This morning, it was cold and windy so we decided to delay the trip to The Grand Canyon until tomorrow and go to Sedona and Jerome today. Since we were not prepared for this jaunt as we usually are, we decided that this would be another "reckon" trip to set up what we would spend some time with next time. Heading south from Flagstaff to Sedona, we went through Oak Creek Canyon. This is a short, very deep canyon that turns to red rock as Sedona is approached. There was a clear, rapid stream running alongside 89A as we traveled through the canyon. The rock formations, as we approached Sedona, began looking like red statues, a red castle, a creeping, crawling monster, a coffee pot and other objects. We took so much time just cruising the canyon and interpreting the rock formations that we noticed that the time was flying by. There was so much more to see and we would not come close to seeing even most of it. We even saw a tree that we thought was a weeping willow but, as we got near, saw that it was not. Now we wonder what it really is! We decided to go to Jerome, a nearby former mining town in the mountains. It is called America's Most Vertical City because it sits on a 30 degree slope and many of the buildings have slid into the valley below. Jerome was once the fourth largest town in the Arizona Republic because it sits on top of what was once the largest copper mine in Arizona. Most of this info and more was discovered by us AFTER leaving Jerome so we will definitely have to return. The town peaked in the 1920s at 15,000 people and mined 3 million pounds of copper a month up to and during WWII. After the war, the demand for copper waned, the mine closed down and this once bustling town became the "Largest Ghost Town in America," housing abut 300 people now, mostly artists and people making a living from the tourists. This trip just keeps on getting better!
