Agua Fria National Monument and Historic Prescott

Just a few miles north of our house on I17 is Agua Fria National Monument.  It’s a place we have always wanted to visit, but the road is recommended for four-wheel drive vehicles.  So, we finally took the time and John’s big truck to visit this week.

We added on a visit to Prescott, taking advantage of their mile-high altitude and cooler weather.  The reward was weather warm enough for patio dining and raindrops to cool us on a little walk we took around some historic homes.  The homes are LOADED with charm and I want to share them with you.

Prescott Historical Homes

There are a number of Prescott homes on the National Register of Historic Places – like over 60 in this smallish town.  These pictures are of some of the homes on two separate blocks. The late afternoon was gorgeous. Imagine the sound of cicadas and thunder in the background.

The homes have plaques on the front indicating the year they were built and the ones we saw ranged from about 1880 to 1920.  It’s amazing over a two block area, there are homes built over a two-decade period.  I try to imagine these homes with vacant lots or perhaps just really large yards. 

I may have mentioned this before – my favorite musician is John Mellencamp.  He has a famous song, Little Pink Houses.  I was thinking about that song as we walked, not because I saw any little pink houses, but I saw plenty of little yellow houses and they are my favorite!  A yellow house with a white picket fence?  Yes, please and thank you.

Surprisingly most of the homes had artificial turf, since grass does ok in their climate (as opposed to ours).  It didn’t detract from any of the charm though.

In the gallery above, you might spot the tiniest remodeled house ever, a blue cottage with fantastic roof lines and a large two-story with topiary gardens. Oh, the tiny house probably has five separate roof lines as well. Stunning in person.

Downtown Prescott

We didn’t visit any shops, but walked around the historic square.  Of course, I had to take a pic of my favorite historical figure, Doc Holliday in the window of the saloon we last visited during Thanksgiving when DSIL and DBIL Linda and Dan were here.

We dined outside at Prescott Station.  The patio was lovely and the staff was fantastic.  I don’t normally share our dining events because eating out doesn’t usually go well for us.  But it was lovely and SO good to get out.

Agua Fria

Agual Fria National Monument is striking because it’s clearly volcanic, with lava rocks everywhere, high desert land and then surprising and beautiful river beds running through the land.  Not only are these riparian areas used by all sorts of wildlife, they were also used by prehistoric peoples in 750 AD.  Yep, a really long time ago.

There are shards of tools and pottery that have been collected and left in piles along the hiking trails for viewing. There is nothing larger than a thumbnail, but still amazing when you consider how old everything is.

You can see from the pictures that the sky is not the brilliant blue we are used to here in Arizona. That’s partly due to smoke and to oncoming storms. It was breezy, but still 107 degrees on the hiking trail, so let’s just say we didn’t dilly dally around too long. We probably missed all the really neat stuff, but it was plain hot.

What I’m Reading

I have started a new series but haven’t finished, so I’ll report on that next week.  On audio I’m listening to one of my favorite authors, Thomas Perry.  Silence is the second in the Jack Till series.  So good.  I love his character development, smart crooks, smart good guys, violence and love.  Yep, right up my alley.

What I’m Eating

It seems like we have a sweet tooth lately and in order not to eat store-bought junk food, I made Rice Krispies treats and gluten-free snickerdoodles.  Both of these recipes are approved for John’s celiac diet, and, apparently he approved as well. 

I used a recipe from GlutenFreeonaShoestring.  I skipped one step of freezing and reapplying the sugar cinnamon mixture to the dough.  It turned out great and didn’t need quite as much as sugar.

Look at my mixer in this picture. It’s avocado which was a very popular appliance color back in 1977 when this was manufactured. Ha. Still suits my needs.

I’m not sure if you all like seeing my pic on these posts or not, but here I am acting like a baker. I’m usually more the charwoman. If I include a picture, it ensures I’ll shower and put on a bit of lipstick for you.

XO