Sedona And My Cactus Queen

I picked up The Bride at the Flagstaff airport without any problem. I was even able to drive the trailer into the free parking lot and walk into the airport itself. The Bride's flight arrived 20 minutes early....Ah, the joys of a small regional airport.

The title of this post is a reference to the Chuck Pyle song "Tucson Cactus Queen" which celebrates "Sedona Ramona". I can't think about Sedona without thinking of this song and Sedona Ramona playing air guitar. So for the next few days The Bride will be my Cactus Queen!

My original plans were to stay at the local Elks lodge which does have RV spaces with hookups. After thinking about it for a while I decided that I'd treat The Bride to a regular RV Park that has all the normal amenities and is within walking distance of the artsy side of town and so we're comfortable situated at Rancho Sedona RV Park.

When we arrived on Wednesday afternoon the weather was gorgeous but by Thursday morning the temperature had dropped and clouds rolled in. We decided that this was a good day to drive to Jerome and Prescott.

Jerome is a great old mining town about 30 miles south of Sedona. It survives today by entertaining and enchanting tourists and it does a very good job of it. Jerome is at about 6000 feet in elevation and by the time we got there the intermittent rain showers had turned to intermittent snow showers. To get to Prescott we had to climb to 7023 feet and at the top of the pass there was a decent snowfall occurring. In Prescott it snowed, rained and all inbetween but it was not ugly enough to deter The Bride from a little shopping.

A treat for me was lunch in The Palace Hotel. It's a bit touristy and not where the locals probably hang out but I enjoy the history of these types of places. In addition to the old West history I got an unexpected bonus. I did not realize that The Palace Hotel and Prescott in general played a significant role in the movie Jr. Bonner, starring Steve McQueen and Robert Preston...one of my all time favorites. Even though the film is a favorite I don't have it in my DVD collection....or at least I didn't until yesterday. It was for sale at The Palace and I couldn't resist so not only did I buy a copy but it was last nights entertainment after dinner.

Today the weather is about the same so we might do a little Sedona shopping and take in a museum. Tomorrow another weather front is supposed to pass through with an increased chance of precipitation and a little colder temps. It is NOT snow however so The Bride and I will enjoy the area as we can.

Thanks for visiting.