We camped at our Thousand Trails Preserve in Cottonwood, AZ, in Verde Valley. Jill and the kids followed us and stayed for a few days before they drove back to Las Vegas and caught the plane to go home.
There was a really nice pool and the weather was good enough for Jill and the kids to swim several times (Terry and I opted to just watch!)
Boe did some "aerials."
Kamber wasn't quite brave enough to jump in, but she had those legs a kicking!
We all played a little golf. I think Terry, Jill, and I all took a turn at being the winners. Boe got several "hole in ones" although no one ever saw him do it, so we just took his word for it.
There was a really nice pool and the weather was good enough for Jill and the kids to swim several times (Terry and I opted to just watch!)
Boe did some "aerials."
Kamber wasn't quite brave enough to jump in, but she had those legs a kicking!
We all played a little golf. I think Terry, Jill, and I all took a turn at being the winners. Boe got several "hole in ones" although no one ever saw him do it, so we just took his word for it. Kamber had a technique all her own.
The kids had fun playing at the little playground. They usually get along pretty well together.
OUT OF AFRICA
One day we went to "Out of Africa." I took so many pictures that it was hard to decide which ones to put on the blog. It was a lot of fun. We spent all day there.
The first thing we did was take a "safari" ride where we got to feed a giraffe some carrots.
We sat in the very back seat of the open-windowed bus and there was this pesky ostrich who kept following us. We were a little afraid it would take a little nip out of us! It got really close with it's head right in our seats!
The zebras made really funny faces as they were being fed by our guide/bus driver.
I think on of the favorite things of the kids, at least Boe's, were the snakes. After learning all about them, they got to pet them. There was a huge yellow python and this boa. 
I think the tigers were my favorites. We went to a program where several workers "played" with them in a big pool of water. We stayed around until feeding time and followed the feed truck around. We were able to see all of the animals up close. I think the kids will talk about this for quite a long time. 
The day before Jill left, we went to Payson and spent the day with Travis' family. We watched Nic and Nate each play a soccer game and then we went to Travis' new office. It is really nice.
We went back to their house and ate before we left to go home. Ryan was with us for the weekend, also. (He must have been filling his plate!)
This is Travis and Shannon's older boys, Spencer and Nathan.
Nicholas, Josh, Boe, and Kamber ate out on the deck. After playing some pinochle, we left Payson and went back to the campground. All of the kids left the next day. It sure was quiet being by ourselves again, but be kept busy sightseeing!
The kids had fun playing at the little playground. They usually get along pretty well together.OUT OF AFRICA
One day we went to "Out of Africa." I took so many pictures that it was hard to decide which ones to put on the blog. It was a lot of fun. We spent all day there.
The first thing we did was take a "safari" ride where we got to feed a giraffe some carrots.
We sat in the very back seat of the open-windowed bus and there was this pesky ostrich who kept following us. We were a little afraid it would take a little nip out of us! It got really close with it's head right in our seats!
The zebras made really funny faces as they were being fed by our guide/bus driver.I think on of the favorite things of the kids, at least Boe's, were the snakes. After learning all about them, they got to pet them. There was a huge yellow python and this boa. I think the tigers were my favorites. We went to a program where several workers "played" with them in a big pool of water. We stayed around until feeding time and followed the feed truck around. We were able to see all of the animals up close. I think the kids will talk about this for quite a long time.PAYSON
The day before Jill left, we went to Payson and spent the day with Travis' family. We watched Nic and Nate each play a soccer game and then we went to Travis' new office. It is really nice.
We went back to their house and ate before we left to go home. Ryan was with us for the weekend, also. (He must have been filling his plate!)
This is Travis and Shannon's older boys, Spencer and Nathan.
Nicholas, Josh, Boe, and Kamber ate out on the deck. After playing some pinochle, we left Payson and went back to the campground. All of the kids left the next day. It sure was quiet being by ourselves again, but be kept busy sightseeing!MONTEZUMA'S CASTLE NATIONAL MONUMENT
We went to Montezuma's Castle. It really is not a castle and King Montezuma was never there, but it was named that before the timeline was established, and the name just stuck.
A prehistoric culture called the Sinagua lived in the Verde Valley and built and lived in these cliff houses between 1100 and 1400. There is a stream down below it that they used to irrigate their crops. They used ladders to get up to their home and ladders to go between stories through holes in the roofs. It was really something to see and imagine up to 50 people living in these 19 rooms.
MONTEZUMA'S WELL
We also went to Montezuma's Well. It is a limestone sinkhole formed by the collapse of the ground into an underground cavern. It is spring-fed, but no one has been able to find the source of the water, which is always an even 74 degrees year-round. No fish live in it because it has too much carbon dioxide in it.
There are cliff dwellings that were built around it during the 1000's to 1400's.
There are also some cave dwellings around the bottom of it.
It was really amazing to think that people actually lived in these kind of homes. 
The Tuzigoot Monument is the ruins of an entire community who built their homes of rocks, all sharing walls. It probably housed 250 people in about 100 rooms. The people didn't spend much time in their homes. They were outside most of the day, working and hunting.
They possibly built it on a hill to save the needed farmland and to watch for visitors coming into their valley.
The roofs, which were floors for the next story, were made from and supported with the Arizona sycamore trees that grow along the creeks. With no windows and such thick walls, they were cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
The rooms were all fairly small and some of them still had the clay pots buried in the floors for storage and there were still some maize grinders in some of them. I decided we have it pretty soft living in our nice RV!
SEDONA
We drove through Sedona one day. The red rocks are just beautiful. These pictures just do not do them justice!
We also drove up to Jerome. It is a mining town that is built on a hill. It has been there since the late 1800's. It kind of reminded me of Bisbee down by Sierra Vista. It is pretty much a tourist town now. A cowboy singer/poet that entertained one night at our campground sang a song about Jerome and how "it is not where it used to be." I guess several of the buildings have kind of slid down the hill.
There was a ghost town above Jerome, up by the mine (which is still being worked). We went into the gift shop, but didn't go through the ghost town. There were very few vehicles in the parking lot and there were some kind of strange people hanging around, so we decided to just go back home.
We went to Montezuma's Castle. It really is not a castle and King Montezuma was never there, but it was named that before the timeline was established, and the name just stuck. 
A prehistoric culture called the Sinagua lived in the Verde Valley and built and lived in these cliff houses between 1100 and 1400. There is a stream down below it that they used to irrigate their crops. They used ladders to get up to their home and ladders to go between stories through holes in the roofs. It was really something to see and imagine up to 50 people living in these 19 rooms.MONTEZUMA'S WELL
We also went to Montezuma's Well. It is a limestone sinkhole formed by the collapse of the ground into an underground cavern. It is spring-fed, but no one has been able to find the source of the water, which is always an even 74 degrees year-round. No fish live in it because it has too much carbon dioxide in it.
There are cliff dwellings that were built around it during the 1000's to 1400's.
There are also some cave dwellings around the bottom of it.
It was really amazing to think that people actually lived in these kind of homes. 
Where the water comes out of the base of the well, it is very pretty and green. It has a constant flow of over 1,400,000 gallons a day, which is used for irrigation.
TUZIGOOT NATIONAL MONUMENT
The Tuzigoot Monument is the ruins of an entire community who built their homes of rocks, all sharing walls. It probably housed 250 people in about 100 rooms. The people didn't spend much time in their homes. They were outside most of the day, working and hunting. 
They possibly built it on a hill to save the needed farmland and to watch for visitors coming into their valley.
The roofs, which were floors for the next story, were made from and supported with the Arizona sycamore trees that grow along the creeks. With no windows and such thick walls, they were cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
The rooms were all fairly small and some of them still had the clay pots buried in the floors for storage and there were still some maize grinders in some of them. I decided we have it pretty soft living in our nice RV!SEDONA
We drove through Sedona one day. The red rocks are just beautiful. These pictures just do not do them justice! 
I couldn't stop taking pictures. I think I must have taken at least 50!
JEROME
We also drove up to Jerome. It is a mining town that is built on a hill. It has been there since the late 1800's. It kind of reminded me of Bisbee down by Sierra Vista. It is pretty much a tourist town now. A cowboy singer/poet that entertained one night at our campground sang a song about Jerome and how "it is not where it used to be." I guess several of the buildings have kind of slid down the hill.
There was a ghost town above Jerome, up by the mine (which is still being worked). We went into the gift shop, but didn't go through the ghost town. There were very few vehicles in the parking lot and there were some kind of strange people hanging around, so we decided to just go back home.We are now leaving Camp Verde Preserve in Cottonwood and are heading to Lake Powell in Page. The weather is in the 80's for a few days, but it is supposed to cool back down in the next few days. It is pretty nice weather when compared to the snow some of our kids are still getting where they live!
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