This morning, Paulette and I drove about 20 miles west of Sedona to visit the historic mining town of Jerome, AZ which is called "America's Most Vertical City". It is located high atop Cleopatra Hill(5200 ft.) and the "vertical" designation is no joke. The town literally sits on a cliff overlooking the Verde Valley for as far as the eye can see. Walking around town, both Paulette and I remarked on how dizzying it was because of the sheer drop-off from the Main St. to the valley below. There is this sense that you are going to fall-off, or tip-over, at any moment.
 |
| From Jerome, Az |
Founded in 1876, Jerome was once the fourth largest city in the Arizona Territory. The population peaked at 15,000 in the 1920's. Jerome's reputation for gambling, alcohol, drug abuse, gun fights, and other assorted mayhem led to the New York Sun newspaper declaring in 1905 that Jerome was "the wickedest town in the west".The Depression of the 1930's slowed the mining operation and the claim went to Phelps Dodge, who holds the claim today. In 1967 Jerome was designated a National Historic District by the federal government. Today the town is a thriving tourist and artist community with a population of about 450.
 |
| From Jerome, Az |
We spent about an hour walking around Jerome looking at the old buildings, shops, galleries and especially the fantastic views from virtually anywhere in town. Very steep stairways take you down from upper Main St. to the lower level.
 |
| From Jerome, Az |
It was only a 30 minute drive back to Sedona and Paulette wanted to check out the Outlet Mall on the south side of Sedona so I dropped her off there and went back to our RV site with Molly for a couple of hours until it was time to pick her up - what's a day without a quick trip to a Mall??
Today was another hot day here - 25C, but right now at 5:00pm, a bit of a windstorm has kicked up but it's supposed to die down by 10:00pm. Our RV Park is located in a bit of a ravine, protected by a couple of mountains so although the wind is strong it is basically blowing right over top of the Sicamore trees here. The 5th wheel isn't even moving which is a change from the wind in Desert Hot Springs which made us feel like we were in the middle of the Pacific Ocean sometimes.
We have no big plans for tomorrow, just more exploring around Sedona, then getting ready to pack up and head for the Grand Canyon on Sunday for a 3 day stay.
0 comments:
Post a Comment