"Get off the road..." [Driver passes by]
Hi I'm Mike of Mike's Road Trip. And I am Mihaela from World Travel Bug. Yeah this
is actually our third episode on our epic road trip around the southwest.
We are now in Sedona Arizona which was really really high on my list of places to see
here in the US. You might have noticed that our wheels have shrunk
quite a bit from, the big RV to this Toyota Tundra. It has four-wheel
drive and it's a lot of fun. Yeah it's nice to have the the agility to be able
to go places where we couldn't really take the RV. So on this trip
we are in central Arizona, we're going to places like Jerome and Cottonwood and a
few other places, so come along with us, and let us show you around.
On this road trip to Sedona we actually are kind of doing a loop and we
started off in Phoenix and we're coming through Wickenburg, our very first
stop is here to the Granite Mountain Hot Shot Memorial State Park. This is
actually a wonderful hike but unfortunately it was built around a very
tragic incident that took place I'm not sure if you remember hearing about this
but I don't remember how many years quite a few maybe five six years ago now.
There was a horrible forest fire up here and hotshots is a type of firefighter
that goes in fights forest fires so they were up here and they got caught by a
huge shift in the wind I guess and they were surrounded by fire and they they
perished so it's really really a sad place but it's it's a beautiful area for
a memorial and a lot of the granite boulders have plaques for each of the
firefighters who perished so it's a really great place to come out pay your
respects but it's also a wonderful
one last summer before its fall
turn your strings and play your guards lead the words heat me like a game so we
just climbed up Yarnell Hill outside of Wickenburg and that's where that Hot
Shot Memorial State Park is and just beyond Yarnell is an area called
people's Valley as you'll see there's a lot of ranches up here it's really a
beautiful area and this is a nice alternative to going to Sedona rather
than going just straight up i-17.
Can you now tell me what is up with all the secrecy?
There's no secrecy, we're here in Prescott.
Now Prescott interestingly enough used to be the capital of Arizona
but it gained statehood or shortly thereafter.
Phoenix became the capital of Arizona but right behind us this used to be the
Capitol building, it's now a courthouse. when did Arizona become a state?
Arizona gained its statehood in 1912 on Valentine's Day.
So isn't this a beautiful area? A lot of people will congregate
here, there will be concerts right over here is called Whiskey Row and they have
a lot of bars and things and so they yeah we can I'm sure I love this little
creaking stuff yeah yeah well it's too bad that restaurant is
closed I've been there a couple times and it's really good food but yeah
what's the original - can you say it again el gato aye
so what is this place? Well that's a good question, we are at a place called Watson
Lake which is just north of Prescott and I think also just beyond it's called
Granite Dells because this area is just riddled with granite boulders and it's
really a unique geological wonder don't you think I thought granny was no no no
this is absolutely all granite oh god I wish I was one of those puddles oh I
know wouldn't that be fun beautiful they're always short on time
but we bring it to you so you can make the time come in places like this
so right now we're in route to Jerome and we're going through the Minges
mountain range which is really a beautiful forest and then it drops right
down into the hillside community of Jerome
did I do enough to feed my soul
but right now we are in Jerome which is a hillside community that was an old
mining town and for decades this place had just been abandoned and in the 1970s
there were a lot of just vagrants and vagabonds and artists who came and
inhabited some of the abandoned buildings and over years this became a
really cool eclectic and art community and now you see a lot of kind of refined
wine bar oh they act like that you know I can feel the cool vibe not
only feel it but seat winery cellar winery
to breathe what makes your room so special is it's truly a little jewel on
the hill in Arizona it's an old mining town its history is amazing and fun to
learn about and right now you're also in the middle of an art colony as well so
not only do you have the history but you have the present-day artists who are
making it a wonderful place to be up here
so right now we're in the Cottonwood and Clarksdale area and this is actually
really an up-and-coming area of the Verde Valley and they have a train ride
that goes up through the hills and we're not far from Sedona which is our next
stop you notice how many wine-tasting dreams there are here or wine bars
well this Verde Valley is actually one of the more popular areas in all of
Arizona for wine growing and I think that's why we saw so many in Jerome as
well me too and you know I think the last time I was here it it's so much
more developed right now and I think it's because of wine wine is kind of
bringing this down we just walked in or walked by this boutique hotel and you're
starting to see all these restaurants open up and I really think it's because
of the wine industry I don't
so we made it here to Sedona and Wow is this not an incredible sight yeah
there's only a handful of people here perusing the creeks by the way this is
Oak Creek and it runs right through Sedona
our home base while exploring this area of central Arizona was El Portal a
wonderful boutique 12 room in located in the heart of Sedona nestled within the
famed arts and crafts village of tlaquepaque this was also a fantastic
place to come back to and relax after a long day of exploring and speaking of
exploring we did just that both on foot and off road
hey so right now we're at Slide Rock State Park and this is one of my
favorite parks here in Sedona I used to come here when I was a kid all the time
all through adulthood it's really a fascinating place and the reason it gets
its name slide rock is that there's some sort of an algae that grows here and
there's a natural flume and people will swim in the water and slide down
yeah
we're out here exploring a kind of the lower part of Oak Creek and it's kind of
cool artifacts here
so that's it from hearing Sedona and the third episode of our epic road trip
throughout the Southwest yeah and if you like this video please hit the like
button and don't forget to subscribe for more
Road Trip travel videos. So until next time, we'll see on the road...
MikesRoadTrip.com