Standing on the Corner

After spending a pleasant night at The Red Garter, a former bordello ( no ladies of the evening in sight, thank goodness) we had a wonderful breakfast in the former saloon. We discovered that there was going to be a shoot out down by the train station, so decided to check it out.

Little Red Dog was a bit nervous with all the cowboys around. But it turns out that they were just looking for breakfast and Mama was in jail. And they had no money to buy breakfast, so they decided to rob the train. Fortunately, the sheriff arrived in time and all ended ok. Well, not for the outlaws. Sheriff shot them all. And Little Red Dog escaped unharmed.

Turns out they were pretty friendly after all.

Unscathed from the gun fight we headed over to Winslow to stand on the corner for a bit. For all the pomp and publicity, Winslow doesn't have much to offer except the "Standing on the Corner" park. Hardly anyone on the streets except tourist coming to "stand on the corner" Very few locals.

Oh, ya. Remember Mary Colter from the Grand Canyon? She designed a beautiful hotel in Winslow. It ran into disrepair but is now being restored. We popped in for a look.It was pretty amazing. Nothing else to see here so we hit the road again. The road out of Winslow towards Prescott has to be one of the most boring drives I've ever taken. Even worse than across the Canadian prairies. Straight road through desert with nothing but sand and cacti (cactuses??)  and the odd shrub. For many miles. Until we finally reached Verde Valley, where there were some curves, hills and trees. We stopped at a sketchy looking restaurant out in the middle of nowhere for lunch. Service was friendly and the food quite good.

On the way to Prescott we dropped in to see Montezuma Castle. It's a bit of a misnomer.  Montezuma had nothing to do with this site and it is not a castle. It's a dwelling built and used by Sinagua people between 1100 and 1425 AD. It is like a pre-historic high rise apartment complex.
Another old pile of rocks used by ancient people.




Off to Prescott, a renowned western town frequented by some really bad dudes.