Day 2 – Saturday

 There be copper in those mountains!

We arose as the sun was rising on a beautiful Saturday morning at 8 o’clock! Unfortunately, that would be 8 am Eastern Standard Time and not Mountain Standard Time, which there is a three-hour difference. Ok, it is five in the morning – now what?

Both us were dreading the morning that lay ahead because we had been bribed into listening to a timeshare pitch for tickets on the Verde Valley Train Tour and a bonus week courtesy of RCI. So… we lounged around and planned out the week that lay ahead. Our Plan-of-the-Day would be upon completion of the ninety-minute sales pitch, we would mount our overpriced rental vehicle and climb the mountain to explore the town of Jerome, Arizona!

The timeshare sales pitch was being held at another resort which is much closer to Sedona than our resort, Highlands Ridge. Sedona was the city that initially attracted us to Arizona for a vacation. Arriving a little early for the RCI song and dance, we decided to drive around Sedona. First impression, it is BEAUTIFUL! Surrounded by red rocks that are visually breathtaking, the town was just coming alive and not overcrowded. Driving down the main drag, we could not help but think Sedona looked a little like a tourist trap.

Past memories of Gatlinburg, Tennessee with red mountains, not green ones, were flashing in our minds. We would return and spend some time in Sedona since it was the lure that brought us here, but not sure it was what we expected to find.

With the best timeshare pitch ever (it finished early), Jerome was our destination. At the turn of the century, the town was the fourth largest city in Arizona with a booming copper mining industry. Founded in 1876, it had the reputation of being the wickedest town in the west. Some serious money was made in the mines that honeycomb beneath the town. When the depression came, the copper industry took a big hit and by 1950 this wild, wild west location had been officially declared a ghost town with only fifteen residents. Tourism has revitalized the town and it now has a population of four hundred and fifty. However, there is no doubt that twenty times the population visits to learn and relive the glory of days of Jerome every day.

The drive up to Jerome had us climb 2000 feet from an elevation of 3000 feet in Cornville to over 5000 feet in Jerome, which sits on the top of Cleopatra Hill (Back east we would call it a mountain). There were plenty of switchbacks and great views straight down as we climbed.

After arriving, one weaves through the town with only a faint hope of finding a parking spot. As you are about to exit the town, there is a little fork that takes you further up the mountain to a parking lot just a few hundred yards past the town. Nice!

What this place is all about is clearly seen as you step out the car. The remnants of an active mining community surrounded the parking lot. On one side there is a mountain and industrial items rusting away and on the other side the house of the owner who profited from those mines. Quite a contrast!

Moseying down the hill into town, we pulled up at the Caduceus Cellars and Merkin Vineyards Tasting Room. After the drive to the top of the mountain, a glass of wine (or two) would be a good thing. Both of us ordered a red flight of wines to sample. We found the Aglianico and Garnacha very enjoyable, and the Tempranillo offered was good but did not ring the bell. All the wines were priced close to fifty dollars per bottle so we left having had an enjoyable experience, but with no bottles in our sacks.

After wandering the streets and sticking our heads in and out of different shops, we got the sense of what this town used to be. Albeit, right on Main Street is one of the strangest wishing fountains we had ever seen. A crowd had gathered and were pitching coins over the wall. I know water is a commodity in the southwest, but this coin pitch was just too much. There appeared to be enough copper in the pennies captured in the courtyard to refill the mines below us.

Lunchtime took us to the Clinkscale Hotel Bar & Grill. Jerome was filling up with tourist (like us) so we had a thirty-minute wait for a table. We continued browsing the stores, galleries, and reading the multitude of historic markers. Receiving a text that our table was ready; it was back to the Clinkscale. It was well worth the wait! The food was absolutely wonderful! Janet, now being officially on vacation, decided that a cocktail was appropriate. Tom on the other hand was thinking about driving down the mountain and stuck with water. To coin a phrase of a friend, “we both chose wisely”.

Totally stuffed, the walk uphill back to the car began, but not before one more stop, the Jerome Museum. The collection of photography of times gone by was amazing. The stories we had heard or read during our visit now became alive in the photos, memorabilia, and items that filled the walls and floor space. Yes, Jerome must have been quite a place in its heyday and well worth drive up the mountain. As the law of physics states, what goes up… must come down, and the time had come to return to Cornville.

A quick stop at the grocery store allowed us to pick up the supplies for the week. The gas grills provided by the resorts would be where most of our dinners for the week were prepared. They also became a gathering spot in the evening for us and a couple of golfers from New Mexico for an evening of stories while dinner was cooking.

Tomorrow with Sunday being the big adventure day – Destination Grand Canyon – we decided to do Saturday night church. The church, which looks much like an old mission was beautiful and can be seen for miles with the barren landscape surrounding it. Sitting right on the highway that links Sedona to Cottonwood, it was not hard to find.

Hot winds and sand were blowing hard when we arrived and entering the church, a quiet sanctuary from the elements outside, was welcomed. Still following the CDC guidelines for indoors and lots of people, our masks were on. We found a pew on the side that was deserted and waited for Mass to begin. As more people came in it was clear that there was a 50/50 blend of mask/no mask churchgoers and it seemed all the no mask people were sitting around us. As the service began, we stood up and that is when we noticed the sign on the first pew, “No Mask Required Section”. This made us chuckle until we noticed the gentleman in front of us was carrying a 9mm pistol on his hip. Another first for us – never seen a gun toting worshiper before, and hopefully never will again.

Returning to the timeshare and with a little improvisation for an ice bucket, we enjoyed a bottle of rosé before dinner. It had been a full day with lots of new things seen and done. This always makes for a great vacation day. Up early tomorrow, and hopefully on early Mountain Standard Time, we are going to drive two and half hours to see the south and east rims of the Grand Canyon. This has been on Janet’s bucket list for many a year, while Tom’s memories as small boy of the canyon was it is just a bigger than normal hole in the ground. 

Tomorrow will be a big day!