A Nice Week in Cottonwood

The first ten days here in Cottonwood have gone by quickly and now we are down to the final few before moving on.  Dick has accomplished quite a few things on the 'blue list' and I have completed several things on the 'pink' list but we both have a few more chores we would like to finish before we leave next Thursday.  Dick takes very good care of the outside maintenance on our coach (blue list) and the inside is mine to keep in good condition (pink list).  This system works for us and we have fun with the name.

We also did a little bit of sightseeing this week as well.  We are only about 20 miles from Sedona so we took a drive there and up through Oak Creek Canyon one day.  Unfortunately, we were about 10 days too late for the the 'prime time' fall color change in the leaves but it was still a pretty drive and there were still a lot of 'leaf peepers' out there.

One of many beautiful views of Sedona

From atop Oak Creek Canyon

A beautiful tree down in the canyon

Another day we drove up to Jerome, a quaint old copper mining town that has not changed in many a year.   I did not realize how close we are to Jerome here in Cottonwood, as we were there in a matter of 20 minutes from downtown Cottonwood.  We had dropped Murphy off at the groomer that morning and drove on up to Jerome getting there before most of the shops opened.  We did walk around a bit but already having had breakfast, and it being too early for lunch, we did not stay long.

On our way back to Cottonwood we stopped off at Tuzigoot National Monument (Tuzigoot meaning 'crooked water' in Apache).  This monument is the remnants of a southern Sinagua village built between 1125 and 1400.  The original pueblo was two stories high in places, with 77 ground-floor rooms.  There were few exterior doors and entry was by way of ladders through openings in the roofs.  Initially there were about 50 people living there for about 100 years but in the 1200s the population doubled, and then doubled again, as refugee farmers fleeing drought situations in outlying areas settled here.  These people were the ancient farmers of the Verde Valley but it still remains a mystery why they abandoned their pueblos by the early 1400s, perhaps because of over-population, disease, weather or even spiritual beliefs.  In any event, it was a very interesting stop with a very nicely paved walking path that takes you right up through the pueblos overlooking the Verde Valley.

Walkway throughout Tuzigoot Monument 

The 'rooms' within the pueblo

Friday we went to 'Out of Africa' Wildlife Park in Camp Verde, AZ.  We had been to this park years ago when it was still in Fountain Hills, but in 2004 they moved from there to Camp Verde and what a great move it has been for them.  This is a privately-owned park with about 100+ acres now (compared to 16 acres in Fountain Hills) so the animals have a lot more room to roam and, of course, they can have more animals now too.  The highlight of our day was riding the 'desert safari' (old shuttle bus with open windows) through what they call the Serengeti area where we saw quite a few animals in what they have made as natural a habitat as possible.  I don't remember all the animal's names but there were zebras, an ostrich, rhino, a very 'entertaining' giraffe, a lion, antelope, camel and many more.  Our driver had a 5 gallon bucket of 'treats' and we each had a carrot stick that we could feed to the giraffe or the camel.  She explained to us at the beginning that the giraffe and the camel were the only ones who took the carrots 'gently'.  You can see by the picture below the giraffe was quite 'interested' in us and knew we would have something for him in the way of a treat.  These animals in the Serengeti all live together and are free too roam on the fenced in 40 acres.  It was a fun 45 minute ride and then you could walk throughout the park or take another shuttle to various tram stops getting off and on wherever you wished to see bears, wolves, lions, and many more animals.  We saw a cute Tiger Splash Show but passed on the Giant Snake Show and also passed on the 'Feed A Tiger' show.  All in all a fun day!

He loved the carrot sticks we all had for him

What a ham!

An expectant mommy zebra

A very ornery ostrich

The weather here is still warm days, sometimes still in the 90's during the day, however, by dinnertime it has cooled off considerably.  Sure hoping Phoenix will have cooled off nicely in the next 10 days before we return.

Have a good week ahead and thanks again for following along.