Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot too!

On Sunday May 17th, I tried to tie into the phone line at my Kingdom Hall's meeting back in Stuart but messed up my time zones. Arizona is in Mountain Time but the entire the Navajo Nation follows the Central Time Zone. That is because they want to be more unified even though they cross several states and zones. We were 3 hours behind the East. We did find the local Kingdom Hall here in Cottonwood but alas, it was empty. They were all away attending a regional convention. I did meet up there on Tuesday, thankfully!

Around lunch time we headed off Southwest on Route 260 through Camp Verde and then headed up to Montezuma Castle National Monument. It too has the remains of a cliff dwelling as well as some wall remnants of buildings below it. The visitor's center has displays of artifacts and descriptions of the ancient culture. There is even a Montezuma Well not far from here but we did not go there. Instead we doubled back to Camp Verde and stopped to eat at La Marguerita's Mexican Restaurant. It had tasty local flavors which we washed down about a mile up the road when we spotted a small local brewery. At Verde Brewery we enjoyed their 5 beer sampler. Bob liked their "Get-out-of-Jail" Pale Ale and I enjoyed their "Honey Pot Stout". They used local honey in 3 of their 5 brews and did a great job. Normally I don't like honey beers.

Next we drove back up through the historic downtown of Cottonwood and out to Tuzigoot National Monument. It too is an ancient pueblo style ruins but this one is perched on the top of a small hill. It overlooks a plain that in the 1900's held toxic materials left over from the smelting copper mines. It pays to respect the red "No Camping Beyond This Point" signs! The flat ground here was covered with soils to prevent the wind from kicking up dust from it's material. Late in the afternoon we returned to our campsite. It is quite relaxing to watch the small quail run around the scrub brush and perch on top of the picnic tables. They make quite interesting vocalizations. Several males were about and I spoted one female.

On Monday the 18th, we drove east and toured Sedona. We stopped at an information building to get the location of the Post Office as Becca had forwarded our mail for us. We also asked about any interesting places that we should explore. We got a few great tipss! Just a short way down SR 179 near the 1st of 10 round-abouts (traffic rotarys) we stopped in the Tlaquepaque section of Sedona. It was very charming to walk around the crafty gift shops and galleries amidst such fine architectural features with fountains and small botanical gardens. There is a Local Brewery in Sedona with 2 locations. One is here with a Brewpub and Eatery. Bob didn't want to try it here! Instead he wanted to go directly to where they make the brews. (only 1 or 2 miles west of here) But get there after traveling a big loop to check out this scenic area. Route 179 is quite scenic with several views of the Red Rock formations. Several images are well pointed out on a local map here. For example, Snoopy Rock resembles Snoopy lying on top of his dog house. There are many others too, such as Camel Rock, Mushroom Rock, Teapot Rock and even Coffeepot Rock!

We drove a large loop around then heading west out to the center of Cornville. Then turned back north on Page Springs Rd which took us past several lovely wineries and a few off the beaten path RV Resorts. That reconnected us to Route 89A East again into Sedona. Then we headed to Oak Creek Brewery on Yavapai St. Oak Creek had an 8 beer sampler which we enjoyed. I liked the Nut Brown Ale and even preferred the NBOS ( Nut Brown On Steroids at 9.0% alcohol). But chose to drink the former. There is a separate vendor here who makes Columbian Hotdogs with pineapple and several other great combos. Bob had one with veggan chili, and I had a brat with saurkraut and mustard. The locals kept popping in here. There is a lovely outside sitting area which we sat at after they lit the gas fire logs but the cool breezes were strong and we headed off again to Dead Horse Ranch for the night.

"Going places with smiling faces!"