Today's travel plans included the towns of Jerome & Sedona. First stop was Jerome where we expected to take a quick windshield tour of the town and then stop if we saw something interesting. In Flagstaff we are at almost 7,000 feet elevation. It was 88 degrees when we left around noon. We took the quick route, which ran us down the interstate for 50 miles. Along the way we lost a lot of elevation. By the time we got to the town of Cottonwood to make a pitstop, we were down to 3,300 feet. The temperature was a toasty 104 degrees. We had driven about 55 miles but what a temperature difference.
The drive up to Jerome was a switchbackarama. We gained 1,700 feet back as we swerved our way up the road. Vrai was leaning in as the canyon lay down below our side of the roadway. I was busy watching the road but would steal a glance over every once in a while. When we arrived in town we lucked out and got a parking spot fairly quickly. Being a Saturday, the town was full of tourists and lookie lous. I should have checked the temperature but it certainly wasn't in the 100s.
Jerome is an old mining town similar to Tombstone. And like Tombstone there were a lot of prostitutes living there during it's mining heyday. 1 of the madames when she died in 1905 was the richest woman in Arizona. So in Jerome the wages of sin are quite good. The town no longer has a school nor a grocery store. They do have a police station and a post office and that's pretty much it for services. The town has a few touristy stores with a few bars, wine bars, restaurants, and specialty stores like a candy store and hot pepper sauce joint.
We ate at a BBQ place. I had the local take on the Philly cheese steak. They used moist, smoked brisket, pepper jack cheese and green chile sauce. It was a delicious local version of an east coast favorite. Jerome is hilly and is laid out on a series of parallel streets that you can follow the street or take the steps that dot the landscape. 2 laps of the town would be a good workout.
Chatting with our waitress, we told her our next stop was Sedona. She mentioned taking the canyon route, since it's muchmore scenic than the direct route. And she wasn't kidding. I'll leave our drive to Sedona for another post. I'll post some pics soon.
If you ever get a chance to visit Sedona, don't pass up the opportunity. And take the route that goes through the Coconino National Forest.