Sedona

April 7
Sitting on Cleopatra Hill is the copper mining living ghost town of Jerome. We arrived before lunch and visited the newly refurbished Douglas Mansion State Park. Douglas was one of the early mining pioneers. The first claims were staked in 1876, with the United Verde Mine opening in 1883 followed by the Little Daisy claim. Over a billion dollars of copper was taken out along with gold and silver. There are about 100 miles of subterranean tunnels underground. Dynamite blasting moved the jail, roads and other buildings 225 feet down hill. The last mine closed in 1953 and it was down hill until the 80’s and 90’s. Now there are great shops and restaurants along with the interesting museum. We had a delicious lunch at the Asylum Café sitting high on the hill in a building that had originally been a hospital. The dining room is in the old maternity ward. Faye had a good friend that had lived here in the 1970’s when artists where moving in along with the hippies. Her husband’s name was Frank Hamilton. We looked up his art online and it is very good. Cards and Mexican train rounded out the day with left over pizza, beer and wine. Yum!



All of Us with See's Candy



John Pointing Up to Jerome

April 8
We met Faye and John for breakfast at the golf course near the resort with fabulous views. We drove down to Montezuma Castle National Park and Montezuma Well before Faye and John headed back to the train in Flagstaff. Native Americans lived in this valley since 600 AD but as with all the other sites we had seen, it was the Sinaguas who moved south from Colorado that built the various pueblos. This site was built high off the ground in the cliff side similar to Mesa Verde but on a much smaller scale around 1125. The early Spanish explorers named it Montezuma Castle thinking it was an Aztec ruin. The 700 year old sycamore beams are still in place and strong as ever. One of the displays had a timeline comparing the development in Europe at the time the pueblos were being built. I have often thought when I have been in Europe about buildings like Notre Dame being built at the same time as the simple Native American pueblos or even further back to the Roman aqueduct I saw in Spain that was built around 100 AD long before or the Forum in Rome. Development has been so different around the world and still continues today. Sometimes I think we are too advanced for our own good. Montezuma Well is a large sink that is continuously fed by springs at the rate of 1,000,000 and a half gallons a day. It was doing it way back in the 1100’s and still continues. The canals the Sinaguans built to carry the water to their fields are still in place with water flowing. There was also a pueblo here but the ruins on the perimeter of the sink are ruble today. We said our goodbyes with Faye and John after a fabulous visit. We drove on up to Flagstaff, by mistake, and drove down Oak Creek Canyon. It is so pretty. We checked with the resort office on my duffle bag. IT HAD FINALLY ARRIVED after 6 days in Phoenix. I finally have all my stuff. It’s way too long of a story for the blog. We headed up the Eolte Café for dinner at 5:30 to find an hour wait. They don’t take reservations and open at 5:00 with a line at the door. Norm’s daughter had told us this was a must do and she was right. We had a margarita while we waited for our perfect table. I think the food would be called southwestern like that in Santa Fe. We loved every bite. We started our meal with the Elote, their signature dish, as an appetizer. I bought the cookbook and the chef/owner came out to sign it. What a delightful evening.



Montzuma Castle



My BAG Finally Arrived



The Chef/Owner and Me at Elote

 April 9
We woke up to snow! Yesterday was in the 60’s but a cold front came in overnight bringing snow. We went out for a drive to take pictures even though the sun wasn‘t out. It is beautiful but I’m afraid it will melt before the sun comes out for the really gorgeous views of the snow covered red rock buttes against the blue sky. We are having a cozy day watching movies on our big screen TV.
　



Snow Covered Cactus



View from Our Room