10/29/19 to 11/5/19 - Camp Verde, AZ to Tucson, AZ (218 miles) stayed one week at Diamond J RV Park
High Desert to Low Desert
In the short drive from Williams to the Sedona area, we descended from 7600 feet to 3300 feet, thankfully. Bill is really effected by altitude. And as much as he complains about the humidity in South Texas, he cannot deal with humidity in the single digits. And don’t get him started on the dust! So, now we know, we could not retire permanently to the desert.
But there is a stark beauty about the desert. Everything here has to work to survive, and is ready to defend itself with prickles and thorns. You don’t dare accidentally brush up against anything out here. And if you walk slowly and quietly, life reveals itself to you.
We stayed at a park near Sedona called Distant Drums, very near the Montezuma Castle National Monument. This cliff dwelling has 5 floors and about 45 rooms. It was built by the Sinagua people between 1100 and 1425 AD. I love these ancient ruins and can imagine life along the creek, protected by the canyon, growing crops among the cottonwood trees.
Of course, there’s a Native American casino here, too, called Cliff Castle Casino. This one was really well done. Along with an attached hotel and conference center, they had a play room for kids, where they were safely supervised, a video game arcade for older kids, a full bowling alley, and Johnny Rockets, and best of all, smoke free area to play slots. Again, I’m not much of a player, but when the park gives you free play and a free shuttle, and you get more free play when you join their player’s club, it’s a nice way to spend an afternoon, especially when it’s too hot to be outside.
My favorite part was the drive to Sedona called the Red Rock Scenic Byway. There were beautiful formations along the 30 minute drive and places to get out and walk/hike, if you had a day pass, which someone was kind enough to share as they were leaving. The first time we drove to Sedona was on a Sunday, and it was packed! We drove through town, didn’t find a place to park, and left. We came back the next day and had a lovely time walking through shops and galleries without the huge crowd. I understand the attraction, but wouldn’t want to live there on the weekends.
Somewhere on the drive between Camp Verde and Tucson, we began to see Saguaro cacti dotted throughout the landscape. In Tuscan, they are like the trees of the desert, filling the rolling hills. People landscape with them and form boundaries between properties, they are that prevalent.
We spent a whole week in Tuscon. The first night I reconnected with a friend I haven’t seen since our first trip around the US. Then, we visited her in Portland, OR. Now, she lives in Tuscon with her son’s family playing grandma to her grand babies. It was fun to catch up, but kinda weird to start the conversation, “So, what have you been up to for the last 18 years?” We ate great Mexican food in a trendy downtown restaurant and chatted for hours.
The park we stayed at had trails winding around the back of their property. They even gave me a map to help navigate, but I got lost once. It was a little scary to not be able to see the RV and not know which way to go, and look for snakes, and scorpions, and tarantulas, and coyotes, and try to get back before the sun was totally gone! The sunset was amazing though.
We also drove through the Saguaro National Park. There is such a variety of plant life that sustains the animals that live there. I could tell that they had just bloomed after a recent rain, but I was too late to see them. That would be gorgeous to see the desert in bloom. Did you know that the saguaros don’t start growing arms until they’re over 70 years old?!
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