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| 2008 Table of contents |
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
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| A Taste of Africa |
A 14-foot blond python slithers along Dean Harrison's neck and shoulder. The president of Out of Africa Wildlife Park seems at home with the 120-pound Burmese reptile named Melanie, a park favorite.
Melanie is among some 300 animals that call Out of Africa home including numerous big cats such as tigers, lions, jaguars, panthers, cougars, and snow leopards.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
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| Fort Verde offers history lesson of Cavalry era |
Fort Verde, once home to General George Crook, came into Arizona State Parks' inventory in 1970.
Fort Verde began when settlers along West Clear Creek asked the Army for protection from Indian raids on their farms. In 1865 troops were sent from Fort Whipple in Prescott to make a camp on the banks of the Verde River.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
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| Montezuma Castle a treasure among ancient cliff dwellings |
It is not a castle, and Montezuma did not build it. In fact, it is more interesting than even its idiosyncratic name implies.
Montezuma Castle National Monument, at nearly 900 years of age, is among the best-preserved cliff dwellings in the nation. It is a testament to the ingenuity of the mysterious Sinagua people who populated the Verde Valley centuries ago before disappearing from the land.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
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| Place Your Bets |
It's one thing you can always bet on. Voted the No. 1 casino in Arizona nine years straight, according to Arizona Business Journal - Ranking Arizona magazine, Cliff Castle Casino is the largest employer in the Verde Valley.
The casino is owned and operated by the Yavapai-Apache Nation.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
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| Ah, Vino! |
Anything worth having is worth waiting for.
Few things more so than a fine wine.
However, if you are starting out your wine business by planting grapes the wait can be even longer.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
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| Ride the river at Beasley Flat |
Road signage on the way there is nearly nonexistent, but that has never kept locals from beating a trail to Beasley Flat for fun on the river.
A recreation spot in Prescott National Forest, Beasley Flat is a favorite boat-launching spot for canoeists kayakers and rafters headed for Childs and beyond.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
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| Beaver Creek: A quiet slice of paradise |
In 1583, Antonio Espejo, a wealthy merchant and rancher from Mexico came north in search of two missing Catholic priests.
Upon discovering the two had been martyred at the hands of those they had come to save, Espejo and his small contingent of soldiers decided to look instead for gold.
Their travels eventually took them to the land of the Hopi. The Hopi took them to the Verde Valley.
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Tuesday, May 13, 2008
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| Always time to play a round of golf
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Golf season never ends in the Verde Valley.
The area currently offers several full-length courses and more challenging executive course that stay open practically every day of the year.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
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| Start your engines at Motorplex |
The Verde Valley Motorplex, is the Verde Valley's only Motocross track. It hosts a variety of events for the AMX Motocross Racing and Beat the Heat Racing Series.
The track offers a natural terrain outdoor style track, which is 1.1 miles around and 2-1/2 minute lap times.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
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| Hayfield Draw: A safe place to ride |
The Hayfield Draw Off Highway Vehicle Recreation Area is an area designated specifically for cross-country, all terrain vehicle and motorcycle riding.
It offers a safe area for beginners and challenging terrain for experienced riders. The OHV area offers 40 acres of open riding over 120 miles of trails with the longest trail over 50 miles long.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
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| Jeeping Red Rock Country: the only way to see it all |
You've read about, heard about it and maybe seen some of the surreal photographs of it.
You've braved the tribulations of the commercial airline industry, queued up at the rental car counter and rambled your way through the cactus and pine trees.
At last, you've made it to Sedona.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
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| Verde River Canyon Railroad |
A ride on Verde Canyon Railroad's historic route from Clarkdale to the ghost ranch of Perkinsville through Arizona's other grand canyon is an unforgettable experience. There is so much to see. Home to America's majestic bald eagle, the Verde Canyon is accessible only by rail.
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Tuesday, May 13, 2008
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| Page Springs Hatchery is an attraction for all |
Fish, fish there are fish everywhere! But fish are not the only wildlife you find at the Page Springs Fish Hatchery. This cool park-like setting, which sits along Oak Creek on Page Springs Road, also has opportunities for hiking and picnics as well as animal watching.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
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| Art rocks at V-Bar-V petroglyphs |
The V-Bar-V Heritage Site is the largest known petroglyph site in the Verde Valley.
Rembrant had his style, and so did Van Gogh. The rock art on display here is considered to be in the Beaver Creek Style, "diagnostic of the Southern Sinagua between A.D. 1150 and 1400," according to the U.S. Forest Service. Some of the figures are easy to make out while the meaning of others is up to the imagination - just like Picasso.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
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| Perkinsville Road gives history lesson with views |
It's a winding road: 126 curves in all, with some hairpins and more than a few 45-degree turns. It narrows at places to one lane, especially where the road cuts through rock in the steep side of the mountain.
It's a hilly road, peaking at about 6,000-foot elevation and dropping, at Chino Valley to around 4,600.
Monday, May 12, 2008
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| Dead Horse Ranch/Verde River Greenway |
Dead Horse Ranch State Park and the Verde River Greenway are an interlocking union of a whole experience of the Cottonwood-Willow riparian habitat that brings so much life to the area. Without the river, the park would not exist in its abundant state.
Monday, May 12, 2008
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| Old Town Cottonwood is picture-postcard perfect |
As with other Verde Valley communities in the, Cottonwood shares a rich history. The region has long been home to Native Americans, particularly the Sinagua and later the Yavapai and Apache.
The first Anglo settlers in the area farmed and provided goods for the soldiers at Camp Verde and for the miners in Jerome beginning in the late 1870s.
Monday, May 12, 2008
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| Blazin' M Ranch |
Visitors to the Verde Valley will find good fun and good food at Blazin' M Ranch, out along the banks of the Verde River, not far from the Verde Railroad.
Everyone is invited to stop by for some slow-simmered, mouth-watering barbecue and downright funny western theater.
The genuine western hospitality is thrown in for free.
Monday, May 12, 2008
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| Jerome offers a century of history |
Jerome and the area around it are full of history. Sitting on the steep slope of Cleopatra Hill on the side of Mingus Mountain, Jerome was a billion dollar mining town producing copper, gold, silver and other valuable ores.
Monday, May 12, 2008
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| Perfectly preserved Singuan history at Tuzigoot |
Perched atop a ridge high above the Verde River lies Tuzigoot, the remnants of one of the largest and best-preserved of the many Sinagua pueblo ruins in the Verde Valley.
Tuzigoot is Apache for "crooked water", for nearby Peck's lake, a cutoff meander of the Verde River.
Friday, May 09, 2008
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| Sedona the land of endless wonder |
There are plenty of gift shops and galleries that are easy to find in Uptown Sedona, but the splendor of the area's towering red rocks is what has attracted visitors in the first place. The urban area is surrounded by the Coconino National Forest and wilderness areas which protects the area from sprawl and assure that the appeal will remain. The federal agency also has extended the community's recreational opportunities.
Friday, May 09, 2008
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| Mingus Mountain offers cool summer getaway |
Looking for a place where you can escape the heat and crowds of the Verde Valley? Then grab your hiking boots or load the car with camping gear and head to the top of Mingus Mountain.
Friday, May 09, 2008
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| Sycamore Canyon: A taste of wilderness |
With nearly 58,000 acres, Sycamore Canyon was the first place in Arizona to earn the "primitive area" designation. In 1984, the Arizona Wilderness Act upgraded it to a "wilderness" designation.
Lying in the Prescott, Coconino and Kaibab national forests, the canyon stretches 20 miles from the confluence of Sycamore Creek and the Verde River up to the Mogollon Rim. At its widest point, the canyon is seven miles across.
Friday, May 09, 2008
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| History abounds in museums of the Verde Valley |
Jerome Historical Society
Jerome's history is full of stories. These stories tell how the "Wickedest Town in The West" got its name and how men who sought their fortunes in this billion dollar mining camp lived, played and fought.
Friday, May 09, 2008
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| Kick back, enjoy life, take a walk in the park |
Camp Verde Town Parks
Arturo Park is a small park with picnic tables and a playground in a small neighborhood on Arturo Circle Cul-de-sac.
Friday, May 09, 2008
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