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stars in arizona

Journey to the Verde Valley of Arizona

This Valley is smack dab in the center of Arizona and is filled with everything from ancient ruins to ghost towns and vortexes.  Cottonwood, Clarkdale, Jerome and Sedona may all be small towns located close together on a map, however these towns couldn’t be any more different.

verde river

In fact, the Verde River might be the only thing they have in common.  First, let’s start with our favorite and no, it wasn’t Sedona.  I know, Gasp!

Jerome, the city in the sky.  A place where friends go to hang, it’s quirky, a little strange, historic, an old mining town, an old ghost town, has the smallest visitors center ever, a cool art scene, a haunted (probably not) hotel and has a really great restaurant with a cool name.  Now that’s one giant small town!

city in the sky

around jerome

Quince is definitely the place to be with great food, affordable pricing and if you can make it on a Wednesday they have $5 burgers.  A big thanks to our friends Peg and Dave for sharing this gem with us!

quince

Clarkdale.  While we didn’t hang around Clarkdale much we did stop by the train station…only to find out the train wasn’t running that day.  Bummer, it looked kinda cool and we were looking forward to the scenic tour.

verde valley train

Since we didn’t spend our time on the train we headed over to the Tuzigoot National Monument.  It’s a 110 room ancient pueblo built by the Sinagua people around A.D. 1000.

tuzigoot

So this is what a high rise apartment looked like in ancient times.

Sedona.  In case you haven’t heard, Sedona is full of energy centers or vortexes of energy. Some say just driving in you can start to feel the healing powers and if you go to one of the vortex sites, which is where the energy is strongest, you will feel uplifted and the effects can last for days.

sedona

I will admit that the formations and red rocks are beautiful but other than the normal ‘happy’ feeling we get from being in nature, we couldn’t tell a difference.  Maybe had we made it inside the Chapel of the Holy Cross we would’ve felt differently?  Or at least that’s what we were told.  However, the chapel is one amazing site from the outside!

chapel of the holy cross

The Catholic Chapel was designed by architect and sculptor Marquerite Brunswig Staude.  Now, If you were thinking to yourself it looked like a Frank Loyde Wright, it’s because Marquerite was one of Frank’s students (yea, we’re on a first name basis :).  The most intriguing fact to me is that it only cost $300,000 to build!  That was 1956 but even so, compared to other Chapels of the world, this seems like a drop in the bucket.

Now, I don’t want to leave you thinking we didn’t find that warm fuzzy feeling anywhere in Sedona, because we did.  Granted, it was probably the fire and the cocktails but never the less we were all warm and fuzzy inside and out!

cocktails at elote

While chatting up a local woman (a volunteer at airport lookout) she had mentioned that her all time favorite cocktail and dinner spot was a non-descript place called Elote.  She warned us there would be a wait and it wasn’t the cheapest place in town but was worth every penny.  And she was right.

Elote

The cocktails were all made with fresh fruit and the food was spot on.  I do have to say, if you make your way there skip on the desert.  It was just ok in comparison to everything else, instead have another cocktail.

Cottonwood.  It’s a quiet, small town with cute antique stores, cafes and hiking trails all around. Jason’s favorite was the little bakery on Main Street.  They sell all of the previous day’s bread for only a buck!  I can’t make jalapeño cheese bread at home for that cheap!

fresh bread

We stayed at Thousand Trails Verde Valley campground just outside of Cottonwood.  I thought this was the perfect spot for base camp.  We’re filming lots of campgrounds this year for Thousand Trails and we are hoping they’re all as scenic and ideally located as this one!

If you’re wondering about those stars at the end of the video…yes they are really that bright out here! (a word of caution: bring flashlights ’cause when the moon isn’t up this campground is surrounded by nature, not artificial lighting).

stars in arizona

So there you have it!  Should you make your way to the Verde Valley hopefully this gives you some ideas of where to start.

Disclaimer:  While we were compensated to film the resorts (thanks Encore!)…all of our opinions are not purchased and are still our own.

Hello there! I honestly don’t know what to say, so I am going to tell you a bunch of random facts instead. I'm a fish eating vegetarian who hates spiders and loves snakes. I almost never took vacations growing up. I wanted to be Pippi Longstocking (still do). I misspell about every other word I write and still struggle with grammar. I love splurging on a good high tea (which is really hard to find these days). And whatever you do, don’t tell me I can’t do something, because then I'll HAVE to do it!

Comments (9)

  • I was so nice to meet you! We really enjoyed reading your blog (especially about the places we have been.) If you have a chance check out ours at unpredictableperrys.wordpress.com

    Marc and Connie

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  • Kay Peterson

    I have fond memories of Sedona, the only hotel I’ve ever stayed at that was $300 a night with NO TV or Phone…L’auberge de Sedona…on the creek,,,amazing and I loved it….!!!!

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  • My family and I were in the area about a year ago and really enjoyed the short time that we spent in the Verde Valley. We stopped in Jerome for lunch at the Haunted Hamburger and spent a bit of time in Sedona (we did a hike and later went to the airport to get some photos) before we headed to Flagstaff before going to the Grand Canyon the next day. Would love to spend more time in the area.

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  • Katie

    My family and I visited Sedona in November 2012 and we thought it was pretty, but we weren’t crazy about it. The prices seemed a little too high for us. We have a place called Gatlinburg, TN, that is like it, only without the high prices and red rocks.

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  • Peg

    Excellent representation of the Verde Valley and what it has to offer. I wish you had more time to spend in the area… maybe next time.

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  • Just found your blog a little while ago . I love it. So cute and informative. I am making note of that bakery with the $1.00 day old bread. What a deal. Also , want you to know I am going to a blog writing workshop next week and we are told to bring a couple of our fave blogs to share. I may have to share yours !

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  • It’s too bad you couldn’t take the train. I’ve been on it several times and it’s quite entertaining. Sometimes you spot bald eagles but, even if you don’t, it’s worth the $$ and 4 hours spent.

    And I agree, Cottonwood is a fun little town. To me, Jerome seems far too crowded most days as does Sedona but I do love the red rocks and it’s hard to take a bad photo in Sedona.

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