Southwestern RV Trip – Days 52-54, Oak Tree Canyon & Jerome

On Saturday, Bev decided we should drive up the river canyon north of Sedona to see if the Navajo were selling their wares along the road and it looked like it might be a nice day.  By the time we were about 5 miles south of town it began to rain pretty hard, then after traveling a mile in the slow moving back up heading into Sedona with two more miles to go we decided to make a U-turn and head back to the campground – not a good Sedona day.

After a round of naps, we headed over to the Cliff Castle Casino to make a very small donation to the tribe and eat an early supper at Johnny Rockets – old time diner inside the casino – and we all enjoyed our meals.

On Sunday, the girls went over to Old Cottonwood to check out the shopping opportunities while the guys and I held down the fort and cooked up the onboard shrimp for a little shrimp cocktail for supper.

On Monday we finally got to do something we’d been attempting for several days – a drive thru Oak Creek Canyon – so I drove up to the top of AZ-89A via I-17 then drove back down the canyon.  This drive had the two purposes of seeing the canyon and stopping at the Native American jewelry stands along the way with the first one at the top of the canyon.

The drive thru the canyon provides some great views especially when traveling from top to bottom – 3000’ elevation change.  See the road at the bottom of the first shot and the creek is running full dealing with the melting snow.

Then we stopped at the jewelry sales at the bottom of the canyon near Sedona where the prices were higher.  I believe the girls picked up a couple of things from the first stop. 

A nice place to enjoy your coffee as we drove thru Sedona.

From Sedona, we made a return trip to Jerome where lunch and a little shopping were planned.  We lucked into a parking place on Main St. and there just happened to be a Mexican restaurant a couple of doors down and we decided to give Vaqueros Grill and Cantina a try – it was small and very nicely decorated.

We began with a few adult beverages.

For our meals Cindy ordered the Chicken Quesadilla

Bev had the Burrito and Chile Rellano Combo which required two plates.

Pat had the beef Smother Chimichanga.

And I had the Chile Rellano Deluxe with green sauce.

We all really liked our meals and I thought this was our best southwestern food for the whole trip - the margs were very good as well.  Cindy especially raved about her meal which was made with shredded chicken and the beef dishes were made with very tasty shredded beef rather than hamburger.

Since this was Cindy's last day, the girls decided to forego the shopping in Jerome so she would have time to visit the 800 year old Montezuma’sCastle National Monument located about 10 minutes from the campground (we had been there previously).  Here is a shot from her.

It was a busy and fun day before Cindy had to fly home.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

3/2 – 3/4/19 event date