Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Lake Watson and Jerome

Monday morning we did our weekly grocery shopping and the laundry. Then in the afternoon Max had her doctor appointment to get the MRI results. Bottom line is she has a really bad knee but is too young for a knee replacement. The doctor told her that he was going to let her pain be the guide if she needed to have surgery or not. Her ACL is torn and the Meniscus is torn and he could go in and clean it up but she might not have much improvement. The good news is that her knee is stable and she can walk and exercise without doing anymore damage. So for now the plan is to keep exercising and letting the healing process continue to see if she can keep the pain to a manageable level. If it gets to where she can not keep it manageable then she will see about surgery. Our plan now is to leave Phoenix on Jan 1st and work our way across the southern part of the U.S. and back in the Indiana area in April and May. ( Those in Indiana please turn up the thermostat! )

Tuesday Max and I decided to take a ride up to Prescott and then on to Jerome and then back down to Phoenix.  We left around 10 am and headed up Interstate 17 to the highway 69 turn off to Prescott. The temps were in the 60’s at a higher elevation but very comfortable when riding.

We decided to go into the downtown area of Prescott first and visit “Whiskey Row”. This is the area where there were over 40 saloon’s  in a one block area in the 1870’s and where Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday spent a considerable amount of time before they headed to Tombstone. Prior to 1877, "The Row" was rumored to have been located a couple blocks to the west of its present location. But it was moved due to the insistence of many of the local employers and wives, because the patrons of "The Row" had to cross a foot bridge over Granite Creek to return home and in the wet season, some of the more sot would fall into this very shallow creek and drown.

We ended up going into “The Palace Saloon” and eating some lunch and looking at all the memorabilia. The Whiskey Row  block was destroyed by fire in 1901 and while it was on fire the patrons inside the Palace removed the bar and carried it across the street and continued drinking while the town burned. Different priorities back then I guess…. But it is a beautiful bar!

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After having some lunch we headed out for Lake Watson just outside of Prescott. The lake is 380 acres and is a very picturesque lake. We spent about an hour climbing around the granite boulders and getting pictures. I will let the pictures do the talking!

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The water was down about 12 feet as you can see the level on the rocks. It was a perfect day and we decided that we should have had our lunch there instead of some old saloon.

We then headed north to Jerome along Highway 89A. With its twisty corners and mountain grades it was a fun ride up to and down from the town. Jerome is billed as America's most vertical city, built on Arizona’s largest copper mine.

Founded in 1876, Jerome was once the fourth largest city in the Arizona Territory. The population peaked at 15,000 in the 1920's. The Depression of the 1930's slowed the mining operation. World War II brought increased demand for copper, but after the war, demand slowed. Dependant on the copper market, the mine closed in 1953. The remaining 50 to 100 hardy souls promoted the town as a historic ghost town. In 1967 Jerome was designated a National Historic District by the federal government. Today Jerome is a thriving tourist and artist community with a population of about 450.

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Walking the town can be a work out. Going from street to street is full of steps and with Max’s leg we did not walk around too much. The town is full of curiosity shops and restaurants. We will have to come back and give this charming little town a better visit.

We then headed towards Cottonwood and the Verde Valley and got fuel for the bike and picked up highway 17 back towards Phoenix. We finished up our day trip with dinner at Applebee’s and then made it back home around 8 pm. Wednesday we need to buckle down and get some cleaning work done on the rig before we depart Phoenix on the 1st.

1 comment:

Donna McNicol said...

We love, love, LOVED riding through and visiting Jerome. Had the BEST fresh green salsa there. LOL!