To stay away from the cold we spent the winter in Florida. At some point we went to visit some friends who told us about the small town of Helen, a small German-themed town in Georgia at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. We were told to definitely go and visit. On our way traveling to the North-East we stopped at an RV-park in South Carolina on the border to Georgia, so we decided to make a day-trip to Helen.
Screenshot
Helen is a small town in a beautiful part of Northern Georgia at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains adjacent to the Chattahoochie National Forest and Unicoi State Park. It started as a mining town and the forest of the mountains provided lots of timber for a sawmill. After the mines were closed in the 1920’s and the over-harvesting in the wood jobs went away and the town started to decline. In 1968 a group of local business men decided to give the town a Bavarian make over. Soon tourism picked up and visitors came in floods. Oktoberfest is a big occasion but German beer and food are available year round.
We stopped at Roper’s Clothing where the 88 year old Mrs. Roper spent a lot of time with us and told us about the history of the town. That alone was worth going into the shop but they also have high quality western wear and boots and other clothing.
We decided to go on a small hike first, while in the area and Anna Ruby Falls was very close to town. The road goes up the hills high along Unicoi Lake. The entrance fee was $5 per person above 16 years old. After a few miles we reached the parking lot and had a small picnic. With our stomach filled we set off on the half mile hike up to the waterfalls.
The short hike was beautiful. Although the scenery was constantly changing the view always was stunning. It was one of the prettiest hikes we have been on. The paved path along the beautiful mountain creek was pretty steep with lots of rocks and trees to climb for our children. They needed to burn some energy after a good hour in the car. There were plenty little lookouts along the winding river and lots of opportunities for a photo shoot.
Once you get closer to the falls you can already hear the gushing water and see them through the trees. They were magnificent and if you had not already taken a million pictures you sure would now. There are two falls of two creeks coming together.
One of the falls is is 5 feet high and the other cascades over 150 feet into the bolder filled basin at the bottom. The two creeks become Smith Creek which flows into the Chattahoochie River which flows through Atlanta.
After our hike we went to visit Helen. In Washington state we went to visit Leavenworth, another Bavarian town in the Cascade Mountains. There you have the impressive mountain back-drop while those hills in Helen are not as magnificent the river with several restaurants either side is a beautiful highlight. We spent a couple of hours walking through the small town and finally looked for some liquid nourishment and a snack.
We picked a restaurant by the river and had beer, cider and sausages. Normally I do not look for German beer in the US but the Dunkel was on tap, refreshing, delicious and hit the spot. Once refreshed and a couple beers later we headed back to the car for our one hour drive.
We had a great day in Helen and the hour drive was well worth it. The architecture looks authentic and could be out of Germany. But at the end of the day German people make a German town. If I was in the area I would definitely go back for the hikes, the country side and the brew. A lot of people come here from Atlanta and I can see why.
Our travels along the West Coast took us through Oregon, both along the coast and the Cascade mountains.
Somewhere at a beach in Oregon
Most of the foraged mushrooms I ordered as a chef in Virginia and Pennsylvania came from Oregon, so I was excited to get to Oregon and go mushrooming.
I remember going mushroom-hunting with my parents in Germany. I learned quickly which ones were good to pick and to leave the ones I did not know. I enjoyed the flavor from a young age and learned to appreciate them even more as I entered my culinary career. I knew Porcini mushrooms and other boletes, parasol mushrooms and chanterelles as a child but morels, blewit mushrooms, lobster mushrooms, winter chanterelles, hen of the woods, chicken of the woods and others I got to know whilst working in the kitchen both in the UK and in the US. At the Inn at Little Washington we had foragers bring us mushrooms through the back door. Most of the mushrooms I bought from a purveyor came from Oregon, though.
As we arrived in Oregon I asked around and was surprised to hear that the season starts in September with the rainfalls. It had been dry the whole summer and we arrived at the end of August. So we had to wait for rain. Someone told me that clouds at night move over the coastal mountains and that the humidity could be enough for mushrooms to grow. So I set out with some of the children to see if we could find any. We had some success and found some chanterelles and lobster mushrooms. We had enough to make a delicious risotto.
Lobster mushrooms and chanterelles
A few days later there was a sprinkle of rain and we find a few more than the first time. Finally we had a full day of rain and I went with just Jojo and we found a lot of mushrooms. We found the most beautiful chanterelles but the majority were Lobster mushrooms.
Jojo and I found a lot of mushrooms after it rained all day the day before.
Lobster mushrooms are russula or milk cap mushrooms that have been compositionally altered by a parasitic mold. This may not sound very nice but they are actually delicious. They have a firm texture and a nutty, woodsy flavor and some say hints of seafood aroma. We had a blast and used the mushrooms as a side with meat, made omelettes and a tasty mushroom pasta. Coincidentally we found the perfect wine to go with the pasta to make it one of those memorable meals one always remembers.
the pasta dish was delicious.
The season was short for us as we had to leave for California but in the end we had our fill of mushrooms and I can look forward to go morel-hunting in spring again.
More mushrooms
A couple of things are important when cooking mushrooms; make sure you wash the mushrooms well before cooking and drain them well so they are dry.
Secondly, the pan should be thick so it holds the heat well. Get it smoking hot before adding the mushrooms.
Do not overfill the pan or it will cool down and the mushrooms release a lot of water and will steam rather than sear.
Butter herbs (thyme, Tarragon , rosemary) and garlic are perfect to finish the mushrooms at the end of cooking.
I love adding bacon bits to the mushrooms when I cook them as a side dish or for my omelet.
After visiting Phoenix for a LV conference we decided to spend some of the winter in Southern California. There are a few Thousand Trail RV parks in Southern Arizona but they are all age limited (55+). So we decided to go back to Southern California where there are a few Thousand Trails as well.
We went to Palm Springs Thousand Trails and had the best time there. The park is clean, the pool area is great, there were lots of children for ours to meet; but most of all the staff there are super friendly and forthcoming. They helped us with our future reservations and we never had an issue with anything. There were also daily activities for the children.
The pool area at Thousand Trails, Palm Springs. We went there on a day pass to do Laundry and use the pool.
After 2 weeks we had to leave however and decided to spend a week on the BLM land at the South-entrance of Joshua Tree National Park. I had read about it researching where to stay and only found positive feedback. we arrived in the afternoon filled up with water and gas and were ready to spend the week.
As you get off route 10 and head towards the park after about half a mile is a road running parallel to route 10 with a lot of spots. To our surprise there were already about 30 RVs, something we had not experienced before. Usually there are 5-10 spots. but here was room for probably 50 more easily. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land is just outside the park and stretches for miles in both directions. Because the area is so large there is plenty of privacy. Our closest neighbors were about 100 yards away from us. So there is plenty of room for our children to play, to make lots of noise and still not bother anyone.
The beginning of the dirt road leading to many boondocking sites.
We stayed there in mid November for a week and came back again at the beginning of December. The weather was very comfortable but it got chilly at night. You are supposed to only stay 14 days at one place but we never noticed anyone stop and check.
Sunset in the desert.
As we are a large family we go through our water very quickly and after 3-4 days we are usually out. If you enter Joshua Tree National Parks South entrance you head towards Cottonwood Campground. There is a dump station and fresh water so we took the trailer to dump and fill up with fresh water. There was no sign so we did not pay anything. We have the annual America the Beautiful National Parks membership so we entered the park with that but there is no barrier or ranger station you have to pass.
The dirt road stretches for miles.
You are in the desert here but there are plenty of shrubs, bushes and small trees. The ground was mostly gravel but it was compact enough for our rig not to get stuck. The kids played ball and bocce outside, rode their bikes and dug holes with the shovel we have.
We had plenty of space and spread out.
The internet there was good enough to stream video over our T-mobile internet gateway. The mountains of Joshua Tree are right behind you and there is an area that is managed by the LA water district which you are not allowed to enter. As long as you stay away from it you are fine to spread out as much as you want. We saw several groups of trailers in a circle who met over the weekend. There were expensive motor homes, Trailers, camper vans and people camping in tents.
We had plenty of campfires whereas most of California has a ban. There are stone rings set up everywhere.
There are plenty of things to do in Joshua Tree NP as well. We took the children on a hike, bouldering and also just drove from one end to the other with plenty of stops for all the different sites. All in all we felt very safe as there very a lot of campers and we left our trailer by itself to go to town for shopping etc. It is definitely a place we will use again if we feel in need to stay somewhere in Southern California.
After we spent about a week in the desert by the Bonneville Salt Flats (check out our blog) we headed North for Idaho. Our plan was to stop in Twin Falls and the next day carry on to Spokane. We found an old abandoned RV park in Twin Falls where we spent the night. When we were looking for things to do in the area we read about Shoshone Falls being the Niagara Falls of the West so we decided to go and have a look.
Shoshone Falls
It was a beautiful day (watch the video here) as we headed towards the Falls. They were just a few miles away so it did not take us long to get there and paid the $5 entry fee. We parked our rig in the designated area and headed for the top of the falls where there were some beautiful homes on the other side of the Snake River. Other than that there was not much to see so we headed for the Falls. The sight was much more impressive and there were several platforms to watch the water crushing down.
Beautiful Pauline
The power plant was built in 1907 and several additions were made over the years. These days a lot of water from the river is used to irrigate fields. That area of idaho was still very much dessert and is only fertile because of the water from the river. I think this has an impact of the amount of water coming down the falls. Perhaps in July the water flow has slowed down as all snow up in the mountains has melted already. Part of the water fall was dry but you can see there used to be water at some point. At the time we were there there was no water coming down the right. The flow of the water can be regulated so that the power plant always gets water.
Selfie-Time
Anyway, the little ones had their fun riding their scooters and Ripstik. It was very hot and after about an hour we had enough and wanted to move on. There was a sign for Dierkes Lake so we headed toward it. When we arrived we were pleasantly surprised.
The kids were fighting for the scooters and the Ripstik
Dierkes Lake
There was a lake with cliffs, a pontoon bridge creating a swim area, a floating pontoon, diving boards, public bathrooms, a huge lawn and so on. It did not take too long before all the kids were in the water. There also was a kiddy pool area so Romi and Bodhi had somewhere to play safely. The place was crowded.
A view over the swimming area of Dierkes Lake
The water was relatively clear except for some grass clippings and had comfortable temperature. Noah, Basti and Max jumped off the cliffs right away, Noah doing a flip a couple of times. Josephine and Pauline are decent swimmers and like all the others we could not get them out of the water. At least not for long.
Mom and Bodhi
Because our trailer was in the parking lot it was easy for us to have lunch and we grilled burgers in the evening. The park closed at nine o’clock and we made it out barely on time. As the children had so much fun we decided to stay another night and head back to the lake.
Saturday
It was Saturday the next day and we had a much harder time finding a parking spot. The children went into the water right away and everything was great.
Max jumping off the diving-board and Pauline on the right
No Dogs Allowed
Until security approached us saying dogs were not allowed in the park. We did not have a problem the day before and we had spoken with security then. Today there was a different crew and they took a different approach. There were 2 other dog owners in the park. One of them had traveled some distance to get there and refused to leave as there was no mention on the website and we had not seen a sign in the park either.
Can Sebastian walk on water?
So police were called and they spoke to each owner. We were told we could move a little further away from the water, to other side of the park. We were not given that option by security but the officer kindly advised us and we obliged. The other dog owners stayed for a little longer, ready to be taken to court. Police did not show up again and we stayed until it was dark and had no other run-ins with security.
Romi is playing life guard
The next morning we carried on towards Boise to go to Church. There we stayed after mass to talk to some of the parishioners and found out about a pilgrimage in Post Falls which we decided to walk…
One of my first childhood food memories is when a friend invited our family and a large group of friends to visit at his country home to a wild boar which he cooked for hours over a fire on a spit. I loved everything about it, the fire, the company, many of my childhood friends came from some of the other families, the flavors etc.
When we bought our house in Pennsylvania I decided to buy a spit as well. We had a few parties cooking a hog with friends from church and from work.
Porchetta I cooked at the Accomac, a restaurant I worked at for over 7 years
We are getting on the road
I decided to bring the spit when we left for our trip through the United States. For the longest time I did not use it as a lot of the time we were not allowed to make open fires because of the drought. When we arrived in Idaho we boondocked on top of Mount Coeur d’Alene. It was one of the most beautiful spots we ever camped. As it happened we had to shop at Cosctco and we grabbed two chickens. We picked up fire wood which was lying all over the place and cut it up with a saw and Basti’s hatchet. Then one day I decided the time was right and started a fire in the afternoon. I put the chickens on the spit, put some seasoning on that friends gave us in Louisiana and started cooking.
I made a nice large fire to get lots of embers and little flame
A word on the seasoning
The seasoning was a mix of herbs and spices that came in a package. Normally I don’t like prepackaged spices but it came from a friend so we had to try it out.
I would use fresh harder herbs like rosemary, thyme and maybe tarragon, sliced lemon, fresh garlic, cayenne or any other pepper, olive oil etc to make my own rub or seasoning. Store bought mixes usually contain preservatives, stabilizers, anti caking agents etc. It does not take much to make your own and it will always taste better.
Cooking the chicken
It is always fun to cook anything over open flames. You can hang out by the fire with some friends, chat and maybe have a glass of wine or beer. You have to keep the food far enough from the heat or else it will burn outside and still be raw in the center. I had the chickens relatively far away from the flames and knocked the stakes further into the ground as time went by. After about two hours and a couple of cold brews the chicken was ready. It looked beautiful. Because it was cooked so slowly the muscles did not contract very much and the meat stayed very moist and tender. I would have maybe liked a little more color but everyone was ready to eat.
The chicken is close so we placed the potatoes in the embers
In Texas many of the State parks have grills for smoking meat. I picked up Mesquite wood but never got to use it because of burn bans. So I used some of that towards the end to get some extra flavor. I am not sure if that worked because there was not too much smoke flavor on the chickens but it tasted delicious anyway.
Because we already had a fire going we wrapped up potatoes and baked them in the embers.
Thge broccoli was cooked in the cast-iron pan simply with salt and pepper
The broccoli we just threw into a cast-iron pan that sat straight on the glowing wood. Andrea and I feel this is the best way to cook any brassica, whether it is cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower or broccoli, cooked hard with some color-even some black, seasoned with salt and pepper and maybe finished with some olive oil, delicious.
Ready for carving
This is by far my favorite kind of cooking. It is nice to do it with family but even nicer if you can have friends around sitting by the fire with a couple of drinks. I hope we can have this again very soon.
Adventures are seldom fun while you are having them! “
We had seen some fun perspective photos online and set out to make a few of our own! The saying goes that adventures are rarely fun while you are having them and these photos, while they were so fun to make, definitely came with challenges on a hot July day!
Andre would lie flat on his stomach to capture an image just right and the salt ground would first soak the clothes and then they would dry like a super starched item.
Andre wrote about our visit to Jerome that you can read about here, but I want to tell you about one of my highlights!!
Andre!
Heading down the mountaintop of Jerome, AZ in early June, we drove past a lush apricot tree, absolutely loaded with ripe, juicy apricots in the side of the road.
We pulled our van over, as much as we could on the narrow, windy and steep road to pick the fruit. Why was I so happy? Well, first, our crew was hungry, and it seemed like manna from heaven! Mom win!!
We devoured these apricots in minutes!!
Secondly, this tree was wild and untouched by harmful herbicides, pesticides as it stood alone on a steep slope with few cars passing by! Lastly, because of how incredibly healthy it is to eat apricot seeds!!!
Apricot Seeds are one of the most concentrated and potent forms of Vitamin B17, also referred to as amygdalin, which is jam packed with vitamins and minerals that are anti-cancer, anti-aging powerhouses. Not surprising to anyone on the natural health arena, the FDA has suspiciously banned B17 since 1980, despite there being 934 studies on PubMed , like this one, about vitamin B17 and its remarkable health benefits.
Apricot seeds, for me, are synonymous with natural cancer cures whereas Andre thinks of DiSarrono Amaretto, which is actually made using the biter seed. Yum!
Other natural sources of B17, although not so concentrated as apricot seed , are apple seeds, plums, red cherries, peaches and other fruits.
We ate the fruit and let the pits dry out which didn’t take too long in the hot and dry Arizona summer!
Our little chef, Basti, cracked the dried pits open with pliers and we ate them a few at a time. Little things like this make my day! How about you?
There has been so much going on since we got on the road in mid December, learning as we went along, starting our YouTube channel and social media, figuring out how to live in limited space, cooking in a tiny kitchen and outside, where and how to boondock between destinations, even homeschooling on the road….. I could go on and on. It has been a lot of fun and some chaos as you can imagine with seven children but we have all enjoyed it and grown as a family.
This is the reason why it took us so long to get going with this blog and why we are starting in the middle of our journey. After spending the Christmas and the winter in Florida we made our way to Texas in the beginning of March. We flew through Alabama but stopped in Mississippi and Louisiana but did not spend nearly enough time there.
Texas was very dry when we arrived and we really started enjoying it properly once we reached the Hill Country, San Antonio and the Northern part of the state.
We have bunch of videos on YouTube if you would like to follow us there.
In the middle of May we started heading further West to Arizona where we are staying in the Sedona/Verde Vally area.
Amarillo, Our First destination
Our first destination was Amarillo, but we left Bay Landing late and only traveled a couple of hours. We took 287 and stopped halfway at a rest area to spend the night. As we are storing the bicycles in the trailer when we travel we have limited space, but still enough for everyone to sleep comfortably. The generator provides enough power to run the A/C and the fridge as well. In the beginning it was a bit strange to sleep in a rest area but now we don’t mind at all.
By the way, our favorite rest area is on I75 near Tampa. We stayed there on several occasions while moving from on park to another.
After a quick breakfast, which could be bagels and egg or baguette and ham and some reading and math for the children, we got back on the road to go to Amarillo. We stopped at Cadillac Ranch and the children had fun spray-painting the 10 cars.
The Ranch, located west of Amarillo on the old Route 66, is an example of hippy art and was started by an art group from California that called themselves Ant Farm. It is supposed to be a tribute to the evolution of the Cadillac tail-fin. Ten successive models were buried halfway in the ground front facing down.
Today each car is covered at least an inch thick with graffiti. It was the first of a few stops on the mother road that is the old Route 66. after our visit at Cadillac Ranch we drove along a small part of 66 and then went to Palo Duro Canyon State Park.
By that time it was already late and we did not have enough time to see as much as we would have liked and as the canyon deserved. We would have stayed but did not have reservations nor could we as there is absolutely no cell phone signal.
We still had enough time to take in some of the rugged beauty and vastness of Palo Duro. As I am not very good with heights I was very nervous about the kids running along the edges of the cliffs. They don’t seem to have any fear. We spend a couple of hours before we left as the park was closing to the public. It is definitely a destination we recommend to anyone and will come back to visit.
Next Stop Santa Fe
After our visit in Amarillo it was time to carry on toward Arizona where we had reservations at the Thousand Trails RV park near Sedona. We headed down Route 40 and again stayed at a rest area near Albuquerque. After 2 months we had exited Texas. The next morning after some home schooling, we headed to Santa Fe to visit Loretto Chapel and saint Joseph’s stair case. Andrea and I fell in love with the city, it’s small houses built in the style typical to the area, like the houses of the puebloans painted in the reddish clay color, it’s small roads and the vegetation. Mountains are all around the city. The whole drive through New Mexico lead through a dry countryside with little vegetation so it was nice to see grass and trees. The city is small for being a state capital, very clean and there are lots of little colorful shops. At 7200 feet it is very high and it got cold at night. It was quite unusual as we had to dig deep to find clothes appropriate for the weather. It had been hot everywhere we stayed but because of the altitude it was colder.
We found a place to park at the rodeo through the app Campendium and got full hook-ups. So we took advantage and had showers and cleaned up.
The next morning we headed back to the city and visited a few churches. On our way to Loretto chapel we stumbled across another church, San Miguel Chapel, Americas oldest church. It was built in 1610 and is still an active church. Right next to it was one of Americas oldest houses. It is used as a museum and a gift shop.
From Mission San Miguel we had to walk a couple of blocks to get to the Loretto Chapel. It is now privately owned after it was handed over by the Sisters of Loretto to a private family to prevent it from being demolished.
As the story goes after the church had been built there was no staircase to get to the choir loft. The sisters of Loretto prayed a novena to Saint Joseph the carpenter, the foster father of our Lord, to help with the building of a staircase. After the novena was finished a man showed up with a few simple tools. He built the staircase by himself without the use of glue or nails. What makes it so unique is that there is no central column to support the structure. Architects are still baffled to this day how the structure still stands to this day when it should have collapsed as soon as one put his foot on it. The man who built the staircase disappeared as soon as he was finished without being paid. The wood he used is not from the area. Many believe Saint Joseph built the stairs himself. Regardless, there is a lot of mystery surrounding the staircase, so much so that we had heard of it and decided to visit.
Another church we decided to visit was the shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe. It was closed however so we went back home for dinner after which we headed back to Route 40 to make some headway get to Arizona.
The next day we wanted to visit El Morro National Monument, a place of natural beauty and site of the remains of pueblo culture. Because of the heat and drought and the danger of wild fire the park was closed however and we were not able to visit or hike as we had planned. On our way through the area we crossed the continental divide at 7800 feet high. I had not noticed that we were that high, I did not want to drive that high with our rig but in the end it was not a problem at all. I guess it depends on the road and there were no big descends.
After getting back on Route 40 we decided to follow the old 66 and stopped at Gallup. We were hoping to see some remnants of the historic road but were disappointed. There was not much left of it and what we saw was not very pretty. We left a little disappointed and headed towards Arizona. That night we decided to visit the Petrified Forest National Park the following day. We were not sure at first as we did not know what to expect but we were not disappointed. It was one of the most impressive stops we had made since we got on the road.
The Petrified Forest
After breakfast and and home schooling we left for the National park. We did not have to drive far as we got close the day before. We entered through the South gate and stopped at the museum and gift shop. The museum’s exit led to a trail with all kinds of logs and sections of petrified wood. The color spectrum is quite incredible and with some of the trunks it was hard to believe that the wood had been petrified. The views throughout the park are incredible but seemed to get better, the further we went along in the park.
After we had finished walking the trail we got back into the car and followed the road. We stopped on several occasions and saw more petrified wood, Jasper Forest, Blue Mesa, Petroglyphes, remnants of a pueblo village, a memorial to the old Route 66 with an old car, a plaque and even some of the poles that ran along the road, the most stunning views at a variety of pull overs, the Painted Desert Inn and walked a couple more hikes.
The night before we were seriously contemplating not going to the park but thankfully made the right decision. We spend probably 8 hours but on occasion rushed through and could have easily spend more time. The park closes at 7:30, so we got back on the road after exiting close to route 40. Our next destination was Flagstaff with a few stops along the way first. On our drive in the night we must have passed Winslow so we did not get to stand on the corner. But we took the exit to Winona and saw the Rocks Creek Bridge.
We also stopped at Two Guns, a ghost town established in the early nineteen hundreds. Way before then a massacre happened when apparently Navajo Indians killed some Apache Indians in a cave. Billy the Kid and his outlaw gang spent a winter in a ruin across Diablo Canyon near Two Guns
In the early nineteen hundreds a businessman purchased the land and built a shop near the cave where the massacre had happened. He sold some land to another business man who built the gas station, a shop and a restaurant.. again another businessman leased some land and built a Zoo. There are still ruins from that time and on one of the exhibits you can read Mountain Lions. It was quite a walk from the exit of route 40 but very interesting to look back into the past. the walk along the cliff where there had been some of the cages was very pretty, too.
The gas station close to the exit was sprayed with graffiti and the smell reminded me of Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo because of the spray paint. After about 45 minutes it wwas time to get back on the road. We stopped quickly at Two Arrows, a gas station that had two giant wooden arrows stuck into the ground in front of it (one of which was lying on the ground). The gas station was in ruins but the pumps were still standing and one could walk through the building which was again covered with graffiti.
Our plan was to also stop at Walnut Canyon National Monument but because of construction we missed the exit and as it was already later in the day we decided not to turn around. Instead we drove along the Old 66 in Flagstaff which was definitely one of the nicer and better kept parts of the old road and much nicer than what we had seen in Gallup. I would like to stop at Seligman which is supposed to be very a great memorial to 66.
While we were driving through Cottonwood and Clarkdale we saw some beautiful reminders of the historic 89A something I expected from Route 66 in a lot of locations.
Later that night we made it to our camp ground near Cottonwood. We had to descend from Flagstaff some 3000 feet with a descend of up to 6% for 16 miles.
After some white knuckle driving in the dark, at least I was not distracted by the breathtaking views along the way, we made it down the mountain and arrived a day earlier than planned.
Now we have 2 weeks in the area and can enjoy some of the nicer RV parks and sceneries of our journey.
When we were traveling to Utah to go to a biohacker convention, we stayed at a RV resort in the beautiful, Sedona area of Arizona. We fell in love with that part of the state pretty much immediately. On our travels lately we had seen mostly desert and savannah and it was a nice change to see trees and grass.
We stayed at an RV-park in near Cottonwood and fell in love while driving through. So we decided to explore the area a little more and visited the neighboring Clarkdale and Jerome.
Jerome is a town built into Cleopatra mountain, part of the Black Hills in the Prescott National Forest 100 miles North of Phoenix on Route 89A in Yavapai county.
The view of Jerome as you drive closer
The drive was breathtaking, going uphill with beautiful views, steep drop-offs and windy roads. Jerome has an elevation of 5000 feet
Mining History
Jerome is an old mining town that had it’s hay-days in the 1920’s.
Hokoam people were the first to settle in the area. others followed, some of which started mining the copper ore – visible on the surface.
Explorers from Spain did not harvest the copper ore as they were sent to find gold and silver.
Arizona was part of Alta California and Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico the was ceesed by Mexico at the end of the Mexican American War in 1848.
Two large ore bodies were harvested by two mining companies. At it’s height in the 1920’s 10,000 people lived and worked in Jerome. A smelter and various other businesses depending on the mining industry established in the town. A school, a post office, churches and fraternal organizations followed with brick buildings and gas lighting.
The head frame of one of the mines, Little Daisy mine in the background
businesses depending on alcohol, gambling and prostitution boomed as the population was 78% male.
Demand for copper fluctuated and so did the population of Jerome. Prices for copper dropped during the great depression and the amount of people living in Jerome dwindled. In 1953 the ore was exhausted and the mines close for good. At that point less than 100 people stayed in Jerome and the town gained it’s status as a ghost town.
Today galeries, restaurants, coffee houses, wineries, a state park and a museum attract tourists from all over the country. The Grand Hotel, formerly the Valle Verde Hospital is a hot-spot for ghost hunters as during its time as a hospital about 9000 people died there. It is apparently one of the most haunted places in Arizona.
We had a great time visiting the mine, although the State Historic Park was closed we were able to see little Daisy Mine. Its head frame is still standing and a few other artifacts were visible as well. You can stand on top of the opening of the mine above an abyss of 1900 feet.
The mine shaft of Little Daisy mine is over 1900 feet deep
on our way from the mine to the town we found an apricot tree and enjoyed the perfectly ripe fruit.
We enjoyed the apricots we picked off a tree after we left the mine.
The town of Jerome is built into the rock and bustling with history. Most houses have been remodeled but some have only the facade left. Gift shops, Ghost tours, coffee houses and restaurants, galleries and a glass blower are there for you to visit.
Looking up the hill toward the municipal building
We enjoyed our day very much and would recommend Jerome to everyone traveling through the area. The history, ghost tours, the beauty of the town or just the drive alone will make it well worth visiting the town.
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