Verde Valley Northern Arizona

Yesterday we moved a bit further south and are staying at the Distant Drums RV Resort at Camp Verde.  Kim and John were very happy to be back in a camping spot with electricity and water.  They had a few rough times with the trailer when we were dry camping.  The carbon monoxide detector went off at 3:00 am – oh boy!  The windows were all open….what could it be?  The battery had died in less than 15 hours.  Good thing we had a generator :).  We like this RV park too – they have a dog park and we have met some buddies here.  We also give paws up for electricity – that means we have AC 🙂

We had initially planned to go back to Sedona for the day…..but plans changed when we looked up what was around where we were staying.  We decided to explore the towns in the area as well as a few National Monuments.

We started by visiting the town of Cottonwood and walked their historic downtown district.  There were a lot of little shops and a really good pet store!  Lucky Frazier – he went in with Kim and the nice lady gave him treats.  Kim stocked up our dog food with some great new things to try!

Then we went to the town of Clarkdale where Kim and John stopped at a small little bakery.  We all enjoyed their turkey, cranberry and cream cheese sandwich outside on the patio – they shared!

Next was the town of Jerome.  This was a really cool place – high on the hills.   Jerome was a copper mining camp years ago and the wickedest town in the west.  It is now a tourist town with a lot of historical buildings, galleries, and restaurants. Kim loved all of the photo opportunities and the art installations….so much to see!  We got lots of attention again….Kim thinks if we charged money for all of the pets we get, we would be gazillionaires!  But we give pets for free!  Or at least for smiles and chats ….people are awesome!

We visited 2 national monuments- the first was between Clarkdale and Cottonwood.  It is called Tuzigoot National Monument. This is a 3 story pueblo ruin at the summit of a limestone and sandstone ridge.  It was built by the Sinagua people between 1125 and 1400 CE.

The second one we visited was close to where we are staying in Camp Verde.  It is called Montezuma Castle.  It was built and used by the Singua people between 1100 and 1425 AD.  The main structure has about 5 stories and 20 rooms.  It is in a limestone cliff,  there were also these cool trees here with white wood…Arizona Sycamore Trees.

On our way back to the RV park, Kim and John stopped at a roadside stand selling Fry Bread.  They shared the one with cinnamon sugar – they give it 2 thumbs up! The guy selling the Fry Bread was awesome!

Tomorrow we are off to Santa Fe, New Mexico.  We are going to stop at a few more towns along Route 66 – still getting our kicks!

Now – it’s Frazier’s turn to share what he thinks is fabulous!

1. Air Conditioning – thank goodness for relief from the heat
2. My small dog buddies in the RV park – great fun!
3. Treats in the dog store – I’m so lucky!
4. Spending lots of time with my people – especially my person John :). Paws up!