on March 2 and got set up in our site.  We had to adjust our Happy Hours from the large groups in Yuma to just the two of us.  We smoked ribs and beef roasts throughout the three weeks here and our neighbors enjoyed the ribs we shared.  We also found a new Mexican Restaurant, Conchos, and will look forward to eating there the next time through the area.

Below is the view from the top of the campground, where we attend our Sunday Church services.  The view looks over Verde (Green) Valley.

Our neighbors dog, Cassie, a Cairn Terrier, 19 years old.  We actually watched her for a short time while her parents went to the lodge.  Pretty tough, as all she really did was roll in the grass.  

First trip out was to old town Cottonwood to do some wine tasting.  We tried a new winery called Merkin, and then went to two of our favorites, Burning Tree in downtown and Alcantara which is right by the entrance of the Verde Valley TTN RV park we are staying at.  We also drove out to two wineries on another day that we had not been too, Clear Creek Winery in Camp Verde, one of our new favorites, and DA Ranch in Cornville.

Alcantara's Wedding Chapel

Clear Creek's Tasting Room

DA Ranch's Tasting Room

Part of the grounds of DA Ranch

Once the weather warmed up into the low 80s (from the low 70s), we went on the Verde Canyon Railroad in Clarkdale, which took us up the canyon.  Beautiful seating and since we were a party of two in first class, we were assigned much better seats where we were on the side of the train that looked over the Verde Valley river on the way up and back.  On our way back to camp from the railroad, we stopped at a new winery called Tumbleweed, another new favorite.

     

We drove to Prescott to do some shopping but took time while there to check out Watson Lake.   Watson Lake is one of the small man-made reservoirs in the Granite Dells region.  The Dells consist of exposed bedrock and large boulders of granite that have eroded into an unusual lumpy and rippled appearance.

Our next adventure took us back to to Clarkdale to go through the Arizona Copper Museum.  We both learned a lot and refreshed our knowledge from our science classes on metals.

Military personnel used spent shell casings to make
decorative art.  

         

Bibesia, Roman Goddess, of
wine and drunkards.

Always trying to figure out how things work!

Grape Hod - still used to pick grapes.  

While in  Clarkdale we visited one of three Wine co-ops in the United States that assists winemakers with the production, bottling and services of the wine tasting room.  The Four Eight Wineworks is in the old Clarkdale bank building and serves wine and beer.  Very interesting concept to help future winemakers get their start in the business.

Another interesting visit we did was to Tonto Natural Bridge State Park, east of Pine, AZ.  This bridge is believed to be the largest natural travertine bridge in the world.  The bridge stands 183 feet high over a 400 foot long tunnel that measures 150 feet at its widest point.

We had been to Jerome before, but since it had been a couple of years we spent the day walking around the town.  Jerome was given the distinction of "Wickedest Town in the West" with saloons and brothels lining the street.  For a period of over 70 years Jerome produced over a billion dollars worth of gold, copper, silver and zinc until the last mine closed in 1953,  During the 60s and 70s artists discovered the community and there are some neat shops and wineries in the town.

Caduceus Cellars was the only winery
we did not visit the last time in town, so of course
we enjoyed a wine tasting during our visit.  

Since this is our third visit to the area, we have now visited every winery in Jerome, Clarkdale, Cottonwood, Cornville and Camp Verde.  We also attended the Spring Heritage Festival in Camp Verde where they had some of the local wineries as well as wineries from Prescott, Wilcox and Peoria.

Our last sight seeing trip was driving up through Sedona and up Oak Creek Canyon.

River along Oak Creek Canyon.  

The only javelinas we saw this year!

And as always, there are places we still have not been to and will keep in mind for our next visit; Palatki, Jeep Tour, Blazin M Ranch, Cafe at Rock Springs (best homemade pies in AZ), visit to Slide Rock State Park along Oak Creek Canyon.

We left Cottonwood one day early due to the weather predicted, rain in the local area and snow forecasted in Williams, AZ.