Out Arizona Way

[ezdays]

Touring Arizona

This is from an article I wrote years ago about what we saw on a trip to what we call the "high country":

Peggy and I went up north a while back and I noticed that many places we drove by had some typical names you might only find here in the west. I have no idea how some of these came about, but a few leave little doubt as to their origin. These include of course, Bloody Basin, Deadman's Wash and Horse Thief Basin north of Phoenix.  Traveling north along I-17, you cross Happy Valley Rd. and the Carefree Highway. Now, these aren't necessarily western in flavor, but they do impart more of a sense of well being than these others. Besides, this is "the" Carefree Highway sung about by Gordon Lightfoot.

Just north of the Carefree Highway is Pioneer Rd. Now this is a more recent name since it takes you to Pioneer Village, an attraction that was started about 50 years ago. It is the home of the Pioneer Living Museum, a 90-acre site that brings you back to living in the 1880's Arizona Territory. Table Mesa Rd. is a few miles north of that where I spent quite a bit of time target shooting. I have to say, I haven't a clue where the table mesa is, so don't go expecting to see one if you go. For those of you who are wondering, a mesa is a flat piece of land that rises steeply above the surrounding ground. We see tourists taking jeep tours of the area and I often wonder why, since this isn't the neatest piece of desert to show off our state. I'm told that further on down the road is an old stage stop that is the likely attraction.  There are a few more colorful names along that route. If you're going to Prescott, you will cross Skunk Creek about six or eight times as it winds from one side of the highway to the other. Further up the Interstate is Camp Verde. It was once the home of Camp Verde and Fort Verde army camps. Both camps were set up in the 1880's for scouting activity run by Gen. Crook. Uh, yep, there is a General Crook Trail off the Interstate nearby. There are two other exits along I -17 that lead you to things from the days of the very early inhabitants. Montezuma's Castle and Montezuma's Well are places that Montezuma never set foot near. They are, however, an attraction since some unknown tribes of Indians settled there and then disappeared, long before civilization took hold here. The "Castle" is a series of cliff dwellings high above the ground, while the "Well" is a large sinkhole where some one-million gallons of water still flows into it everyday and keeps a constant 72 degrees. Both are purported to be over 1000 years old. The Well, incidentally, still attracts a myriad of wild life, some not seen anywhere else on earth.

We headed east from Flagstaff on I-40 passing such exits as Twin Arrows and Two Guns. We spotted a sign that pointed travelers to Dead Horse Ranch. Now that's one place I think I'd advise anyone to stay away from, just on general suspicions. Nearby Buffalo Range Rd. might be a better choice. We did pass the exit to Meteor Crater Rd., one side trip we hope to make someday. Meteor Crater is that rather large hole in the ground made by a meteor striking the earth some eons ago. Our trip this time ended in Winslow where we stayed at the La Posada Hotel. They are well into the restoration of this old Harvey House Hotel that was built some 90 years ago as a stop along the Santa Fe Railroad. It is a step back in time, sort of. Most of the hotel has the look and feel of when it was first operating, but now has cable TV, wi-fi and T-shirts. A portion of the menu at the restaurant is the same as back then too. Well, not quite, the prices have gone up just a bit... OK, a lot of bit, but we still totally enjoyed our stay and dinner. There are plans for restoring the old Santa Fe station on the site; this is still in use today but really deplorable inside. Still, it was a good place to do some railfanning. I even got a shot of Amtrak stopping for the one passenger heading west.