Yikes, NO Internet since March 10th.

Yes, that's right, we have been without the Internet since our last location, Camp Verde, AZ. This RV park was located in a valley that didn't allow my fabulous AT&T card to work so I have taken a whole week off of our blog. I will try to give you a capsule version of our travels in one shot.

3/10/09 we sadly left Mesa Spirit in Mesa AZ. It was a wonderful park and we had a great time & made some very nice friends. We are already planning on returning next year to this same RV park for perhaps a longer stay. A stop at Camping World for a quick service on the RV which lasted until after lunch (which was McDonald's) then we were on our way to Camp Verde, AZ a small town about 2 hours north of Phoenix. We arrived & of course after Mesa Spirit it looked like a dump, but really is your regular RV park, we just had gotten spoiled. However, it turned out to have the NICEST people & we had a great time and made lots more new friends.

Camp Verde is located in the Verde Valley and had many interesting & beautiful places to see. I will try & list a few of the things we did.

Montezuma Castle www.nps.gov/moca a 5 story 20 room dwelling which stands in a cliff recess a 100ft above the valley. You can't enter it, just observe it from below.
Tuzigoot (pronouced Two-zee-goot) www.nps.gov/tuzi is Apache for "crooked water" remnants of a village built on a summit that you can walk through. The original was two stories high with 77 ground floor rooms but little is left but a beautiful view.
Montezuma Well was the third national park of this trio which was this beautiful lake in the desert which supplied water to the Southern Sinagua & Hohokam's. This was a wonderful hike around the lake & down to the river & canals that flowed out of the lake.
Jerome www.azjerome.com nicknamed "The City in the Sky" as it is located about 6,000 ft up and just a beautiful, historic town. You must read about this place and the interesting history. We walked around and had a fabulous $30 lunch (Will went pale when the check came) at the Mile High restaurant. Unfortunately, for us, it started to rain & we had to cut short our outing in Jerome, but we will be back.
We drove through Cottonwood www.visitcottonwoodaz.org and Cornville but never stopped, cute towns and with more time we would go back. I am saving the best for last.........
Sedona www.visitsedona.com or www.SedonaVerdeValley.org This place is spectacular and not to be missed. It's truly a tourist town, an expensive tourist town, but it sits in the middle of red rock mountains, with mountain formations that are fabulous. Our first visit to Sedona was with our next door neighbors in Camp Verde, Bridget & Mac from New York. We drove over in our car as Will now had a friend to visit with while Bridget & I hit all the tourist shops....it worked out perfect. We had another wonderful (& expensive lunch) at the Cowboy Grill and even caught the local St Patrick's parade they were having that Saturday, 3/14. Then Bridget & I signed us & the guys up for a "90 minute Time Share" visit for Sunday, 3/15.....the payoff was $100 a couple....for just 90 minutes of "listening." We couldn't resist the "easy" money so back we went on Sunday for our $100. Well it was a very long 90 minutes & there must have been at least 75 people in this large room, PLUS salesman pitching the time share. Well we both got through it & collected our $100 bill but Will said, NEVER AGAIN. It was a great two days with a very fun couple and we missed them as soon as they left for NY on Monday, 3/16. However, that afternoon we drove back to Sedona driving for several hours on some of the scenic roads and observing this beautiful place.
Well that brings us up to date....it's Tuesday, 3/17 and "moving day" which we are headed to Williams, AZ to see the Grand Canyon. We left Camp Verde mid morning and arrived in Williams about noon & found our RV park. Williams www.williamschamber.com is a cute little town which their main street is the last piece of Route 66 to be by passed. Our first stop was the Grand Canyon Railway to buy our tickets to take the train tomorrow to the Grand Canyon. I want you to know that our $100 bill from the "time share spiel" purchased our tickets.....The train leaves every day at 10 am and arrives back at 5:45 pm and then we will take shuttles up at the canyon, much like the ones at Yosemite. After purchasing the tickets we walked down this incredibly cute town, on Route 66 going in & out of shops, or I should say, Will waiting outside, while I go in (Bridget, I really missed you!) Well we found a little tourist part of the old West, which had a John Wayne museum and other places, however it was closed & doesn't open until Memorial Day weekend. But our very good luck found several of the "cowboys" out talking in front & we wandered around looking at the buildings. Buck, the guide of the museum came up to us & offered to open the museum up and give us a guided tour of the John Wayne museum. To say that Will was in 7th heaven is an understatement....Buck had sooooooo much fabulous information and this museum has a huge amount of memorabilia. The next hour or so was Buck telling stories & giving information; we only wish we would have had a recorder to play it back. Of course the "frosting" was Buck took John Wayne's cowboy hat out of the display & let Will put it on for a picture that I took of the two of them. Will had a smile from ear to ear. We told Buck he has to write a book or a CD with these stories and share them with all the John Wayne fans. It was fabulous. Well another amazing day ON THE ROAD AGAIN. Much love to all our family and friends.