Sedona

After our visits to Jerome and area, we took a trip into a most amazing area renowned for its "Vortices".  These areas are known to contain magnetic convergences and some New Age thinking that these areas will bring balance and harmony in new ways!  Could not prove or disprove that, however we were very impressed with the colour of the rock....some of the deepest reds imaginable.  A real tourist town as the traffic was bustling everywhere....tons of little shops and eating establishments...too busy for us.  We headed back along the road to Camp Verde and entered the small town of Oak Creek...definately more our style....nice little golf course and clean and tidy...Will likely return to this area for further visits!

From Sedona (Camp Verde), we were off again and spent the night in Benson as the gateway to Tombstone.   Now that is an area that has benefited greatly from the old west legends....Wyatt Earp, Ok Corral, all the romance of the cowboy era.  Stagecoach rides, shootouts, bank robberies all as events you could witness in a  show seting.  Colourful to say the least with everyone dressed in period garb.

Of course the hype glamorizes the time when the fastest gun solved all the worlds problems...we know where that got us!

From here, we headed to the Kartchner Caves in the hills by Benson....one of the largest caves discovered in the 1970's and developed as a tour as early as 2003!  As unassuming as the hills are out side, the interior caverns were amazing!  The two geologists that made the discovery kept the location a secret for 17 years in an effort to have protection for the area!  The tour did not allow any photos to be taken in an effort to preserve its content.  The measures taken to clean and protect were amazing.  The structures inside the main cavern were nothing short of stunning!

Our next journey took us to New Mexico where we stayed at the Hidden Valley Ranch for two nights just outside of Deming.  Surprising gravel road into the ranch and a great spot with the friendliest group of "campers" yet.  A Pot Luck dinner on Friday night and there were about 40 people show up!  We had traveled up to Truth or Consequnces (actually a tow name) after a round trip that took us through the Worlds Chili Capital of Hatch, NM.