Jerome, Az

Thursday, Feb 7

We've settled in to Dead Horse Ranch Campground, and for the first time on this trip, we have a little extra time to catch up on some things.

This morning Bill and I took off and got the CRV washed so we could put the protective cover over the front.  We have already gotten a couple of chips in the paint, and the cover will help keep from getting more.

Jerome is literally built on the side of a mountain

Around lunch, we headed back up the mountain (we are around 3,500 feet elevation at the park and Jerome is around 5,300) to revisit Jerome.  Bill didn't get to see it yesterday - all he saw was the yellow line going down the center of the highway.

We had a nice lunch at an open air restaurant - Grapes, the girls did some shopping, and Bill and I enjoyed the bars.

Lunch at Grapes in Jerome

We came back to the motorhome and then Bill and I took off to Tuzigoot National Monument.  I had not heard of this until we got here, but we found it to be very interesting.

For Evan and Anna:  Tuzigoot (Apache for "crooked water") is the remnant of a Southern Sinagua village built between 1125 and 1400.  It crowns the summit of a long ridge that rises 120 feet above the Verde Valley and river.

Pueblo ruins

Tuzigoot as seen from out campground

The original pueblo was two stories high in places, with 77 ground-floor rooms.  There were few exterior doors; entry was by way of ladders through openings in the roofs.

The village began as a small cluster of rooms inhabited by about 50 persons for 100 years.  In the 1200s the population doubled and then coupled again as refugee farmers, fleeing from drought in outlying areas, settled here.