Verde Valley is one of our favorite Thousand Trail parks and is the only Thousand Trails park in Arizona. We go here every year. It is close to where Travis lives fairly close by and it is a great family park.
We got a really good site, with grass and three trees between Ron & Alice and us, giving us lots of shade. We needed it because we had some really nice weather while we were here. We thought that one of the trees was completely dead and wondered why they had not cut it down. But, by the end of our three-week stay, it was all leafed out!
One of the first things we did was hang up our hummingbird feeder. By the end of the day, we had four and five--even six sometimes--hummingbirds fighting over the nectar. We had to fill the feeder at least once a day to keep them happy!
The feeder really emptied fast when this crazy woodpecker climbed on and drank from it!
There is lots to see around the Verde Valley area. One day we all went to Montezuma's Castle, which is a cliff dwelling of the Sinagua people who lived there in 1100-1400. This was a five-story, 20-room dwelling that was built 100 feet above the valley. A creek below it was a reliable source of water, and there was fertile land on the nearby terrace. It is amazing to see how they must have lived.
That same day, we took the loop and drove through Sedona and saw all of the red rock mountains. Pictures just do not do these mountains justice--at least the pictures I take of them.
The Saturday before Easter, Travis and his family came and spent the day with us. We went to Montezuma's Well, which also has prehistoric Sinaguan cliff and cave dwellings around it. The well is a natural sinkhole 368 feet wide, with cliffs that tower 70 feet above the water's surface. Every day over 1.5 million gallons of warm (74 degrees) water flows into the Well, fed by three to four large underwater vents, some as deep as 56 feet below the surface. The water exits the well through a cave 300 feet long, emerging into an irrigation ditch originally constructed almost 1,000 years ago thy the people of the Sinagua culture who lived and farmed here for centuries. The irrigation ditch is still used today! (Can you tell this description came off of the flyer?)
We also went to Tuzigoot, which is the remnant of a Southern Sinagua village. It is built on a long ridge that rises 120 feet above the Verde Valley, It was originally two stories high in places, with 77 ground-floor rooms. There were few exterior doors; entry was by way of ladders through openings in the roofs. There were probably as many as 200 people living there at one time.
At the end of the day, before the kids left, we had to have Mug Cakes. These are individual cakes made in mugs in the microwave. Everyone seemed to like them. Here are Spencer and Josh eating theirs.
One of the things we hadn't done in previous years was to take the wilderness train ride on the Verde Canyon Railroad. Russ and Louise, our friends from Emmett, were in the area so they came with us.
We rode in the open cars the whole way, which took about three hours. It was a little windy but we had a great view.
Terry, Russ, and Louise seem to be enjoying the ride.
The train went over this long trestle and it was quite a view to the bottom where a river ran under it.
They do a lot of copper mining in a nearby town called Jerome. We rode by their slag pile, which was huge. They are now mining the slag pile and making a lot of money from gold and other minerals they are getting from it. They say that the pile will all be gone in about ten years.
When they poured onto the pile, the slag was hot and almost a liquid. So, they put up these metal walls until it hardened. The walls are about all fallen down and it is not a very petty site. But, no one can see it unless you ride the train!
We were riding along and all of a sudden smelled smoke. We thought the train might be on fire. Well, the train got stopped, backed up, and we saw what was burning--this pile of half rotten cacti. Several men got off the train with shovels and put the fire out.
We went through these beautiful rock canyons, with a river flowing through it. Some of the rocks had already been named--Turtle Rock. . .
. . . and Noah's Ark. There were many more that we could use our imagination to decide what they looked like.
This is the "Shadow Train" that followed us the whole way! Those people kind of resembled Terry, me, Louise, and Russ!
The Scentsy directors that I sell under, Mary and Casey, happened to be doing a fair in the area, so we kind of joined in with them. We didn't make many sales, but it was fun to see how they did things, especially when they go to a five-day event like the Verde Valley Fair. Thanks, Mary and Casey, for the fun time!
I had made some vinyl picnic table and bench covers some time ago and finally got to use them. Most of the Thousand Trail parks have 6' picnic tables, but a lot of the other parks have small ones or don't have any at all. It was nice having a heavy duty table cloth that was harder for the wind to blow off, and bench covers so there was no chance of slivers!
Terry, again in his favorite position, using his new chair that Larry and Elaine had gotten him in Casa Grande. I still haven't gotten mine bought yet, but I will.
Ron and Alice try to keep Terry away, but it is a hard job!
The day before we left Verde Valley, we went to "Out of Africa" Wildlife Park. I tried to superimpose Ron and Alice in this picture because they were with us, but after I did it, I couldn't quite figure out how to get it to the BLOG. I will have to practice on that one.
The first thing we did there is go on a "safari ride" and see lots of the animals. We got to feed carrots to a giraffe.
They didn't want us to feed the zebras because they tend to bite!
I thought this goat's antlers were unique. They said that they help camouflage them in the bushes.
The tour guide/bus driver got out and played with the ostrich. It tends to grab cameras and sun glasses from people, so we had to be a little careful if it came too close!
I don't remember seeing too many of this kind of cattle in Idaho!
After the safari ride we went up where the animals had high fences between them and humans! This lion seemed pretty friendly, though. He was showing off for us enjoying his "pool." There were lots more animals and I took a "ton" of pictures.
While we waited for the "Tiger Splash" program we ate lunch and Ron and Alice enjoyed nice ice cream cones. (Alice always gets chocolate!)
Ron seems to be enjoying his ice cream cone, too!
The Tiger Splash program that day had their white tiger performing. They would tease him with toys and then hold them over the water and he would jump into the water. They aren't trained to do any of this. They just play naturally. The tiger did get a little irrigated at one of the staff and kind of nipped him on the leg! The guy limped a little after the bite!
After the tiger show they brought out the "big" snake. I think she was about a 14 feet long boa constrictor. Alice and I got brave enough to go in and pet him.
Terry decided that if the girls could do it, he could too! And he really does not like snakes, so I was surprised he got this close. Ron decided to just take pictures. We spent most all of the day at the wildlife park and had a good time.
It was nice staying at Verde Valley for three weeks, but at the end we were all ready to "get on the road again" and off to Bullhead City.
We like the location of this park because it is within walking distance of some good places to eat and we can ride our bike to Walmart for shopping! The staff here are very nice and make us feel like part of the family of people who stay in the park for most of the winter.
Again, we got great sites right next to each other, with a tree between us. We only spent five days here, but had a good time. Terry and I learned a new way to play pinochle when we played in a tournament at the clubhouse, and the meals in the casinos are so inexpensive that we ate out three nights of the five we were here!
Just a few days before we got to the park this cactus had 35 blooms on it! We saw pictures and it was beautiful. The blooms only last one day and then they wilt. We were fortunate to see the one last bloom come out while we were there. This is the latest in the year that we have stayed in the desert and we have been able to see several of the cactus and trees bloom that we had never seen before. We were hoping to see a saguaro bloom (that is Arizona's state flower), but we never did.
When there were 35 of these huge flowers on this cactus, you could barely see any of the cactus plant itself. I am glad we got to see at least one of them bloom.
I have always thought that this cactus was one of the ugliest in the desert, but I guess I will have to change my mind, at least while they are blooming! This is the first time we have ever seen it bloom.
Also a first--this cactus has beautiful yellow flowers! Who would have thought!
And coral-colored flowers on this one! All of these cacti are in a garden in the park. Can you imagine a whole desert filled with these amazing colors!
The cactus garden has a little stream with large goldfish in it. Alice put her quarter in the machine and got feed for them so we could get a picture of them all gathered together.
This pretty little garden also has benches and a little paddle wheel house. I am sure we will be back to this park again. It is only about 60 miles from Las Vegas where we have a Thousand Trails park, but this is a very nice alternative to being in that busy place.
The blue and orange one I made to show my sister Lorrie so she can make some Boise State hats to sell with her other Boise State things she crochets. Now I need to find homes for all of these other hats!
