Wednesday morning started off pretty darned lazy. After coffee, breakfast and showers, Steve went out to help Ray and Deb with some maintenance on their motorhome. After that was all done, Deb and I went out to do a little shopping. While we were gone, Steve worked on pictures...so many to get caught up on!
A little later, we all piled into the car and Deb and Ray took us to check out a favourite boondocking spot off a forestry road north of here, not far from Sedona. The spot was empty and only about a mile or so off the paved road...looks good for next camping spot. We'll have to move there Friday since Dead Horse Ranch State Park is full for the weekend.
Once back home, it was time to gather around the campfire at Ray and Deb's. Deb is cooking dinner over the fire tonight....steak, baked potatoes and zucchini.
Overseeing dinner being cooked...
Zucchini is a little slow cooking over the fire, so I finished it off inside...
Beautiful sunset...
And dinner...awesome!
Thursday morning Steve and I headed off...first up was a hair cut for Steve. Next, we fuelled the truck up at Fry's...$2.55/gallon!
Back home, we had an hour or so before we had to head off to the Verde Canyon Railroad, so Steve worked on pictures...again!
We are booked on the 1:00 p.m. trip through the Verde Canyon...we have heard nothing but good things about this train ride, so we were really looking forward to it! Check in time at the railroad station was noon, so we headed off at about 11:40...driving through Old Town Cottonwood. There is a big event there Saturday...
Walkin' On Main...sounds very cool...
The railroad station is in Clarkdale...
Steve took some pictures of the train backing into the station while I went inside and checked-in...
Yuma is our car...
There was a tiny museum in an old rail car...
Lots of pictures and artifacts explaining the history of the area...
Shortly after 12:30, they started boarding all of the cars. We decided to go first class which meant nice comfy seats, appetizer-type food and champagne upon boarding...
Remnants of a metal corrugated wall holding back the mine tailings...
Verde River...
There is an open car behind ours for picture taking. Our guide directing our attention to points of interest. He's a retired English teacher with a booming voice and was quite entertaining. Said he has done around 1100 of theses tours and still loves it!
The Verde Canyon is deepening...
A lone boondocker...
Apparently there are remnants of an ancient wall that have been partially uncovered around the small dead tree above and to the right of the larger dead tree. Had to take his word for it as we couldn't see it...
T-Rex Rock...
There are even a couple of houses way out here that were grandfathered in. Takes 1 1/2 hours by dirt road each way to get groceries!
Another set of tracks on a small siding...
Turtle Rock at the peak...
The fall colours were beautiful ...
Into the tunnel...
Watch for falling rocks!
Ancient cave dwellings...
Pulling into Perkinsville, one of the locations where the 1962 series "How The West Was Won" was filmed.
Lime Kiln...
Perkinsville is the end of the line, so the two engines disconnect and move to the back connecting to the caboose for our return trip.
These engines are from the 50's...
We are about to enter the tunnel again...
Our guide said the ancient structure in the cliff may have been used for food storage. It was located about a hundred yards from...
...the cliff dwelling...
The train arrived back in Clarkdale around 4:30...what a fabulous afternoon! On the way home I took this picture of Pizzeria Bocce...last time we were here we had a wonderful evening out there. Great pizza!
About 8yrs ago , me and Janet followed a rough back road for about 25mi to the old Child's power plant site on the Verde river , our destination was the Verde Hotsprings , once at the old power plant site ,you had to follow a crude trail for a ways ,and then "carefully"wade across the Verde river! Our reward was the Verde Hotsprings on the ruins of an old resort ,the only downside was that the pool temperature was only about 98' ,a little bit of a let down after our long trip in! In a pickup it was a slow go , but if I had my ATV , it would have been a great day!cheers
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info Bill. I'll have to check to see if that's near where we are staying, sounds interesting.
DeleteWhat a cool adventure! We are missing you guys and since it is becoming painfully apparent that you are not coming north to see us we will have to plan our southern travels to cross paths with you!
ReplyDeleteLOL! Sorry but snow is not in our plans. We would love to see your new homestead, maybe on our way to Reid Lake next summer, then we could head up together. We are planning to head to Roosevelt Lake, Lost Dutchmen S.P., Casa Grande, then Q so come on down!
DeleteYour pictures bring back great memories for us from our trip on the train last year. Glad you really enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteSure is a great way to see the Verde River Canyon!
DeleteThe train is definitely on our list of things to do when we get down that way. We are still in Flagstaff until Thursday. So you upgraded to first class but spent a lot of the train ride in the open car it seems. So is it worth the upgrade and extra cost?
ReplyDeleteFor me I didn't feel it was worth it because I needed to spend most of my time in the open car to get the photos. Dianne felt it was worth it because she spent most of her time inside and also had a great view, which is on the right side of the car by the way. There are far fewer people in the car, the furniture is very comfy, there is a bar and food although it's only appies. We thought we were getting a meal but the plates were very tiny so would require several trips to make a meal, which we didn't do because we would miss too much of the scenery.
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