Any grand plans we had for the summer of 2023 were scuttled when I ruptured my Achilles and had to have surgery in April. Fortunately, Steve was able to continue with his two month backpacking/hiking trip while Norah and I pivoted. Norah ended up working full time at her job and I ended up with a Crazy Cat Lady summer - consisting mostly of physical therapy, reading, and hanging out with our cat Owen. Owen got so used to me being home and at his disposal, he turned into a little furry dictator (people ask how I read so much - this is the way. Get a cat that demands you sit with him, then several hours later find yourself still reading and hanging out with your cat). Thus I knew when I planned a quick overnight trip to the Verde Valley on Norah’s days off we would be scolded when we returned, lol. Spoiler: we heard all about it when we got home. Worth it though because I was going stir crazy being at home and a little getaway was the perfect antidote.

We left the canyon Thursday morning and took scenic route 89A through Oak Creek Canyon to Sedona. At the top of the canyon there is a really nice viewpoint at Oak Creek Vista. This stop was longer than we anticipated because in addition to checking out the views, there were vendors set up selling Native American jewelry. Of course we had to spend some time perusing the goods and then we continued our drive. It was cool watching the landscape change from ponderosa pine forest to Red Rock country. I didn’t feel too bad missing out on hiking in Sedona because it was super hot, so we wouldn’t have hiked anyway. We did make a few stops though - we visited Chapel of the Holy Cross, Courthouse Vista, and the Red Rock Visitor Center.

It was about 30 minutes to Cottonwood and we arrived in time to eat lunch at Crema Craft Kitchen and check out Main Street. Then we were off to the Arizona Copper Art Museum down the road in Clarkdale. The last time we visited this area, the art museum wasn’t open (it is relatively new - it opened in 2012), so this was a new attraction for us. I wasn’t sure what to expect as I hadn’t heard of this museum before. What a gem of a museum! I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it.

The origins of the museum started with John and Pat Meinke from Minnesota and their son Drake, who were avid dealers and collectors of copper and wanted a way to share their collections with the public. In search of a meaningful location for the museum, a two year survey was conducted and Arizona was identified as an ideal state given its prominence in copper production. Out of the multiple choices within Arizona, Clarkdale was selected. Clarkdale has a rich history with copper - it was a planned community built by United Verde Copper Company for its employees. Clarkdale also had an ideal property that could be repurposed: the old Clarkdale High School that opened in 1915 and closed in 1951. The museum occupies the first floor and is organized by different rooms: Information/history, Military, Art and Architecture, Religious Art, Cooking, Drinking, and a Winery and Distillery room. The collection has over 5000 works of copper from 3500 BC to the present day, with a Western European and North American emphasis. There were so many cool things to learn and see. One example: I had never heard of “trench art” before, which was art created by WWI soldiers in the trenches using spent shell casings. The military room had a large collection of these transformed shell casings. Overall, we really enjoyed our time at the museum.

We had some extra time before checking into our hotel and decided to drive up to Jerome for a look (we would be returning tomorrow to visit more in depth). We headed back to Cottonwood and checked into the Iron Horse Inn downtown. The inn had a nice courtyard and we liked our queen room on the second floor. The location was great - right on Main Street - and we walked down the street to Merkin Vineyards Tasting Room & Osteria for dinner. I got a good laugh at the name and logo. Our favorite thing here was the bruschetta appetizer - it was delicious!

It was already pretty hot the next morning when we were on our way to Tuzigoot National Monument. We arrived not long after the monument opened and did the walk to the pueblo first thing before it got even hotter. There is a paved 1/3 mile loop that goes around and through the pueblo, located on a limestone ridge a hundred feet above the Verde River floodplains. The 110 room pueblo is a thousand years old and was home to an estimated 250 people. It is one of fifty large pueblos discovered in the Verde Valley. Construction of pueblos in this area started around 1000 and the people departed in the 1300s.

By the time the site was excavated in the 1930s most of the walls had collapsed. Some of these were partially reconstructed on the foundations to show the nature of the pueblo. During the excavation an Apache worker named Ben Lewis named the site Tú Digiz, which means “crooked water” in Apache and refers to this stretch of the Verde River. Tú Digiz became “Tuzigoot” and the name stuck. A large number of items were recovered from the pueblo, including the remains of a macaw, indicating old trade routes to the south (this is why a parrot shows up on some of the Tuzigoot postcards and information). The Tuzigoot artifact collection has 3,185 objects and some of these can be seen in the small museum, which has a nice set of displays and information. We spent some time checking out the exhibits to round out our visit (in the blessedly cool air conditioning!).

We learned some of the old history of the Verde Valley and now we would learn more recent history by visiting Jerome State Historic Park. The park is the historic Douglas Mansion, built in 1916 on the hill above the Little Daisy Mine. The museum has information about the Douglas family, mining, and the history of Jerome. Prospectors staked claims on copper deposits in 1876, but Jerome didn’t really take off until the early 20th century when the United Verde was the largest producing copper mine in the Arizona Territory. Copper production peaked in 1929 and mining ended in 1953. At its peak Jerome had 15,000 residents and was one of the largest cities in Arizona. After the mining days, the population dropped to 50 and Jerome was essentially a ghost town. Now it’s home to 450 residents and a bustling main street with wine tasting rooms and art galleries. Nestled on the side of Cleopatra Mountain at 5,000 feet, Jerome is an interesting, quirky little place.

From Jerome we drove the windy mountain road over Mingus Mountain (elevation 7,818 feet) and down into Prescott. Prescott has a nice downtown around Courthouse Plaza and we browsed in the antique shops and walked down Whiskey Row. We stumbled across the Back Alley Cheese Bar and enjoyed a charcuterie board before our final drive back home, where we were greeted by a sassy Owen letting us know it was fine time we were home, lol. We had a nice mix of activities during our quick Verde Valley trip and it was a fun little getaway.