Chapel of the Holy Cross

I'm not sure how I found this church, maybe read about it somewhere, but you can see it jutting out from the red rock mountain in Sedona as you drive into town and I told Eldy, we've just got to go see this church! It's a Frank Lloyd Wright inspired design. You drive out Chapel Hill Road, and then drive a winding climb to the top where the 200 ft. tall Catholic church sets between two red rock formations that accentuate the 90 foot tall cross.

There is a massive stain glass window that gives you an incredible view of the red rock formations across the road. There are no mass services at the chapel but there is a short prayer service on Mondays at 5:00 PM. There is no charge to come and view the church and sit inside and reflect, but donations are appreciated.We spent some time inside and out feeling the inspirational setting of the church and its views.

Arizonans voted it one of their Seven Man Made Natural Wonders of their state in 2007. We can see why, it was so beautiful and awe-inspiring to sit inside......

Across the way from the church is an unbelievable mansion that you can see from the viewing overlook. We were curious about the mansion, who lives there and what do they do? So I asked some lady trudging up the hill with a cane, as I overheard her say she was a resident of Sedona for many years.  I asked her who lives there. Her reply? "An asshole! We hate it that he built this monstrosity right here. He's a showoff! That structure doesn't belong here! We'd like to shoot him!"  Whoa! Sorry I asked! But I got the message and can certainly understand her feelings on that.
Tomorrow we head for the Grand Canyon with all of the family in a cavalcade of cars...hopefully, we'll all get there. Now, this is my side of the family..and if you've been following our blog for awhile, you know that Sparky is spatially challenged, she can't find her way out of a paper bag, and other members of her family are spatially challenged as well, even with GPS! So we'll see...any time the Baughmans go anywhere en masse, somebody loses somebody and the conversation goes like this..We all start dialing on our cell phones, saying, "Well, we're here! Where are you?" "Well, we're here but you're someplace else. Where the he@@ are you?" "I thought you said we were leaving at 9:00." And so on and so on...the OTHER side of the family, the spouses of the all the Baughmans (and by the way, it's pronounced "Boffman") just roll their eyes and laugh. It's a longstanding family joke!  And this should be interesting as cell phone service is slim to not working around here in the canyons. Not sure we'll get back in time to do a blog tomorrow night, so if you don't find one, hang on! It's coming soon after that.....thanks for reading!   Sparky and Eldo

Everybody's High in Jerome!

They really are! The town is 5,200+ feet in elevation, so that makes all the inhabitants of this town high up!  It's built on top of a hill, Cleopatra Hill and is located between Prescott and Flagstaff. It's a former bustling, mean as a snake, rip roaring copper mining town that went bust years ago and has reinvented itself as tourist attraction. First they billed themselves as a historic ghost town, and now it's a tourist magnet and an artistic community.

Remains of the Bartlett Hotel

Half the town looks like it's falling down and doomed for demolition, the rest of it is a delight to walk up and down the hilly streets wandering in and out to see what the different shops have to offer. The town reminded us of a mini San Francisco due to the steep streets and switchbacks leading to shops and back alleys. Prostitution used to be a big deal here, and there are historical signs all over the place telling you the history of buildings and locations in town. Jerome has a LOT of character....It also has mine tours and WONDERFUL places to eat and shop. When you look at the outsides of the buildings, you get the impression that there isn't much there, but walk inside one of the shops and you are transported into high quality wares of all kinds--pottery, copper, rugs, jewelery, wine, and so much more. The shop interiors are gorgeous!

After browsing a bit, we got hungry.....

Quince Grill and Cantina Restaurant 

We just took a chance and walked into a Mexican restaurant called Quince Grill and Cantina to get a bite to eat. The inside was bright and festive and the food was fresh and amazing! I had a wonderful salad with black beans, slivers of tostada chips, corn, shredded lettuce, onions, cheese, tomatoes, cilantro, and chipotle ranch dressing. Eldy had tacos with shredded beef, green rice that was incredible and some more beans...It's making my mouth water just to remember it!

Yum! If Jerome wasn't 20 miles away, I'd head out there again!  Eldy is just sighing, because he's really not a fan of Mexican food, and I don't know what possessed him to choose this place, but he sure was a peach for trying it. He knows I love it, so he'll endure it now and then. He actually liked his food, but once in awhile is enough for him for Mexican food. Me, I could eat it every day! He's always asking me when I'm going to start speaking Spanish! Any day now, muchisimo!  :-)  (I hope that's Spanish for sweetheart worries E.)  :-)

With family coming in tonight, the hustle and bustle starts! Half the family is off on a "pink jeep" tour, and we're not sure what the other half is doing for tomorrow...(sounds like us!)  We are not going on the pink jeep tour, we are going to go on a cowboy cookout and trail ride tomorrow. We'll let you know how both of them were....see you on the trail!

Time Out for the Park

We've been out and about the last two days, exploring Sedona a little bit, and getting some ordinary life things done like laundry. We really like the Distant Drums RV Park that we are staying in. They honor Passport America, so we are here for three days at 18.00 a night...the park is one of the newer RV parks in Arizona, we understand.

Nice spacious sites, cement pads, great clubhouse, nice fitness room with new equipment and weights, very nice laundry...and this is full hookups. The sites have some shade but not a lot. When the trees mature, it will be an even nicer spot to stay. The pool is very small, suitable for dunking yourself on a hot day, and that's about it. There's a really nice patio outside the clubhouse for anybody staying there to use. Nice bouncy patio chairs sort of like rockers--Eldy LOVES rocking chairs or anything that's like that, there are BBQ grills for anyone to use, and the view of the mountains is beautiful.

The mountains are in the distance and it's a very peaceful place here. Sedona is about 20 miles away, Jerome about the same distance. We're going to check out Jerome tomorrow on the recommendations of some of our blogging friends. It's always great to get a tip from someone who has been in the area before you. There are so many possibilities in the Sedona area to explore, it could take weeks to see everything. We just have a few days, so we'll try to hit the highlights and I know we will come back again. Family is coming, and that's the most important thing right now. My brother, his wife and their daughter, my sister, her husband and children and their families all come in tomorrow night, and one of my daughters comes in Thursday....can't wait to see everybody!

view from the clubhouse patio

See you in Jerome.....What's there? We'll find out tomorrow.....

Birthday Girl

"Sparky"

Woke up this morning another year older...I don't feel 61 at all. Let me qualify that..I don't THINK like a 61 year old, I don't ACT like a 61 year old, but my body feels like I'm over 60 on quite a few days. Aches and pains just come with getting older, but I'm doing my darndest to ignore them and soldier on! Gotta keep moving those joints and bones or I'm gonna come to a screeching halt one of these days....At our last campground in Kanab, we met a couple who were in fantastic shape...Nancy and John, work campers at the park. I don't think they had an ounce of fat on either one of them. They work hard at keeping in shape and from talking to them, I think they are very strict about what they eat...no ice cream was one caveat. (No ice cream????? Don't think I could do that one, says E.) They were inspirational to me, but not enough that I have to have certain things in my diet every day and can't do without, like a Coke for breakfast....not diet, regular, full bore Coke. I know, it's bad for me, but that's my "coffee" in the morning....sometimes it's hard to keep fit while traveling, depending on what's available around you, safety on the bike, terrain, etc. I do ride my bike, I keep small weights handy for little exercises now and then, we hike, and sometimes I use fitness rooms if a park has them. Some people have a Wii in the motorhome, but we don't....motivation is the biggest drawback to keeping a fitness routine while on the road. (E. says, you're telling me!)

one view coming into Sedona

So, what do you want to do today on your birthday, Sparky? asks E. He knows I like to make a big deal over birthdays...it's a very special day to me.  I want to CELEBRATE, CELEBRATE, dance to the music........(cue the Kool and the Gang song)  and you better not forget my birthday, or I'm gonna pout! Well, Sparky says let's go to Sedona this afternoon and preview the town for the family coming in soon. So we did. Sedona is about 20 miles from Camp Verde, the town we are staying in...Unfortunately, the weather decided to do a quick change, as it often does around mountains, and Sedona got a healthy dose of rain, more like a downpour which set the "flash flood" warnings out on the weather channels. We stayed in town long enough to see the beautiful red rock canyons and mountains surrounding the town, looked around briefly and had a great birthday dinner at the Cowboy Club Grille and Spirits tavern, then we headed back home. We'll be back to Sedona tomorrow...going to have to figure out what kinds of things are available for tours--there are so many jeep tours and other types of tours, it's mind boggling AND expensive. And of course, we hope to visit the Grand Canyon. All in about 4 days with lots of family members wanting to do different things...should be fun!  See you later!

Driving to Arizona

We could have driven Highway 89 as the start of our trip, but we decided to take Highway 89A on the recommendation of a couple of friends as the Kanab Corral RV Park...we are really glad we did! Having never seen the canyons of Arizona before other than flying over them one time, we got to see them up close and personal. Highway 89A is a spectacular drive.....it starts out uneventful with rolling plains, a few low lying mountains in the distance, and then the climb starts....we got to 7,900 + feet, then started coming down into Arizona's canyon lands....WOW! I remember that we started seeing the canyons in the distance, rounded a curve through rock walls and here the views started! They continued to get better and better...from 89, we took highway 40, to highway 17 to Camp Verde, AZ, where we will be for the next three days....All three highways had steep grades, about 6%, but the Phaeton handled them beautifully! (Thanks to my skilled driving, says E. modestly.) He didn't really say that, I'm putting words in his mouth again. I say he's learning how to downshift better and takes these mountains very skillfully.

Isn't this something?? We saw all kinds of things today on our drive---this spectacular scenery, signs that said to watch for elk for the next 35 miles, (we didn't see any), we saw a mule deer hop away from the side of the road (whew!), we traveled through desert, then the Kaibob National Forest, climbed heights up to 7900 feet then down, back up to 6500 feet, and then descended into canyons. We saw the Vermillion Cliffs, reddish craggy rocks with incredible boulders at the base. There was a pull off and Navajo tribal members were selling beautiful beaded jewelry, silver jewelry, ornaments and fetishes. I would have loved to spend more time there to learn more about the symbolism of the beautiful pieces, but we had to get going again.....We bought a couple of things for the grandkids and explored a unique set of little houses at the base of the cliffs at this very same spot where we managed to park the Phaeton in and among the boulders.......

A lady's car broke down back in 1927, and she was forced to spend some time at this site. She liked it so much, she built a little dwelling using the big boulders there.

There was nothing said at the site about her husband, so I have a feeling she was a feisty independent spirit who was driving out on the road alone out west, her car broke down and she made the best of a not so good situation and look what she came up with! Back in those days, the gas tanks were gravity fed, so on steep mountains, the gas could not get to the engine, so they went up the steep inclines backwards! Or so the sign said at this site....

As we passed further on into Arizona, we saw many many native American stands wanting you to stop and buy artwork and jewelry. Most of them were just little shacks set up by the side of the road. The houses and dwellings we passed were in bad shape, it was obvious that the people living in this area were very very poor....We think this was mostly a Navajo area due to signs we saw, and we thought that living in this area must be quite a struggle for them....There was not much traffic on the road, and many of the roadside stands for selling artwork and jewelry appeared to be abandoned.

After getting on interstate 40 south, and then interstate 17 south, the landscape changed quite a bit, and we actually felt we weren't in Arizona any more because of the forests and trees that we passed through for awhile, the Kaibob National Forest.  We kept heading south, on the way to Flagstaff, then on down to Camp Verde, a very small town about 20 miles from Sedona. It took us about five hours to cover about 260 miles, but we stopped for that cool canyon roadside Navajo stand, and a couple of other places to get photos. We are at the Distant Drums RV park in Camp Verde, AZ at the price of 18.00 a night for full hookup. Photos tomorrow....nice park, and quite new in appearance....But it's HOT--103 degrees today...(Now, Sparky, you said you weren't going to complain, reminds E.) Yeah, but it's REALLY HOT!!!!!!!  Wa-a-a-an-n-h!

In the next two days, we're going to be getting ourselves ready for family who start coming to town on Wednesday this coming week. Gotta get the rig cleaned up, and room made in the car for carrying a third person around town! But first, we'll see you in Sedona tomorrow for Sparky's 61st birthday! Whoopee! I LOVE birthdays!  (Not me! says E.)

Zion National Park

Good news at the car repair place today...Just a little rock wedged in between the dust shield and the brakes was making the horrendous racket we heard yesterday. We went to the Ramsay Towing and Service Center in the center of town, and Nick Ramsey, the owner, took great care of us. They put the car up on the rack, fished a couple of pebbles and one small rock out of the wheel well, and we were good to go--no charge! The guys at the service center said every time a road gets chip and seal coatings, they have a rash of cars in with the same complaints. Whew! I was picturing an expensive brake service repair that was going to ding our family reunion budget in Sedona. And so, we got on the road a little later this morning, and headed to the east entrance of Zion National Park. We had explored the park three years ago, taken the shuttle bus tour around the park, and just loved it.

We were going to take the shuttle again today and enjoy the scenery, but the parking lots were full completely, even the overflow, so back out we came and consoled ourselves with the beautiful drive through the park and stopped at the many turnouts to capture the views. The skies were a brilliant blue, not a cloud in sight.  It is in the 90's today, so we decided not to do a hike.....I know Eldy was disappointed that hiking was out of the question today.... (chuckle chuckle, from Sparky..I'm teasing Eldy because actually, Sparky doesn't enjoy hiking in the heat, either!) He's saving himself and his heel/problem foot for the Grand Canyon hoping not to aggravate it between here and there. Sounds like a good plan because there's some great hiking there!

I saw a sign that said "Please don't feed the wildlife." I thought, what wildlife? Gophers, ground squirrels, chipmunks? Birds? It's so dry here there can't be too many animals wandering around. And then we rounded a curve and saw this guy, (a young bighorn sheep?) just standing and staring at us as we went by. He didn't budge for a few minutes so I caught him on camera before he ambled off into the brush.

Here are some of the wonderful sights of Zion on the drive through the eastern portion of the park, driving through the Zion/Mount Carmel Tunnel. Which, by the way, IS accessible to smaller motorhomes which have to be escorted through the tunnel for a fee of 15.00, and that holds up traffic for awhile if one is coming through.There are "windows" cut through the tunnel but no place inside the tunnel to stop, get out and take a tunnel framed photo of the magnificence of the sandstone mountains and terrain. Darn, I kept trying to get Eldy to stop and let me hop out at one of the cutouts for viewing (and possible escape exits?) but he just wouldn't stop for the perfect photo. Couldn't have been the ten cars behind us, I suppose?

Checkerboard Mosaic "mountain"

On the way back from Zion, heading back into Kanab, we stopped by a cool, funky little tourist attraction called Moqui Cave. It's a sandstone cave museum of fossils, artifacts and history. This cave attraction was started many many years ago by Laura and Garth Chamberlain, who purchased the cave in 1951. They collected Indian artifacts, Navajo and Anasazi, from Kane County, Utah and all over the world, and acted in movie westerns. Garth was a talented wood carver and there are examples of his skills as well. His son runs the tours today....

There are display cases with interesting native American artifacts interspersed with castings of dinosaur tracks which occur here in Utah at a certain layer in the structure of the rocks. The back room of the cave used to be a dance hall, and is now a museum that houses of one of the largest naturally fluorescent mineral collections in the country, an assorted funky "art" rock collection, replicas of the native American dwellings, and a foreign money collection (???).  Something for everyone! One of the front rooms used to be a bar. The bar was hidden in the back of Moqui Cave during Prohibition. The countertops of the bar were inlaid with mosaics one side and rock slices on the other side.  There were tidbits of information about interesting people, places and history of Kanab. There's a gift store in another chamber of the cave. Interesting place! Admission was 4.50 each for seniors...

the bar

Tomorrow we head to Camp Verde, Arizona for three days at a very reasonable price being that it honors Passport America discounts. We will check out the area before settling in for our family reunion that starts Thursday. That cheaper stay will help our budget briefly as we are staying in the heart of Sedona for the family reunion at a place called Rancho Sedona...pricey, but worth it to be close to family for several days. I'm getting excited to see the rest of my family--one older sister, two younger brothers and their families! My oldest daughter, Kelly, is flying in from Virginia to be with us, too! It's going to be a great reunion even if it is going to be HOT!  See you tomorrow in Camp Verde......

Sparky's Driving Lesson

Gee, I now understand how Eldy gets so tired after driving 400 some miles in one day. I was exhausted after driving today. Yep! I actually drove this honkin' big Tiffin 40 foot motorhome today! (C'mon, you drove 100 yards, give me a break! Eldo says.) Well, yeah, and here's how it went. I decided that in Utah's wide open spaces, that would be a good place for me to learn how to drive the Phaeton after all this time. A gal must be able to back her guy up in an emergency, take over when necessary, and relieve him of long, boring drives on occasion. So I stepped up to the plate, and much to Eldy's amazement, I thought I would give it a go today. I got in the driver's seat after we fueled up at a big open truck stop and after about ten minutes of messing with the seat controls so my short little legs could reach the gas pedal, I announce, "OK, I'm ready, how do we start?"

Eldy says with utmost patience, "OK, put your foot on the brake pedal." I say, "Where's the brake pedal? This one?" and I stepped on the steering wheel pedal that positions the steering wheel. "No, not that one, the OTHER one, the one to the right."  OK, got it. I stepped on the brake, and it didn't feel like it was doing anything, so I stepped on the brake harder, trying to push it down to the floor. I didn't like the feel of how hard it was to push! I started to worry.....Eldy says, "OK, now release the emergency brake or parking brake. Now push the "D" button for drive." I did that and the coach appeared to roll BACKWARDS a little.  "What's happening? Why are we rolling backwards?" Guess it was just a little momentum from nowhere. "OK, now give it a little gas...ok, we're rollin'." I rolled forward about  100 yards out of the gas pumps while Eldy is telling me "watch your mirrors, look in the lower mirror to see if the car has cleared the pumps, then watch your big mirrors for the turn, watch your gauges..." and he started telling me all about the gauges and engine temps and oil pressures and...." and I started thinking about this responsibility of hauling 34,000 pounds of motorhome plus the car out on the highway without knowing or understanding everything in front of me, and what if there's construction and cones and cement barriers and...?????

"Uh, honey, I don't think I'm ready for this just yet. I need a huge parking lot where I can roll around and  work with the gauges and get the feel of this coach...." Push button driving and gears and speeds and exhaust brake and air gauges and gas gauges.... I panicked and quit! That was enough driving lesson for me today! I need Dennis Hill's RV Driving School lessons! Eldy pulled out what little hair he had left after working with me for about 20 minutes.

Zion from the motorhome car window

Eldy very capably took over and understood I was just a little too nervous and a little too unprepared mentally to start driving today. He drove the rest of the way to Kanab, Utah, about 230 miles today from Nephi, Utah where we were yesterday. I don't know about most RVers, but when we pick up and move frequently, I forget where we were yesterday, what campground we stayed in and where we are today! Oh, yeah! We're right outside Zion and the beautiful red rocks and canyons and hills. Kanab is a great base for exploring many monuments, geological formations and attractions--Zion, Bryce Canyon National Park, Grand Staircase- Escalante National Monument, the Anasazi Indian Village State Park, and much much more.... Unfortunately, we only have a day and a half...

Kanab RV Corral gazebo

Kanab, Utah is a great town..We're staying at the Kanab RV Corral, one of three RV parks in town and it appears to be the  nicest. A little over 30.00 a night with a Good Sam's discount. Although the sites are very close together, there are beautiful grassy seating areas here..a gazebo where anybody can come and sit and visit with others or just have a peaceful nook for reading or knitting. There are rocking chairs, benches, flowered landscaping in other areas of the park...the couple that is running the park are British, very warm and charming. We chatted with them a bit today after settling in. Very funny sense of humor! We really enjoyed talking with them....

Hm-m-m-m, Eldy in jail-a reoccurring theme here

Over 100 westerns were filmed here in this county, Kane County....Zion National Park is at our park's doorstep. We've been to Zion before, just not traveling by motorhome, and since we've only got one day before heading to Arizona, we're probably not going to explore the national park tomorrow.  We're going to explore it on the way back AFTER the family reunion. There are some little funky places here that are calling out to us....we stopped at one late today for some barbeque after we got settled in. It was a fun, although touristy little place called Calvin T's BBQ. Very good food and VERY fun decor outside. Lots of funky metal sculpture......of course we had to get some silly photos of the place.....

And this pile of bones? From all the BBQ perhaps? (Just kidding...)  Who knows?

Just a funky little place and fun to visit and good food--Calvin T's BBQ...we're going to be in a not so fun place tomorrow morning, the car repair shop..brakes are making a terrible noise! Hopefully, it won't be something more than debris from construction or dirt or dust in the calipers or pads....see you later!