Verde Valley 1

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It is about 360 miles from Pahrump to Camp Verde, Arizona, which was my next stop. The Nevada/Arizona border is marked by the Hoover Dam. I was enthralled, the dam was a fantastic undertaking in the 1930s, time is bringing improvements and a suspension bridge is in the works. I want to go back there when it is finished!
I spent the night in Williams, Arizona about 100 miles south of the Grand Canyon. I had wanted to take in the Grand Canyon but decided that it deserves more than a few hours visit and isn’t going anywhere. As winter approaches it is also getting very cool in Northern Arizona now so I’ll make a plan to visit some other time when I am in this part of the country it’s a bit warmer.
The highlight of my stay in Camp Verde was having Beverley and Casey come to stay. They flew into Phoenix which is about 90 miles south of Camp Verde. We managed to take in quite a bit of the breathtaking scenery as well as enjoying the chance to visit. I have been blessed with great weather for 99% of the time I’ve been travelling but of course the weather broke the third day of their vacation and we were dodging showers most of the day. Beverley and Casey both enjoy camping and Casey is easy company and was a real trouper who cooked three great steaks on the bbq in a cold drizzle!

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Photos

Lake Mead
Last year I took a trip down the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River in Colorado. The water from the Gunnison River there is piped to Lake Mead to supply the folks living in Arizona

Hoover Dam
You can see cars going over the Dam. The suspension bridge that is under construction is just above

Overflow
I couldn't believe the size of this overflow pipe--my motor home would disappear down it!

Motor Home
I couldn't find parking for the motor home and car down close to the Dam so I walked down to where I could take pictures. That's my motor home and car way up above

Camp Verde
Camp Verde was originally called Fort Verde, but was changed when the army vacated the property and donated it to the Arizona State Park system. The area is really beautiful. This is the Arizon sycamore.

Montezuma's Castle
The Sinagua Indians lived in this part of Arizona for centuries. For some reasn they built their homes in the sides of cliffs. The structures always faced east to capture the morning sun and warmth.

Artists Rendition
This is what the pueblo looked like on the inside. It was called Montezuma's Castle because the first white people who discovered it and thought it must've been build by Aztec refugees but it was learned that Montezuma never strayed this far north.

Tuzigoot
This is another Sinagua pueblo, this one is built on the top of a mesa. The Sinagua deserted this area in the 1400's. It isn't known whether there was sickness or inter tribal conflict. The white man only came here in the 19th century.

Bev and Casey
Families lived in individual rooms in the pueblo. They used the Arizona sycamore for posts and beams

Rooms
This pueblo was totally reconstructed by the National Parks guys. Built out of stones with mud as cement, the weather and time take their toll. The construction sort of reminds me of the farm walls around Staffordshire, Cheshire and Derbyshire