Group of Six with Orange hats
On Thursday Ken's brother Don joined us for a guided tour of the former mining town of Jerome, the museum and the history of the mine that once provided jobs to a community of 15,000. The trip was concluded by a visit to the Gold King mine and the graveyard of relics that were once state of the art tools, vehicles and devices of another era. The highlight of this visit for the men was "Big Bertha". According to Ken it was a gigantic three cylinder engine with a flywheel approximately ten foot in diameter that once ran a generator to supply the mining town with electricity. It was so big that it required a tractor engine to start it up. The men delighted in the sound of the old motor as it wheezed its way into life and clamored through its dramatic presentation aided by a medium sized old cowboy with a beard down to his chest and a twinkle in his eye. I think it would be fair to attribute the ladies assessment of this experience as a trip to the junkyard and I might not disagree. However, I have visited there twice and each time I come away with not only the realization that I have visited a junk yard but also with a reenforcement of my convictions that our world has progressed remarkably and that what is now high tech was once a man's vision that he dared to translate into reality, however crude his first efforts.
Big Bertha with Caretaker
Our visit to Jerome was completed with lunch at the Haunted Hamburger where we enjoyed our individual food tastes from a view overlooking the vast Verde Valley where Indians once roamed and modern man now transforms.
Friday was spent wandering the around the beautiful red rocks of Sedona. It started with casing out the plane rides for an overview of the area and while the would be passengers pondered their flight we returned to downtown old Sedona for a walk through the many art galleries that display the work of the local artists. Bob and Kitty used this time of browsing by the art buffs for a flight through the skies and an overview of the area. Upon their return we circumnavigated the area by car and though one would be hard pressed to cite one beautiful scene over another, a visit to Frank Lloyd Wright's, Cathedral Rock Chapel, built among the beautiful red rocks of Sedoona, was both an inspiring and spiritually uplifting experience, however short lived it may have been. After our brief encounter with the red rocks, we sped up the highway to Oak Creek Canyon for a visit to Slide Rock State Park. Our children Gary and Terri had many summer adventures enjoying the cool water that streams down over the rocks to creates a natural rock slide. As children, they would spend their summers with their grandparents in Prescott and at least once each summer, their grandparents, with Uncle Don and Aunt Barbara when available, would accompany them to Slide Rock and Oak Creek Canyon for a few days camping. Ken, Marvis and Kitty went prepared for a slide down the rock, but alas, a storm was brewing and all decided that they had best look to the sky for direction. The response was quick in the form of a flash of lightening and a clash of thunder. How specific can one get? Obviously the vortex can work.
Thankfully I seem to have survived the time share presentation exercise and our friends appeared to forgive me their brief encounter with the wild world of time share marketing. Bob and Kitty left early Saturday morning for Las Vegas and their flight home. Bob and Marvis are on their way home as I write this. We left them off at Phoenix last evening for a nights rest in preparation for their early morning flight out. We will miss our four buddies from our shared trip to Spain and Portugal where we first met. We consider them good friends and great traveling companions. For a bunch of hard headed independent minded people, we all have a great time.
En route to Phoenix, we drove Marvis and Bob over the mountain into Prescott for an introduction to that area that we were informed now belongs to former Californians. Prescott used to be a quaint little laid back "cattle" town but alas, it has grown leaps and bounds in the 50 years since I visited it for the first time as a bride. Ken and I were in shock at the changes that have transpired since we were last there in 1997. New communities now flourish where once beautiful ranches and farms existed. Progress can be sad for those who cherish memories of another time. Alas, time marches on and leaves no stone untouched. Our visit to Prescott was capped off by a visit to the "Art fair" which was interesting and representative of the area. I think that Marvis and Bob enjoyed their brief visit to Prescott. Prescott, though missing the beautiful scenery of the red rocks, seems to me more inviting and down to earth than Sedona. For me, Sedona seems to radiate an air of snobbery in spite of its "vortex". Give me a break!
After our visit to Prescott we headed down the mountain to Phoenix where we were greeted by 114 degree temperatures. Of course, that was only 10 or 14 degrees higher than what we had experienced throughout the week, but our ability to cope was beginning to be challenged.
There you have it. A week in the Hills with the awesome six. Kitty thought she would probably dream in red for the near future and Marvis promised to paint them. Something for everyone.
By the way, did I cover the orange hats before? We received many comments on our orange hats as we walked the streets, climbed the rocks and waded the creeks. The hats were our "trademark" and we had a ball as one after another we sauntered down the streets. We were out to have a good time and the orange caps helped us include the masses who walked with us, intentionally or not. If one tarried a bit long, all we had to ask was, "have you seen any orange hats go by?" It worked.
Ken and I are off to St George Utah tomorrow on the first leg of our "Canada bound" excursion. Tune in for further reports of our adventures on the road. I'll try to provide weekly updates whenever possible.
Have a good week.
