Had a leisurely drive today, left Flagstaff and took a secondary highway down the Oak Creek Canyon to Sedona, Arizona. We had been here once before, but it was a beautiful drive to experience again. The fall colors were past their prime, but still so much color and the crystal clear, Oak Creek and the highway is nestled in the bottom of the canyon with the maple and a variety of other trees. Narrow road,so much traffic but very enjoyable. Arriving in Sedona, as one of our relatives would describe it as "artsy",which it is but also a magnet for tourist. The town is very well designed and vast number of shops to roam through. Very neat and clean but crowded. You don't even want to know the price of homes in this area. I wandered into one very "yuppy" western clothing store to look at shirts. They had one in my size and taste, $127.95! Didn't want to see the price of their Tony Lama Cowboy boots. The next shop I visited was a Doggy Store, catering to your best friend with fresh homemade "goodie's". Thinking that Dutch was having to sit in the truck and miss the shopping spree, I would treat him. I love my dog but I thought $6.95 for a freshly baked treat was a little excessive and he would like a visit to McDonald's just as much.
From Sedona, we stayed on the secondary highway to once again visit Jerome, Arizona. Been there as well, but I wanted to conquer the mountain and road just one more time. It is built on the side of a mountain, very closely resembling a cliff. It is an old mining community and just a neat place to visit, if you drive anything larger than a Ford F150, you should be barred from driving the road. Trucks are prohibited and I did not see anyone crazy enough to drive a motor home. To busy driving, no pictures but Terry has it all captured on her video camera in which all of you have to set through and marvel at 20 miles of twisting roads.
The heat of the day caught up with us, tried to visit a state park so Dutch could get out and exercise and find a little water to play in, pulled up to the fee station to pay my $5.00 entrance fee to the state of Arizona and then noticed a big sign "Dogs Prohibited". I questioned the "guardian of the state property" if this applied if the dogs were on a leash. It applied to all dogs. Seeing that the was not humored when I asked why cats were not also on the "profile list", I pulled a U-Turn and continued on my journey. Arriving in Cottonwood, we decided it was time for the truck to get a bath, not really exciting, the only reason I mention it, it will play a role as the story develops. A few more miles on twisting roads we come to another State Park Sign, One Mile. Slowing down, we see the park and the fee station is closed, so we will take a look. The state park is three miles off the road but one of it's attractions is a lake, of which I do not remember the name. This would be a great place for Dutch to cool down, so we thought. Around the next corner, we confront a second sign, "Road Under Construction". There was never any sign of asphalt so there is no way the average tourist is going to drive the road. This area must not have had rain for the past two years, the road was a dust bowl and the only construction we saw was one road grader making it real dusty since it was so dry. But, if we make it to the lake, it will be worth the effort and the waste of the money I spent on a "robot wash and wax" job on the truck. Reaching our destination a sign is posted that the Lake is utilized as a "trout enhancement site" by the Arizona Department of Fish and Game. The two pictures can better describe this pristine lake than I.
Dutch did go look at the lake, but did not get within three feet of the muddy water. However, we were the only ones in the park and a great grassy meadow for some ball playing, even if it was 75 degrees. As an enhancement site for fish, I do not think the project was successful as it appeared even the beaver that had built a den in the middle of the "lake" had vacated.Arriving in Wickenburg, spent the evening visiting with John and Ann in the coolness of their back lanai, very tastefully landscaped with a variety of rocks, trees and bushes. I am so envious of the variety of landscaping material they have here in the U.S. Tomorrow, we will do a little exploring in this area, visit my uncle just a few miles from here and continue our shopping for the two antique items that is on our list, a bell and a weather vane! See, all of you thought I had forgot. On Saturday, we will visit the largest city of our trip, the 6th largest city in the U.S., I mean this city is so big they had to borrow land from Mexico to complete it. I only mention this because I was brought to task for saying that Oklahoma City was going to be the largest city we drove through on the trip. It seems we have a reader that just happens to live in Phoenix who has been following the daily journal. We look forward to visiting all of the kin in Phoenix on Saturday, then on Saturday evening we head west to see the London Bridge and then a few miles north to the bank in Laughlin. See you down the road a piece. P.S. In reviewing this posting and looking at the pictures of he lake, I kick myself in the butt - would not those two signs look good on either Upper or Lower "Krok Pond" at the HITW.
This entry was posted
on October 25, 2007
at Thursday, October 25, 2007
. You can follow any responses to this entry through the
comments feed
.
