Our time in Sedona hit a snag at the start of our second week. The weather turned cold and wet and we developed head colds. Nothing major but we stayed in and read a lot. When we started feeling better we decided to take it easy and confine our explorations to easy hikes and indoor attractions.
The Arizona Copper Art Museum in Clarkdale pays homage to the copper mining heritage of the area.
The museum is located in the town’s former High School. The building is crammed with all things copper.
These are artillery shell casings from the First World War that have been fashioned into vessels by soldiers. The shells are brass, an alloy composed of copper and zinc.
The town of Clarkdale was built in 1912 as a company smelter town for the workers at the nearby copper mine.
We took a few easy walks along Oak Creek.
Walnut Canyon National Monument is located southeast of Flagstaff. The last time we were in the area we missed checking out the 700 year old ruins of the Sinagua people, ancestors to the Hopi.
The canyon is loaded with ruins but the public has access to a only a small number of them.
By week three we had shaken our colds and were ready for the arrival of Pat’s brother and sister in-law.
This was the first time Mike and Donna had explored the area. Of course we had to take them on some of our favorite hikes.
Devil’s Bridge
Sedona is known for its extensive Jeep trails. Mike decided he needed a Jeep to explore them.
While out with the Jeep we stopped by the Honanki cliff dwellings of the Sinagua people.
We also explored the nearby town of Cottonwood.
We then continued our explorations of Sinagua ruins at Montezuma’s Well.
The water level in this sink hole has remained constant even during Arizona’s recent droughts.
Nineteenth century graffiti is in evidence at the Well.
We stopped by the nearby V Bar V ranch to checkout the impressive wall of petroglyphs located there. As an extra treat we saw our first Coatimundi. Sorry no photos.
This is only a small sampling of the petroglyphs.
All too soon Mike and Donna returned home and we got ready to fly to Chicago to meet our new grandson Max…
and play with his big sister Rebekah.
After a great week in Chicago we returned to Arizona to continue our journey.