Sedona's 41st Saint Patrick's Day Parade

The Sedona 41st St. Patrick's Day Parade was held on March 5, 2011. The pimary reason for early parade is that many Northern Arizona University students volunteer to help and if the parade were held on March 17th, Spring Break would impact the volunteerism.

Arizona National Guard Marching Band
   

Sedona Car Club Member 1941 Ford 

Sedona's Tea Party Group

Sedona Korean American Association

Korean American Band Members

Sedona Car Club Member

Local Presidential candidate Dennis Knill

Sedona's Red Rockin'Grannies dancing their

21st year as parade participants.

Yavapai-Apache Nation

Yavapai Apache Nation Royalty

Trusting Traffic!

Steve and a local prospector. Steve told me

later the guy didn't say much!!

Western Dancers Carousel outside Cowboy Club eatery

...and his horse

03/05/2011

Who Doesn't Like Sedona Arizona?

Sedona - Land of Red....rocks!!

Jerome Arizona

Jerome Arizona lies across the Verde Valley from Tuzigoot, and at an elevation of over 5000 feet. Following the Sinaguan people in our blog, we learned they actually began mining in Jerome over 1000 years ago, mined for blue azurite for jewelry and pigments for their body paint and pottery. Before the Sinagua's left the Valley they made a sizeable dent in the

Cleopatra mountain area at Jerome. Moving forward, copper mining successfully came full circle with the arrival of financiers and one specific Dr. James Douglas Sr in 1880. Dr. Douglas actually said no to those who were ready to invest. He would go to Bisbee Arizona and focus on the Copper Queen mine posted previously in our blog. Others came forward ultimately and Jerome blossomed. Today it has about 500 people and draws on its background and history with visitors.

Jerome view from Tuzigoot across the Verde Valley.

Click pix and select Original to view Jerome

up close. It sets approximately 5000 feet.

The Lunch Bunch at a fantastic

Jerome Burger Joint - the

Jerome Palace and their

popular Haunted Hamburgers!

Jerome Palace Satisfied Burger customers! 

Betty and Steve walking down to next Jerome level.

Jerome Shops

A view of Little Daisy Mine Hotel used as

a dormitory for miners. Below right is a partial view

of the Douglas Mansion

The Douglas Mansion as viewed from an earlier

photo was built in 1916. Not seen just above

the mansion is the entrance to Douglas' Daisy Copper Mine

and above the mine is the miner's hotel. None of Douglas'

family ever resided at the Mansion primarily due to where it

was located with mining surroundings. Douglas brought

investors and financiers to his home to continue cash

flow to what became a successful copper mine.

An amazing view of Verde Valley from

the Douglas Mansion.

03/07/2011

Tuzigoot - More of the Verde Valley

Tuzigoot or crooked water from Apache is the remains of another Sinagua village built between 1125 and 1400. It rises 120 feet above the Verde Valley. The original pueblo was two stories in some places with 77 rooms at the groundfloor level. By the time the Sinaguans left the Toozigoot, there were 250 people in 110 rooms living in the region. No one knows for sure where these people went or why, but their culture and existence remain.

An Upper view of Tuzigoot. While the Sinaguan

people were adept at cliff dwelling this site is

not related to cliffs.

A view of the rooms externally at Tuzigoot

Montezuma Well

              

Montezuma Well is a natural sinkhole 350 feet wide with cliffs about 70 feet above the water's surface. It's located 11 miles from Montezuma Castle and here like the Montezuma Castle were cliff dwellings  of the Sinaguan people. Every day over 1.5 million gallons of warm(74F) water flows into the well. It exits through a cave with irrigation ditches still visible from the Sinaguan people 1000 years ago.

 

Cliff Dwelling can be seen above Montezuma Well.

It is of the Sinaguan people much like that of Montezuma

Castle 11 miles away from this site.

Montezuma Castle

The Montezuma Castle isn't really a castle and it is not named after the Aztec emperor Moctezuma. The Castle was inhabited a century before the Aztec ruler was born! The Castle is view of the Sinagua people and their dwellings beginning around 1125. It locates in the Verde Valley of northern Arizona near Camp Verde and Cottonwood area. These Southern Sinaguas began building  large pueblos on hilltops and in cliffs. The pueblo size reached its maximum size in the 1300's and were occupied for another century. We do not know today why the Southern Sinagua abandoned their pueblos by early 1400's.

Singua's pueblo about 100 feet above basin

The Sinagua's began building their five-story
20-room dwelling early in the 1100's. It's in a cliff
about 100 feet above the valley. There was and remains
a creek below with a reliable source of water and fertile land.

Judy and a perspective of

height of the cliff dwellers

We learn from our touring that Sinagua's built the
Tuzigoot Pueblo. You will soon see that Tuzigoot contained
at least a hundred rooms, some with second stories. The largest room
was 17 feet by 26 feet. Again water - the Verde River was the
reason for the Tuzigoot settlement. The Montezuema Castle
and Tuzigoot while not far from each other were distinctly
different in construction

Betty and Steve came down

from their home to greet the

tourists! Betty says the climb

back to the home is tougher

than coming down

Tombstone Snow

On Sunday February 27, 2011 we awoke to snow on the ground and the nearby mountain ranges. Arizona weather types told us it was unusual in this part of Arizona and has not happened in 40-50 years. Well, we obviously didn't need snow chains but we enjoyed the moment.