Dead Horse Ranch State Park - Cottonwood, AZ

We're heading towards Sedona next. There's only one rv park in Sedona, and it is full, so we find an Arizona State Park, Dead Horse Ranch, about 20 miles southwest.

Ahhh, it's warm! Dead Horse Ranch is practically in Cottonwood, a town of around 12,000 people. The campgrounds are clean and the sites are spacious with water, electricity and good cell reception, so we're set!

We meet our neighbors, Joseph and Randy, a very nice couple from Prescott, AZ. Joseph has an electric bike, a Sondor, that he let's us try out. Very fun! Now, I want one. They are on their way out but invite us to come over later for a glass of wine.

I've got a pizza craving, so we head into town to Pizzeria Bocce, which is pretty well rated on Google. Along the way, we get sidetracked at Verde Valley Olive Oil Traders. Who knew there were shops with pots of olive oil to sample? While Tom is sampling olive oil and balsamic vinegars, I find peanut butter fudge and spicy olives to take with us to Thanksgiving. (Sorry, Cathy, the olives were forgotten at Andrew's...you're welcome Ray, glad you enjoyed them.) 

Anyway, we did finally make it to Bocce's. Then we couldn't decide... We started with wood-fired artichokes and resisted numerous other yummy sounding sides. Then came our pizza choice...

One for Tom and one for me!

 Can't really remember what they were, but it was all good! Oh, yes, we did. We had dessert too.

After dinner, we head over to Joseph and Randy's to make our excuses, because we've eaten way too much to be able to drink any wine. But the conversation is too interesting, and we end up staying to chat. Joseph and Tom get deeply involved talking about photography. By the end of the evening, they (as ex-Californians) have us convinced that we have to visit Prescott. 

The next day, we did visit Sedona. Spent some time driving around, shopping, and eating, but we did not find the sleeping Snoopy rock. 

As we headed back to Cottonwood, we decided to visit Jerome, a town that sits on the mountain above Cottonwood. It's supposed to have a ghost town, so we head there. Well, the ghost town is now a tourist attraction and closes at 5:00. We get there at 4:55, just in time to meet the worker on the way out to lock the gate. 

The town of Jerome itself is built precariously into the side of the mountain. Unfortunately, I've managed to delete all my pictures (thinking I had downloaded and saved them). It looks like an interesting place, and we will have to come back an explore sometime. One note, however, is: do not take the RV up here ever! The roads are so narrow and windy that the RV would never make it out of town!