Old Town Cottonwood has character:
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| We're in the wild West now! |
Verde Valley Olive Oil Traders has a retail store in Old Town Cottonwood. The knowledgeable staff helps you with tastings and pairings of a wide variety of quality olive oils and white and red balsamic vinegars. The blood orange olive oil and chocolate red balsamic vinegar combo was fantastic! I ended up walking away with the blood orange oil and could easily have bought more if I had the space.
We checked out Aloha Radio at the Main Stage bar one evening. The band was fun and call their style Surf Soul. The venue had the best acoustics, lighting and sound we've ever seen and some great art on display as well.
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| Art and lights at the Main Stage. |
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| Aloha Radio |
We headed up to Sedona for a St Patricks weekend show but on the way we wanted to stop at the Red Rock Ranger District office for a good map of the area. The shortest route was via Cornville Rd to Beaverhead Flats Rd. There's a Scenic View pullout on Beaverhead Flats Rd that turned out to be a great place to stretch our legs.
A sign at the Scenic View told us this site commemorated the Chavez Trail which passed through the area in 1864. Beyond the pullout an old forest service road lured us into the hills. We could tell the gate across FS 9500G was new and that folks used to boondock here; it would have been a sweet site! In fact, right back up Beaverhead Flats Rd we saw people boondocking on some nice forest service land.
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| This hill, topped with a layer of volcanic rock, beckoned us to climb it. |
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| As we headed up the hill colorful landscape opened up as we looked toward the Mogollon Rim. |
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| Scrambling up the lava escarpment we enjoyed expansive views and red cactus flowers. |
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| The views on the other side of our hill were wonderful! Sedona red rock, here we come! |
Onward to Sedona for Celtic music by The Knockabouts at Oak Creek Brewing Co, it's St Paddy's weekend after all! Good beers; I especially enjoyed the King Crimson dark red ale. Food at the brewery is provided by Simon's Colombian Style Hot Dogs, and they were yummy! Unique toppings and good bread.
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| The Knockabouts were great! |
We're excited to be in this area for a month!
Wow... Embrace the spirit world. Breathe in all you can and fill the soul with love energy. Then leave some behind for those that are sure to follow.
ReplyDeleteWe will George! Sedona's beauty brings out the best in us!
Deletewill be interested in your stay there as we are heading west once again... enjoy!
ReplyDeleteLots of exploring to do in the area. We spent a week in Camp Verde last year so this year we will seek out the lesser known places.
DeleteBeautiful picture of Claret Cup hedgehog cactus on the ledge. I love this area of Arizona. We try to go here at least once a year. Great hiking in the Red Rocks and Jerome is fun. Don't forget to try The Asylum restaurant in Jerome - the former miner's hospital turned into an inn and restaurant.
ReplyDeleteThanks for identifying the cactus! Love that name. Thanks for the restaurant tip!
DeleteLooking forward to all your hikings there for which Im sure you are so excited about. We enjoyed the red rocks there on board the Pink jeep. We have not taken Betsy there and will sure be interested in stopping there one day :)
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful area! If Sedona weren't so commercial and crowded we might consider living there.
DeleteGreat pics. We were there just for the day last year at this time. I picked up the best lip balm I've ever used at a little olive oil place in Temecula a while back. If you get back to the one there check it out!
ReplyDeleteOlive oil lip balm sounds wonderful!
DeleteYou are going to have so much fun for a month in that area. I am looking forward to what you find in the area. I know our ten days there were packed with site seeing, hiking, and traveling the Jeep roads. The best areas of Sedona are off 4x4 roads which we learned when we were there last winter with the Jeep. Our previous two visits were with a motorcycle. Your truck will get a nice workout!!
ReplyDeleteDo you know what the cactus is with those large red flowers? They are so pretty.
Have a wonderful time! We'll be walking right behind you:)
We spent a week in the area last year and have been to Sedona briefly before RVing so this time we'll try to find the more of the beaten path places.
DeleteThanks to Vicki above it's a Claret Cup hedgehog cactus.
Spent two weeks at Dead Horse Ranch SP a few years ago. Rode bikes with the local club, Verde Valley Cyclists, I think. Nice group of people. Invited us to hike with them, and suggested places to eat. The Thai restaurant in Cottonwood is excellent.
ReplyDeleteThat is such a great area!
Thanks for the Thai tip!
DeleteLove the photo of the cactus with the red flowers. I'll be keeping my eye out for one of those. You picked a great spot to spend a month. Before I got ill, we planned to spend time in that area on our way back to CO but rearranged the plan to give me time to recover. I look forward to your posts to use as reference for a future stop next season.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to share our adventures with you! Get well soon...!
DeleteWhat a great place to spend a month. This is one desert area that really calls to me. I read all about the vortexes and love the New Age thinking that is part of the Sedona culture. Can't wait to hear more about your stay here.
ReplyDeleteWe hope to get back into some of the lesser traveled parts of Sedona, stay tuned!
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