3/14/26
The quilt show is over, and we have caught up on projects
near forgotten. Patti and John (Stan) Stanalonis are dear friends from way
back. Phone calls were made and we are
scheduled for a visit to Albuquerque, lasting a few days and beginning on
Monday the 16th.
The shortest route from Ajo to Albuquerque is about 550
miles. The selected path is AZ85 to I-10E to AZ Loop 303 to I-17N to I-40E to
Exit 166, Jaun Tabo Blvd. We decided to travel Saturday and Sunday as tourists
in Arizona.
The internet was queried regarding the most popular stops
along our highways. Arizona is briming with early Western American history. In
two days of travel we didn’t have enough time to but scratch the surface.
For the Saturday leg, we selected three stops; all are on
or just off of I-17. Shortly after leaving the extensive northern suburbs of
Phoenix, the Loop 303 took us past several miles of recently built warehouses
and factories. The structures were eye pleasing and they were enormous.
We left the Phoenix desert basin (~1,100 foot elevation) at
approximately 10:30am. It wasn’t many miles until we encountered the first of
several rugged mountain ranges. Beginning with low desert mountains, the
Phoenix and the McDowell ranges. Then into the steeper central Arizona ranges,
the Bradshaw and the Mazatzal. At around 5,000 feet, we were on the Hight
plateau edge – the Mogollon Rim.
The first stop was at Sunset Point Rest Area. This was a
recommended visit on the High plateau. The selling point of the rest stop was
that the location afforded long range views of distant mountains. The plateau
was densely covered with grasses that were three to four feet high. This
expansive plateau, at sometime in the near past could have been grazing
property for herds of bison.
Once back on I-17N, we came upon a road sign that told us
the next seven miles of freeway was at a 6% decent. That is steep and that is
for a long way to go before re-apply throttle to the pickup. We had dropped
into the Verde river valley, where the city of Camp Verde sits at ~3,100 foot
elevation. Anne had reserved a room for us at the Comfort Inn, in Camp Verde.
But it was early afternoon and we had sites to see. The first of which was the
Montezuma Castle.
The Montezuma Castle National Monument is one of North
America’s best preserved cliff dwellings. The five-story tall, 20 room and
roughly 4,000sqft floor space was built of limestone blocks set in mud mortar.
It was constructed by the Sinagua people, a pre-Columbian farming culture of
the Verde Valley. The build began around A.D.1125. It was built in stages over
several generations, continuing through the 1200s.
The road to the castle passes the entry drive to the Cliff
Castle Casino. We had yet to eat lunch and the many diners in the casino would
give us options. Right, lunch.
We agreed to meet at the automated craps machine in one
hour. Play, play, win, lose, some craps and some slots. At the meeting time I
was down and Anne was up. That meant that she could afford to buy our lunch.
Finished
with lunch, we headed to the casino’s exit doors. On the way we passed a slot
machine that Anne declared was a Must Play. The slot machine displayed three
Alien space crafts. These Aliens were collectors of farm animals. One craft
beamed up sheep, one collected Holstein cows and the third craft transported
pigs. Now, if a wheel stops with an animal displayed, then that animal gets
transported to the respective space craft. Bonus play happens when one of the
alien craft gets over loaded, it breaks apart and you get five special dollar
earning spins.
Each space craft had different bonus values. The pig
collecting craft was the one to hope for. As my $20 entry fee dwindled, all I
had was three cow craft bonuses. To the very end, the pig craft was displaying
multiple cracks in its dome but it kept cramming more pigs in. The Alien pilot
had his face smeared against the glass dome. The next player will get a nice
bonus. We are off to the last stop of the day.
Adjoining Camp Verde is Fort Verde State Historic Park. The
military was present in Arizona Territory from 1865 until 1896. The fort was
operational from 1871 to 1891. Unlike movie depictions, none of the 43 forts in
the territory had walls around them. Fort Verde was never attacked. The fort
was laid out with a large football size parade ground. The ground separated the
office. The officer’s quarters on one side and the enlisted quarters on the
other side. Corals, hospital shops, commissary and all buildings which
supported this fort were on the enlisted side of the parade ground.
The park headquarters is in the building which had been
called Administration. This building has many rooms that contain the history of
Fort Verde. Of course, among the many military displays in the museum are
displays of various weapons used by the soldiers. One large room was dedicated
to the display of Indian tools and of weapons from the period. The Native
Americans in this area of Arizona were the Yavapai and the Apache.
That was it for the day. We drove to the Comfort Inn,
checked in and we relaxed for a couple of hours before dinner time.
The Verde valley has several successful mountain breweries.
The inn’s front desk attendant recommended visiting the Verde Brewery, for a lite
meal.
By 8:30am Sunday morning, we were gathering leftovers at
Comfort Inn’s breakfast bar. There had been slim pickings.
Today’s goal was to drive the Red Rock Loop, which goes from Camp Verde, through Sedona and back onto I-17N, south of Flagstaff. The roadside views were greeted by the distant presence of layer chiseled, dark red peaks and long, high carved cliff faces. The highway had its ups and downs but its architecture managed to weave it around and between neighboring red mountain displays.
We pulled into the lot of a very
modern roadside business center. For the past several miles, we had looked for
a roadside spot to pull over so that we could capture photos of a couple of the
red peaks. The business center’s lot worked well. Plus, as I photographed, Anne
walked to Bob’s Donut Shop, and she came back with maple bars. Some stops are
worth more than others.
Things changed as the miles drew nearer to Sedona. The highway began to parallel Oak Creek. This small stream was flowing. The creek’s life attracted Sunday shore-walkers and maybe there were even few who brought along some dirty laundry.
Most of the burgs that we have been through are proud of
their use of roundabouts. Traffic doesn’t stop. We discovered, as we entered
the highway center of Sedona that roadside space did not permit the use of
traffic circles. The delays created by the traffic lights had rippled several
miles to the south of the city.
The population if Sedona is a bit over 9,000. The town’s
elevation is 4,360 feet. Homes are built into the hillsides. Many of them were
very modern in their high-wall concrete designs.
Moving slowly through the commercial center of Sedona, one
could capture the life and youthfulness of the city. Just because it is, that spirit
seems to be a strong visitor attraction.
Past the last traffic light, the flow picked up. Within a
few more curvy miles, we were reconnected with I-17N and we were within sight
of Flagstaff. This had been a beautiful morning’s journey. The delays hadn’t
been enough to take away from witnessing more of Nature’s marvels.
From I-17, we took the I-40E on-ramp that highlighted an
arrow pointing to Albuquerque. Wow, 65mph sure seems fast. A few miles east of
Flagstaff is the Twin Arrow Casino and Resort. Remember, casinos are great
places to grab a lunch.
Twin Arrows Casino is a place of
all-business. Upon entering, you can sense a strong feeling of organizational
structure and of control. When we rejoined for lunch, we both agreed that the
machines in this casino had been very selfish with their rewards.
On the other three corners of this intersection are
establishments which cater to the tourist trade: two competing trinket stores
and one brewery. This was pretty much Winslow.
The Petrified Forest National Park contains one of the
world’s largest deposits of petrified wood. About 225 million years ago, during
the Triassic Period, this area used to be a lush tropical forest environment
near the equator. Large flood waters uprooted trees and left them lay in the
swamp’s mineralized waters. Over several million years, the log’s fibers were
replaced with quartz crystals. This created red, yellow and purple rainbow
colors to an end cut view of the timbers.
The Earth’s plates shifted and Arizona became an arid,
wasteland place. Today large chunks of log lay scattered. Each chunk appears to
have been sawn from a larger parent log.
Early Monday afternoon we were on our final leg to
Albuquerque. We were greeted at their home by Patti and Stan, at 4:30pm that
afternoon. It was a wonderful reunion evening. We had a great dinner that was
followed by an enjoyable catchup.
Wake up Tuesday morning and wear your best Saint Patrick’s
Day green. Early afternoon, with Euros in our pockets, we drove to Sandia
Casino. “Okay, we’ll meet back here in an hour”. The clock hands moved quickly.
Anne, Patti and Stan worked the slots and I played craps. There was some grizzle
coming from the lady’s experience. Stan collected from a large bonus round, and
I came away from the table $24 ahead.
Patti is preparing a St. Patrick’s Day dinner; cabbage,
potatoes, carrots and corned beef, all dished out from an au-jus filled crockpot
bowl. There were also thin slices of dark pumpernickel rye bread. The toast to
the Irish was great.
Wednesday and Thursday held some time for shopping. Yes,
there was also some space in these two days for short visits to the casino. Anne
came away the big winner on both days. Remember the Aliens and their beam-up
space crafts? Anne realized that a space craft with a wildly cracked dome was
about to explode with a winning bonus round. She had walked the machine line
and had found a couple of slots that had been abandoned.
This is what Anne was looking for. She invested in one of
these slots and she hit a jackpot. The last person had run out of money while
trying to get the Alien craft to burst. Anne collected several hundred dollars
during Wednesday’s visit. She repeated her play strategy on Thursday and again
she came away a winner.
Stan worked from his college years until retirement for
Sandia National Laboratories. He began as a draftsman and he was soon to be
found out as strong team player and as an idea man. For the length of his
satisfying career, Stan’s time was spent contributing to America’s missile
defense capability.
When we returned from our visit to the Sandia Casino, Stan
brought two very special tee shirts from storage. One of the tee shirts
displayed a picture of Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon. The photo had
been taken by Buzz Aldrin, the moon landing craft commander.
The second tee shirt was a Sandia National Laboratory shirt
that Stan had been wearing on that special day, some years ago. Unique to both
shirts was a large blue signature made by Buzz Aldrin. Astronaut Aldrin was
visiting the Sandia Labs and Stan had the good fortune to have an opportunity
to chat with Buzz for a few minutes. During their chat, Stan invited Mr. Aldrin
to autograph the two shirts. The Sandia Labs shirt got signed while Stan was
wearing it. Needless to say, Stan doesn’t wear either tee shirt. They would
today be prized collector’s items. What a treasure of pride.
Friday morning Stan had a doctor appointment, so we said
our goodbye’s. Patti made a scrumptious meal for breakfast. We loaded the
pickup and we shared some hugs. Patti and Stan had been wonderful and gracious
hosts. Anne and Patti had the opportunity to spend time together over many card
games at the dining room table. I valued my time spent with Stan. He has a very
interesting work history with Sandia. Stan shared several unclassified recalls
about events and places he had been involved with. These tales led to great
discussions.
The return route to Ajo was to be south on I-25 to the
Hatch exit, visiting Hatch and then on to Deming and I-10W. Hatch, NM was
loaded into the truck’s GPS. We were guided to the Tramway, which dumped us
onto I-10W. The seven miles to the I-25S entrance ramp was driven in thick
morning traffic. Last minute positioning into the correct exit lane is always
exciting at 70mph.
It is 186 miles to Hatch, or a bit over three hours of
drive time. Our first stop in Hatch was at a curio store. Anne wanted to buy
some Hatch chili. This is some special stuff. Hatch, NM is reputed to be the
chili capital of the World. A few blocks deeper into town, we spotted what we
had been looking for for our lunch: a reputable Mexican restaurant. It was
called Pepper Pot.
Outside the temperature had already reached the low 90sF.
Temperatures this high and this early in the year are rare for this region of
New Mexico. Inside the Pepper Pot the temperature was cooler, made possible
with low light levels and with ceiling fans. The Pot’s menu had lots of lunch
options. We chose, however, to share a single serving of triple stack beef
enchilada. The green chili topping was a bit too spicy for Anne, but we made it
through.
Now off I-25S, we were on a highway that leads directly to
Deming, NM. Forty eight miles to the south, we arrived at the Comfort Inn at
three fifteen. Our plan was to rest for a couple of hours and then find our dinner
at the town’s Denny’s Restaurant. All this came together well and after a fine
night’s sleep, we were off to seek our own bed an Ajo.
We had tried to be good tourists in Arizona and we had
loved spending time with our good friends, Patti and Stan.
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