Jerome, Arizona
Our Southwest road trip began with a two night stop in Jerome, Arizona. This small former mining town clings precariously to a mountainside and is now considered one of the most haunted places in America.
We decided to stay at the Jerome Grand Hotel, a former hospital and a top destination for the ghost hunter types.
We had an incredible view looking east towards Sedona from the balcony.
Without knowing the history of the hotel, we were given rooms 30 and 32. Apparently room 32 is the main room with the most “ghostly” activity and people were continually stopping by to check it out. Pretty creepy history but of course nothing unusual happened.
FAO the bear and his first photoshoot on our trip. Of course it had to be in a haunted hallway.
Downtown Jerome
Audrey Shaft Headframe Park
This is a really cool spot where you can stand on a glass platform over a 1,900 foot mineshaft.
In the hills above Jerome there’s a museum with a recreation of the old mining camps, a massive collection of vintage cars, and even a petting zoo.
This is a sculpture made of confiscated guns.
This is where Thu would have worked had she lived back in the mining days.
An old house sits high above the museum, and was the last inhabited home in the camp.
Sedona, Arizona
We took a side trip over to Sedona to do some hiking and sight-seeing.
Since Thu was still having to be careful about her ankle, we decided to do a short hike to the Subway Cave, a very popular short hike in one of the most beautiful areas of Sedona.
Even though this is an enormously popular spot for hikers, we arrived early and managed to avoid the crowds.
Just around the corner from the iconic photo spot there are some ruins and a small set of caves with incredible views.
Taking a small tour around Sedona by car offers so many spots to just get out and look at unique red rock formations.
We had to stop at Sedonuts.
The Chapel of the Holy Cross
Sunset from Airport Mesa is always nice.
Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona
The main reason for our trip through the Southwest was to visit the many national parks that we hadn’t seen yet. First stop, Petrified Forest National Park.
Petrified Forest National Park is one of the least visited parks, but it is beautiful and fascinating to see all the petrified wood.
Another photoshoot for FAO. He became a bit of a celebrity on this hike.
So many beautiful colors when you look closely. It was really interesting how some of the petrified wood took on the characteristics of the minerals, while others looked exactly like preserved wood.
Petrified Forest National Park has its own badlands similar to South Dakota.
This is the Blue Mesa area, although it looked more lavender or light purple to us.
After a few hours in Petrified Forest, we drove to Tucson and started to see all the saguaro cactus.
Pima Air and Space Museum, Tucson Arizona
While in Tucson, we had to stop and visit the Pima Air and Space Museum, a massive collection of nearly 400 aircraft.
I think they said this is the smallest prop-plan ever flown.
Trying a Sonoran hot dog, a Tucson original.
Saguaro National Park, Arizona
The house we rented was just outside Saguaro National Park, this was a mini mountain just outside our door that Thu and FAO decided to conquer.
The real Saguaro National Park. We made it just in time for a beautiful sunset, made even better by all the silhouetted saguaros covering the landscape.
Some of the cactus have t-rex arms.
Wildflowers were blooming so that just added to the beauty and color of the southwest.
White Sands National Park, New Mexico
After two nights in Tucson, we drove through White Sands National Park on the way to Carlsbad. What a beautiful way to begin the short portion of our trip in New Mexico.
White Sands National Park is the newest national park. We took a short hike into the heart of the dunes to get away from any of the crowds.
Sunset was the perfect time to visit White Sands. Even though there were no clouds, the sky was so colorful and made the sand change color from white to shades of yellow, orange, blue and purple.
As the moon came up we hiked back out to our car. With no more sun, it felt like we were driving through a snowstorm because of the blowing white sand. This concluded the first part of our road trip. Next we would be driving through the rest of New Mexico and on to our final destination, Texas.