Day 9
Our first stop of the day was in Winslow, Arizona. Because of Covid, it was a ghost town.
I still had to take a picture of myself standing on a corner. Unfortunately, there were no girls in any flat bed Fords slowing down to take a look at me. I blame it on the Covid.
Notice the gas prices in the backkground? Just another reason to dislike California.
A little further down the road was Meteor Crater National Landmark. This is where a meteor struck the earth right next to a visitor center making it convenient to visit.
OK, I made that up. The visitor center came much later. This is the site of the world’s best preserved meteorite impact site on Earth. Meteor Crater is the spectacular result of a collision that rocked the American Southwest approximately 50,000 years ago with the energy of more than 20 million tons of TNT. Meteor Crater is nearly one mile across, 2.4 miles in circumference and more than 550 feet deep.
We happened to show up when there were very strong winds. The wind was blowing at 60+ miles per hour with gusts of over 80 miles per hour.
On our way out, there was a brick wall with a hole in the middle, much like a picture frame. The clouds and the haze made for an interesting picture.
We finally arrived in Prescott in the early evening and went to the historic downtown courthouse area to grab some dinner. Much to our surprise and amusement, there was a huge flea market set up on the grounds around the courthouse.
After some shopping and dinner, it was bed time.
Day 10
We started the day with a walk around Lynx Lake. The temperature was perfect and the views were outstanding.
Next up was lunch at the historic Palace Restaurant and Saloon. We met one of Corrianne’s teacher friends and her husband for lunch. They both retired last year and moved to the Prescott area.
The Palace has been in business since 1877, even thought it has had to be rebuilt a few times. One of the stories goes that during a fire, the patrons picked up the bar and booze, and ran them across the street to the courthouse grounds and drank at the moved bar as the building burnt to the ground. This place has had Wyatt and Virgil Earp, Doc Holiday, and Big Nose Kate as some of its famous patrons. The food was good and this is a must visit when in Prescott.
We finished the day with a visit to the Heritage Park Zoo. This is a cool little zoo you can easily see everything in about 2 hours.
HB4116 
HB4116 
HB4116 
HB4116
Day 11
This was our last day in Prescott. We started with a tour of Plum Creek Alpacas. This is a working alpaca farm where the owner Brian gives tours and you get to feed and pet some alpacas. This was my second tour and Corrianne’s first. As usual, Brian did an outstanding job. I very highly recommend this as a must stop and see for everyone.
After this wonderful tour, we stayed in the Prescott Valley area and did some sightseeing. Before dinner, we decided to go have a “mead” tasting at the Superstition Meadery. So what exactly is mead you ask. It is the oldest fermented beverage in the world and is made from honey and other ingredients.
From the Superstition Meadery website…………..”Mead is believed to be the oldest form of alcoholic beverage, and the oldest remnants of mead were found in pottery shards in what is now Northern China dating back to at least 7000 BC. Hunter-gatherers likely drank mead out of animal skins even before the invention of pottery. Mead pre-dates the wheel, agriculture, and metal tools. The Romans drank mead, as did the Babylonians, Africans, South Americans, Asians, Eastern Europeans, British Islanders, and yes, the Vikings. Wherever your ancestors are from, they likely drank mead, and mead played an important role in many civilization’s mythologies.”
Here we are with our mead.
So the million dollar question has to be, “How was the mead?” I really wanted to like it, but really did not. Of the 12 samples we tried, I would order and enjoy one, I would drink another one if someone else paid for it, and the other 10 were more than an acquired taste. It turns out mead is from the old Latin, meaning, “bad tasting alcohol.” At least I think that is the translation.
Day 12
We took Highway 89 west out of Prescott so we could stop at the Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial Park. This is a park dedicated to the 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots that were killed on June 30, 2013, battling the Yarnell Hill Fire. The memorial has a 7 mile round trip hike that takes you to a memorial for the firefighters located where they died. We were unable to do the hike, but I would really like to do it some time in the near future.
We made it home safely and in one piece!
Next up is our second “shake down” trip in the new trailer to San Diego with our friend Sylvia and a surprise tag along guest.