Places visited:

Arizona: Flagstaff, Sedona & Jerome

Friday, June 8, 2001
Woody Mountain Campground, Flagstaff, AZ (7,300')

My first glimpse outside this morning was to see what all the
commotion was about. An abert or kaibab squirrel was teasing a cat in
the motorhome next to us. An abert squirrel is a bit larger than the
gray squirrels back east. Aberts are truly gray on top with a white
belly. They also have distinctive tuffs of hair on very large ears.
This squirrel was stationed just out of reach and taunting our
neighbor's cat for all he was worth.

We have a full schedule planned for today. We headed north out of
Flagstaff on highway 180 with the Museum of Northern Arizona as our
first stop. This Museum is first class. It mainly deals with the
cultures that have inhabited the Colorado Plateau. The museum staff
has done an excellent job of presenting their information. This
Museum is a "must see". An excellent and enthusiastic docent is on
hand to walk small groups through this museum. We spent several hours
getting immersed in the Native Cultures that inhabited the area from
the time humans migrated across the land bridge from Asia to today's
Native Americans. Another display painstakingly explained the
formation of different geographic and topographic features of the
area.

Next on our agenda is the North Arizona Snow Bowl. We have their
advertisement with us and are looking forward to taking the ski lift
to the top where hiking trails lead are supposed to lead to super
vistas. When we arrive at the lift station, some 9,000 feet up the
mountain, there was a sign saying that it was closed.

Don't you hate to follow the directions on someone's advertisement and
then them not be open? This is one of those times! Out comes our
cell phone so I can blow off some steam. Of course all I got was a
recording saying that they would be open starting Saturday, June 9.
In other words tomorrow!!!!! Their advertisement said open 7 days a
week after Labor Day. Oh well, it was a pretty drive. We will drive
back up here tomorrow since it is only a few miles from the RV Park.
On our way up the mountain to the lift station we went through several
different forests. Gamble's oak was present along the streambeds
around 7,000 feet. These are the same oak's that Oak Creek canyon is
named for, I think. Oak Creek Canyon ranged in elevation from 5,000'
to around 6,500'. Also prevalent at the 7,000' level were a profusion
of beautiful blooming woods rose patches. The woods rose from a
distance reminded us of our eastern azalea bushes. However, when you
get close enough you can see the distinctive leaf and thorns of a
rose.

We are on the western side of San Francisco Peaks and our next
destination is Sunset Crater Volcano and Wupatki Pueblo National
Monuments located on the eastern side of San Francisco Peaks. In
order to get there we have to go back through Flagstaff located on the
southern border of the San Francisco Peaks. Sunset Crater was the
"youngest" volcano in the continental United States until Mt. St.
Helens. Sunset Crater was active 900 years ago. It spread a deep
layer of ash "porous lava rock" over a 100 square mile area extending
to the northeast. The "cinder cone" on Sunset Crater is over 1,000
feet high. Cinder cones are formed during early explosive stages of
an eruption. Magma, a mixture of molten rock and highly compressed
gasses, rises upward from its underground source. As the magma
ascends, the extreme pressure drops and gasses are released. The high
percentage of gas in the magma causes an explosion out of the central
vent creating the ash. Extremely porous "lava rock" rock pieces of
various sizes fall around the vent, creating that 1,000-foot tall
cone. Magma with less gas content produces lava flows. The active
Sunset volcano 900 years ago created both ash and molten magma.
Sunset Crater produced a tremendous volume of ash the size of marbles.
In one area about a mile across all of the ash is the size of
potatoes. Molten magma poured out one side of the Crater and ran
several miles down hill. This magma field for the most part still
does not have any vegetation on it 900 years later. To me this magma
field looks like a 300-yard wide swath of molten black plastic that
oozed downhill then cooled and solidified. Unlike the molten magma
that ran down hill and solidified as solid rock the ash "lava rocks"
fell everywhere.

Ash that we are viewing is the same volcanic rock we all use in our
gas grills the only difference is size. A demonstration in the
Visitors center at Sunset Crater has pumice rocks floating in a tub of
water. Yes, some of these rocks are lighter than water.

In and around Flagstaff mining companies are reducing volcanic craters
to flat ground. Around here they use the ash for myriad purposes. In
the winter they spread it on the streets instead of salt. It is used
for roadbeds, to create parking lots, even for unpaved roads. Woody
Mountain RV-Park is entirely covered with this ash. Huge trucks
deliver it as marble size lava rocks. When vehicles travel over the
marble sized rocks it turns them into sand and dust. All of us are
familiar with the dust created by limestone. The difference with
limestone dust and lava rock dust is the abrasiveness. The abrasive
substance in lava soap is lava rock. Dusting the motorhome up here is
like wiping up a dusting of Ajax cleanser.

Leaving Sunset Crater we head 20 miles farther north to Wupatki Pueblo
a multi-level, 900 year old, high-rise. The main dwelling had about
100 rooms. This structure was constructed of stonewalls with clay
mortar. Entrance was through the roof. Roofs were wood poles covered
by shakes, grass and clay or adobe. The people were farmers. In
order to be successful they had to post 24-hour guards on their crops
to them safe from rabbits, deer and mice.

We ate at Tia Juanita's a Mexican place on 4th street in Flagstaff
that had been recommended to us by locals. As is our custom we
ordered several dishes that were new to us and indigenous to the area.
Our two "new" dishes were "Calabacitasy Queso Con Chile Verde" and
"Menudo". You do not see these dishes at regular Mexican restaurants
but they are traditional "Mexican" dishes. The Calabacitasy Queso Con
Chile Verde consists of crookneck and Italian squash smothered with
green chili, cheese and corn, sautéed in garlic butter. This dish was
great. We both thought it was out of the world and will look for it
again. Our other dish was their special of the day "Menudo". Several
Mexican Americans were eating large bowls of the menudo which is a
soup made with hominy, tripe and pig's feet in a red sauce. Both of
us tasted it. GROSS, GROSS and DOUBLE GROSS. Been there tasted that!
Never again will we order Menudo. This restaurant has several other
traditional Mexican dishes we will try on another occasion. None of
these will contain either tripe or pigs feet.

Saturday, June 9, 2001
Woody Mountain Campground, Flagstaff, AZ (7,300')

We enjoyed Arizona's Snow Bowl today. Arizona's Snow Bowl is about
20-miles North of Flagstaff and is "THE" ski area in Arizona. It is
located on the slopes of the San Francisco Peaks, the highest mountain
in Arizona. The "Snow Bowl" operates a summer business in their Lodge
and utilizes the Ski life to take passengers close to the summit. The
actual ride up the mountain in our Saturn was exciting as we pass
through several climate zones each with different plant life.
Flagstaff at 7,000' is located in the largest ponderosa pine forest in
the world. Ponderosa pine dominates the zone from 6,500' to 8,200'.
Flagstaff is literally clothed in a forest of ponderosa pine. As we
start to climb to the ski lift area we immediately ran into aspens
that occupy the niche between 7,500' and 9,500'. Farther up was the
area dominated by spruce and fir trees that occupy heights from 9,200'
to 10,500'. The ski lift took us from 9'500' to 11,500'. From there
we took a hiking trail up several hundred more feet. Did I mention
that OXYGEN is scarce up there? The hike was a slow hike. No running
around and horseplay. Snow was still present and yes we did throw
some snowballs on the 9th day of June, hard to believe but true. The
temperature in Flagstaff may have gotten into the 80s today. At
11,500' it was in the 50s or 60s. From the top we were supposed to be
able to see the Grand Canyon 60 miles to the north. We were not able
to see that far today because the wind was blowing from the west and
Los Angeles smog obscured our view. On a clear day it would easily be
possible to see 70-miles. Snow on top of the San Francisco Peaks was
visible to us from the south rim of the Grand Canyon last week. We
were wearing shorts today and got a LOT of sun. We may even have
sunburn in some places.

While at the top we met a delightful couple from Wichita Kansas and
talked with them for the longest time. He is a railroad engineer and
had honchoed trains over the Rockies for years.

Once at the bottom of the ski lift we did lunch at the Lodge and
watched a wedding. Our waitress told us they have weddings scheduled
for every Friday, Saturday and Sunday all summer long. Joyce and I
got a kick out of this wedding. Some of the guests were in shorts and
sandals, others in suits and ties. The wedding party was eating
outside at tables all around us. The fair was hamburgers, hotdogs and
beer. A couple of grandmothers were dressed up like you might expect
at a wedding. Others looked as though they may be going to a dogfight
or mud wrestling. Many of the wedding party, the bride included, were
taking the ski lift to the top. Let me tell you, a bride on a ski
lift is a HOOT! If we have not seen it ALL by today one thing is
certain: We got very close today.

Does it get any better?

Sunday, June 10, 2001
Woody Mountain Campground, Flagstaff, AZ (7,300')

Today is Joyce's birthday and she is over 11 years old so we are not
making a big deal over it. We returned to the First Southern Baptist
Church of Flagstaff this morning and were greeted like new members.
They remembered us from two weeks ago. The pastor and several others
led the congregation in a series of praise songs with a piano and
several guitars providing the instrumentation. The message was on
fear. Fear is a mental attitude and is usually unfounded. He left us
with a good thought to contemplate. "Would we question the Lord for
putting thorns on a rose bush or praise him for putting the beautiful
rose in the midst of all those thorns?" Your answer will go a long
way toward revealing how you look at life.

Since we were downtown we stopped by the information center and
downloaded e-mail on the way to lunch. I do not think that we have
mentioned it before but the phone lines are so bad at our RV Park that
we can't make a good e-mail connection. The RV-Park allows us to use
their lines they just are not good enough for us to make a
satisfactory connection. However, the information center in downtown
Flagstaff has a phone jack in the northeast corner of the room that we
have been using for e-mail. The building is open most of the time.
It may not be manned after 5:00pm but the door is open and we have
used the phone jack late at night. Most of the individuals working
the desk do not even know about the phone jack so just go looking for
it. Take matters into your own hands and teach them something.

After lunch we returned to the RV to take care of those dreaded chores
that even retired folks have to take care of. (Note that cooking was
not one of those "chores" J.)

Monday, June 11, 2001
Woody Mountain Campground, Flagstaff, AZ (7,300')

The news this morning announced that the high temperature today would
barely reach 80 degrees and a cold front would reach the area by
Wednesday. All this when I thought it couldn't get any better.
Saturday we get to play in snow and now this. Our friends Buddy and
Suzie Kisner are working in Yellowstone this summer. We spoke with
them the other night and they said it had snowed on them twice this
week. We will spend time with them later this summer.

Joyce and I headed back to the Sedona, Jerome area today.

After resting yesterday we were determined to put in a full day today.
When Jeff and Kathryn were here we had driven through Oak Creek
Canyon but had not taken time to really explore it. Today Joyce and I
experienced it on a deeper level. At the north end of Oak Creek
Canyon there is a scenic overlook that views the Canyon from the top
of the Canyon Rim. When we were here with Jeff and Kathryn we did
look over the top of the cliff, however, we missed the best part.
Joyce and I walked around the trail along the top of the cliff to
where we could view the road as it wound it's way through switchback
after switchback to the canyon floor. What an awesome sight the road
makes as it drops over 1,000'. Joyce just loves switchbacks!

As we take the road through the canyon we pull over from time to time
just to experience the scenery that changes by the second. The ride
is a dichotomy of sights ranging from the small creek, to the canopy
of trees covering the road then the quick glimpse of sheer canyon
walls that turn bright red by the time we get to the mouth of the
canyon in Sedona. Along the way we stop and tour the siding rock
area. Sliding rock state park is an old homestead and apple orchard.
What a beautiful respite in the middle of this canyon area. Young
folks were having a grand time sliding down the creek on the slick
rock face. Older folks were sunbathing along the bank on the large
flat rocks.

Several stops later we reach Sedona where we decide to push on to
Jerome 20 more miles down the road. So many people have told us about
Jerome that we just had to experience it for ourselves. From Sedona
at 5,000' altitude we drop 2,000' to Cottonwood then start our 2,000'
ascent to Jerome a mere 4-miles away.

Jerome is the essence of an Old West Mining Town. In the late 1800s
and early 1900s it was as big and boisterous as any. The town was
built smack on top of one of the richest copper mines anywhere. The
mountain has a 30-degree slope where the town is situated. Jerome is
not like most towns with streets running at right angles to each
other. In Jerome there is only one street and it is highway 89a.
Main Street, highway 89a, is a series of super switchbacks that snake
back and forth across the face of that 30-degree mountain. The
terrain is so steep that entire buildings have slipped down the
mountain face.

The most impressive section of highway 89a is on the west side of
Jerome as it heads to Prescott. Joyce began hyperventilating on this
road. No amount of reasoning on my part would assuage her fears. A
few miles out of town we turned around and headed back. In the
downtown area where the mountain is so steep there is NO space between
the narrow road and the sheer rock walls and or buildings.
Switchbacks were made for the small automobiles of the day not large
motorhomes and RV's prevalent today. I wonder how many "macho-men"
have gotten stuck in the one really stupendous downtown switchback?
How embarrassing that must be since there are not any side streets to
turn around in or for all the people you are holding up to detour
around your predicament. Then imagine all of the embarrassment as you
back down Main Street. You would certainly be the day's main
attraction. I suppose some have made it while others did not.

Jerome became a real ghost town after the mine shut down in 1953.
Then in the 60s hippies started homesteading the abandoned buildings.
Many of the hippies were well-educated liberal arts graduates "artsy
folks" from wealthy families. These hippies have grown up and made
good businessmen and women. The town is now what could be described
as an artist community. There are several high-end establishments
selling beautiful furniture creations by local artists. Other
establishments were peddling Navaho jewelry and pottery. Still others
were peddling pure tourist trash. We purchased several small books
about Jerome and the mines, men, moguls, mistresses, prostitutes, and
others that made history so that I would have some interesting
information for the travelogue. Joyce and I are reading the books at
night.

The Jerome mine museum was interesting and thoroughly explained the
copper mining and smelting process. The smelting process put so much
acid into the air that NO plants lived within miles of the area. It
actually killed every plant.

After a wonderful afternoon in Jerome we headed to Sedona for dinner
at the Javelina Cantina where we had planned to experience the sun
setting on the red rock canyons surrounding Sedona. The food was of
good quality, but we were disappointed in the service. Joyce told
the hostess that we wanted a table with a view. She said not a
problem, but it will be a fifteen-minute wait. When your retired
what's fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes later she seated us in the
middle of the restaurant. It did NOT have that view Joyce wanted and
our waitress didn't have any personality. Don't ask Joyce about the
Javelina Cantina unless you are ready to stand by for a small
explosion.

We once again transit Oak Creek Canyon on our way back to Flagstaff.
No mater how many times we drive through here it is a wonderful
experience.

As we approach Flagstaff we can see smoke directly ahead of us. The
closer we get the worse it is and the more it appears to be located
where our RV-Park is. Thankfully, it was 10-miles north of us on the
San Francisco Peaks where we had taken the ski lift ride on Saturday.

Tuesday, June 12, 2001
Woody Mountain Campground, Flagstaff, AZ (7,300')

The radio is talking about the "cold front" heading our way. Just
when we think it can't get any better there is a cold front coming.
How good can it get? The weather in Flagstaff is ideal. However we
have experienced some windy days for example the day we went to Meteor
Creator the wind was blowing 50 mph. Jeff and Kathryn were with us
that day and we were almost blown away. The wind gusted to 50 mph
today. Hold on to your hat! Joyce wore a long sleeve linen shirt
today and was comfortable as we toured the shops in the historic
district of Flagstaff. Joyce made a purchase of Native American
Jewelry at Father Wolf Designs and Gallery located at 17 N. Leroux St.
The shop had a nice selection of reasonably priced jewelry. Tomorrow
we are returning to Sedona and Joyce is looking forward to a shopping
spree! She has been so thrifty on this trip, but I have a feeling
that will change with all the fine shops in Sedona. While in
downtown Flagstaff we decided to ride out of town and see what is
going on with the forest fire. Seven or eight miles out of town we
can see where the fire is concentrated on the side of the mountain.
It appears to us that the fire is contained to the under story. We
see lots of smoke but no flames. The radio says over 450 men are
fighting the fire around the clock.

We decide to return to the RV (our home away from home) around 4:30
after eating an early supper at Furrs', a local buffet, where we can
get fresh vegetables and salads. We catch up on some correspondence
and relax after putting in a twelve-hour day on Monday. We heard on
a local weather report this morning that tropical storm Allison was
moving into North Florida; hopefully Pensacola will get some
much-needed rain.

Wednesday Monday, June 13, 2001
Woody Mountain Campground, Flagstaff, AZ (7,300')

It is getting colder, the wind continues to blow with a vengeance and
the fire continues on the San Francisco Peaks. The fire fighting
helicopters fly directly overhead with their water buckets. We head
to Sedona to try and satiate Joyce's pent up shopping urges. This was
our third trip through Oak Creek Canyon and we are becoming
synthesized to that awesome drive. Today we zipped through the canyon
like local folks. Joyce picked out Tlaquepaque (T-lockey-pockey)
Village in Sedona as her prime playground. Macklyn should have been
with her for a full day of "power shopping". Tlaquepaque Village is a
unique shopping experience. Developers of the Village set out to
replicate the village of Tlaquepaque an artsy suburb of Guadalajara,
Mexico. As far as I can see they did a good job. There are around
150 upscale art studios, clothing boutiques, curio shops and
restaurants to brows through. I hung in like a champ for several
hours then retired to one of the courtyards and started making phone
calls. There were enough interesting patios, courtyards, curtilages,
porches, foyers and other open spaces abundantly appointed with all
manner of blooming plants to keep my attention for several more hours.
Where is my good friend Les when I need him? Some friends will let
you down at the most critical of times.

>From Tlaquepaque we drove about 5 miles down the road to Oak Creek
Village located on the other side of a series of red rock monoliths.
Oak Creek Village is another shopping bonanza that also houses an
I-Max theatre with "Sedona" as the feature movie. I liked this one
better than the one at Grand Canyon. There were more of those awesome
shots taken from aircraft flying perilously close to the cliffs and
spires.

Back in Flagstaff the temperature is dropping like a rock while the
wind continues to howl. There is a Pro-Rodeo in town this weekend and
they are celebrating with a "Western Street Dance" at Heritage Square,
in Historic Downtown Flagstaff. We bundle up and head to the dance.
The band is good but the unexpected cold and vicious wind puts a
damper on the event. We hung in there for several hours before
heading home.

Thursday, June 14, 2001
Woody Mountain Campground, Flagstaff, AZ (7,300')

The temperature dropped to 34 degrees last night and the radio says
the high today will approach 70. Needless to say shorts stayed in the
drawer in favor of jeans and long sleeves as we ventured outside this
morning. Today began as another chance to catch up on our sleep and
do household chores and repairs. Mike made his way to Home Depot
after breakfast to purchase a washer for our shower faucet. Mike had
been putting this job off since Jeff and Kathryn were here. After
changing that pesky washer we changed into shorts and headed to out to
see the Montezuma's Castle and the Mogollon Rim. Montezuma's Castle
is a National Park just outside of Camp Verde, Arizona. It is not a
Castle and it had nothing to do with the Aztec ruler Montezuma.
Early explorers upon seeing this structure high in the cliffs
incorrectly attributed it to Montezuma. Sinagua farmers built the
20-room five-story dwelling in the early 12th century. It is built in
a huge cliff recess a hundred or so feet above the valley floor.
Joyce and I are not "into" the ancient cultures that inhabited the
area but this is truly an impressive sight to see. To me it is just
as awesome as some of the other "wonders" of the ancient world.

After touring Montezuma's Castle we stopped at an Apache Indian stand
beside the road to sample some "fry-bread". We stood there as the
lady dipped her hand into some dough and started fashioning in like
you see the pizza cooks do when they are working a ball of pizza
dough. After she gets it into a flat circle about a foot in diameter
she throws it into a cast iron frying pan she has on top of an old
Coleman stove. After we had doused the fry bread with powdered sugar
and gobbled it down one of us laughed and ask the other where the
woman had washed her hands. Of course we both knew the answer. For
that matter so do you.

Our next stop was in the Chamber of Commerce / Visitors Information
Center in Camp Verde. We interrupted a group of local women in a
circle. It looked to me like they were dressed for an afternoon tea.
They all stopped talking and held their breath while we were there.
They must have been talking about SEX as we came in. I can't think of
anything else that would have made them stare at us and hold their
breath for that long. The lady that did get up to help us was no help
at all. She was fairly sure that we were in Camp Verde but other than
that we would have to go some place else to find out. She had to be
related to the mayor or else she was the only one that applied for the
job. Don't ask what color her hair was. The one thing she did know
was what color to bleach it!

We found the forestry service office a few blocks down the road and
obtained a map of the forestry service roads that offer access to the
top of the Mogollon Rim. Joyce has been hyper all day thinking about
driving on those gravel forestry service roads. The forestry service
lady was very professional and did her best to allay Joyce's fear.
The lady gave us a map and highlighted the best viewing areas for us.
Joyce calmed down a bit since we would not have to go but about 6
miles down the unpaved forestry service roads to the best view points.
The Mogollon Escarpment runs diagonally in a northwesterly direction
across Arizona from the New Mexico border to around Lake Mead. It is
not always visible as a true rim. But for one stretch, above Payson,
Arizona it is a bold parapet, rising as much as 2,000 feet above the
basin below. This escarpment separates the lofty plateau country of
north Arizona from the desert lands of southern Arizona. Zane Gray
called this escarpment Tonto Rim. This is Zane Gray country. He had
a cabin in the shadow of the rim and wrote some of his most famous
novels there. Forrest Road 300, the Rim Road, is how you gain access
to the rim. It is about 45 miles of gravel road. To get to Rim Road
(FR-300) Go north 27 miles from Payson on State Route 87, past Pine
and Strawberry, to the Rim Road turnoff. It is marked and easy enough
to find. Immediately after turning onto FR-300, FR-218A intersects
and heads south down a peninsula of the rim to Milk Ranch Point. The
Forestry Service lady told us to take FR-218A back a few miles and
watch for vantage points. That is what we did. On almost every one
of the exceptional vista points RV's and tenters from the Phoenix and
Payson area had set up camp. There were 10 to 12 RV's boondocking in
super sights along the short portion of FR-300 and FR-218A that we
traveled. For diehard boondockers I can't think of a more beautiful
site to set up camp for a few weeks. You are miles and miles from the
nearest town, but the view from the top of the rim is awesome.

We took 473 back to Flagstaff. The entire length of this road from
the rim all the way up to Flagstaff is very scenic and easily traveled
by RV's. Most if it is in a mature Ponderosa Pine forest. There is
very little traffic along the way. Every 10 or so miles along the
road was another secluded RV park. As we neared Flagstaff the road
passes high over and to the east of Mormon Lake then Lake Mary. Both
of these bodies of water seem so strange. Mormon Lake appears to be a
"part time" lake. Part-time in that it is a lake in the spring after
the snow melts but shortly thereafter reverts into being a lush flat
meadow. At the end of woody mountain road next to our RV-Park is lake
Rogers. When we drove down to "Lake Rogers" all we saw was a lush
meadow. Mormon Lake has some water in it but the vast majority of it
was rapidly becoming a vibrant meadow. Lake Mary on the other-hand
seemed to be a permanent lake with somewhat steeper banks. We could
see where the water level had receded since the high water in the
spring. However, fishermen adorned the entire length of this lake
another indication that it was not about to dry up. We were able to
spot elk on the far bank.

The temperature is falling again as the sun goes down. They are
forecasting a low of 29 tonight. The temperature fluctuation here is
wild.

Mike & Joyce Hendrix