Prescott, Arizona

We have been in Prescott, Arizona, for the past six weeks, enjoying the perfect summer weather in Arizona’s mile-high country. We have rented a fabulous little house in the hills just west of town. We can’t see any houses around us so we feel wonderfully isolated, yet we can be in the middle of town in about ten minutes. We bought a little bird feeder so we see lots of birds every day, along with chipmunks, lizards, deer, coyote, and even a family of four javelina that wanders nearby occasionally. On the downside, there is also a resident skunk, as well as a rat that lived in the house for a while (thanks to a rat trap she is no longer with us).

Prescott is an historic city, rather old by southwestern standards. It was formed in 1864 and served as Arizona’s territorial capital for a short while. The old downtown core is centered around the Yavapai County courthouse, and many of the buildings were built around 1900 or earlier. The western block of the courthouse square is called “Whiskey Row” because it consisted entirely of saloons back in Prescott’s rowdier days. Prescott is pronounced “Prezkit” for reasons probably known only to the locals. Click on the first photo in each block to view the slideshow.

We like to take a long walk almost every morning. Sometimes we like to walk in Prescott’s old residential neighborhoods. The old houses, many from the turn of the last century, remind us of our old neighborhood in Woodland. On other days we walk in the open areas beyond the edge of town. Prescott is a rather small city so it is easy to get out of town quickly.

Some friends came to visit so we did some touring of the area. On a day trip we began with a visit to Sedona, an artists’ colony situated in a beautiful red rock valley. We visited the Chapel of the Holy Cross, located on a hillside with a great view of Sedona. Then we headed up to Jerome for lunch and some exploring. Jerome was an old mining town built on the side of a hill. The mines closed almost a hundred years ago and now Jerome is principally an artists’ colony.

We took a day trip to Montezuma Castle National Monument, one of the best-preserved Native American ruins in the Southwest. It was inhabited around a thousand years ago but everyone left around 1300 for reasons that are not understood. You can’t go into the ruins but you can view them from the trail below. We took our binoculars for a better look.

On another day trip we went to Arcosanti, about halfway between Prescott and Phoenix. Arcosanti was started in the 1970s by architect Paolo Solari as an experimental urban community, designed to minimize environmental impact. It still exists as a learning center for architects and artists. Arcosanti still produces the bronze and clay wind chime bells that were a trademark of Solari’s design.

A highlight of a quick trip to Phoenix was a visit to the Heard Museum, housing arguably the world’s finest collection of Southwestern Native American art. Charlie especially enjoyed seeing a piece by noted Hopi potter Al Qoyawayma. Before becoming a professional artist Al was an engineer and he worked with Charlie on an air quality project in Arizona back in the 1980s.

Prescott is home to the world’s oldest rodeo, begun in 1888. The rodeo is held every day for a week, surrounding July 4th. We are not rodeo fans but we attended one evening just for fun. It was an interesting evening and it provided a glimpse into a fascinating subculture. The rodeo people travel around to these events year-round, living in RV’s (sometimes just tents) and bringing their horse trailers with them. During rodeo week the rodeo grounds, not far from our house, was transformed from an empty dirt lot to a campground full of both people and horses.