Las Vegas Vacation Diary
Day Eleven: Jerome Arizona and Back to Phoenix
Drove from hotel back toward Phoneix, stopping at "The Elephant Feet", two large standing monuments by the roadside and took pictures. We stopped at the Chief Yellow Horse Trading Post and found good prices on hand made key rings, and necklaces. I bought a piece of costume jewellery that mimics the fetish necklaces made by the Zuni. It is much lighter in weight than the heavier stone fetishes, and of course, about 1/3 the price. |
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The most interesting pieces were key ring ornaments that used the various techniques of the local jewellers. I bought one that looks like a large safety pin, but the head is one piece composed of carefully assembled wood mosaic. There were lovely copper embossed pieces and some sliver plate with inlays of turquoise. I thought the items were well worth a stop to see, and purchase. They were reasonably priced and the proprietor was knowledgeable about the people who made them. |
There were, of course, things made in somewhere else, but generally, the locals will tell you where things were made if you ask them directly, and you can make up your own mind whether to purchase them.
We took a different road home driving down to Jerome, AZ, an old mining town. It has been converted to an artist colony and has some interesting restaurants, buildings, shops and graveyard. The main hotel is rumoured to be haunted and my friend said her brother-in-law stayed there and it was creepy and he didn't get any sleep. |
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Jerome is very interesting. The arts and crafts are first rate. I bought some earrings made of silver wire and baubles of recycled glass. They are quite beautiful as well as inexpensive and virtuous in an ecological sense.
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Jerome is perched on the side of a large mountain and the mountain is honeycombed with shafts from the mines. There is a interesting museum that has a three dimensional map of the mind shafts. There are a small number of families who live their full time. The local native flora has returned to the mountain, as Ken found to his disgust when he touched a prickly pear cactus in the graveyard. |
After a refreshing food and shopping break we went back to Phoenix and went to the Safeway to buy food for dinner. I haven’t been in a supermarket in the USA in a while. My goodness, it is a lot different than ours. Better organized and thousands of products we don't have. Halloween is the big thing here now and decorations and costumes were everywhere.
We bought boxes of cereal to bring back to Vegas. Our bodies have finally adjusted to the time difference and the large breakfasts are too much to face. We will be eating smaller breakfasts and bigger lunches and dinners. And we bought some sunscreen as we had used up all we had at Monument Valley. Our friends barbqued chicken and we all collapsed for the evening at their home.
Our friends have two dogs and a cat, all rescued from the animal shelter. They do volunteer work at the shelter and told us about the amazing rescue efforts that have been made to get the abandoned cats and dogs out of New Orleans in the wake of Katrina. These animals are being shipped all over the United States, hopefully so that they can be reunited with their families or be fostered out to new homes. |
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The first group was brought back to Phoenix by the returning National Guard troups on their transport plane.
Phoenix is growing like a mining boom town. Every month or two a new
suburb goes up. California businesses and people seem to be moving in
at a rate of knots. The housing market is inflating and the subdivisions
have paved streets, but no sewer drainage. They are built right out
into the cactus desert and are subject to flash floods.