It was with regret that we checked out of the Inn on the Desert as it was such a nice place, but we had places to go and things to do. We were now heading back north and our first stop was at Casa Grande, a ruin of the Hohokam people dating back to 1350.

Main structure protected by a roof

It was an interesting structure but not very extensive so we were soon back on the road towards Camp Verde, our stop for the next few days. The highway connecting us back to the interstate was a nice drive over a ridge that featured many saguaro and desert rocks, but we were soon back driving along lots of dirt, sage, and distant brown mountains.

We made one stop at a rest area along the way, and it somewhat personified our drive today. While it was listed as a scenic viewpoint, it kinda seemed like the same brown hills we’d seen all day. The temperature was nearing 100 and brown dust ruled everywhere. A favorite feature was the sign over the water fountain warning about bees. Sure enough, as Tami cautiously pushed the fountain button, a couple of bees came flying out of the drain. Hmm, maybe not. We got bottled water instead, and as we were leaving noticed the signs about poisonous snakes and insects. Nice and restful.

Bees!

The scenic (?) view

Speaks for itself

Camp Verde has a brewpub, Verde Brewing Company, so that’s where we stopped, as usual. They advertise farm to mug brewing and we enjoyed both the beer and the food. Mike had their green chile burger and Tami had the ribs with pineapple slaw.

Ribs and slaw – didn’t quite remember in time

As we devoured our choices we discussed the next few days of touristing. There are two possible train rides we can sign up for so we had to decide between the ride to the Grand Canyon and back or the Oktoberfest train ride up into Verde Canyon. The scale went back and forth: big canyon but no beer or little canyon with beer, big and no beer, little with beer. Well, we went with the beer.

We have found that it’s no problem getting reservations for hotels and such during the week, but weekends are still problematic, which is why we are staying in Camp Verde and not Jerome, our original plan. Train rides have similar problems, so our train ride will be on Sunday, leaving the next couple of days to explore Jerome, Sedona, Tuzigoot, and Montezuma’s Castle. We picked up the usual pile of tourist brochures and are thinking that maybe we need a personal vortex tour. Tami would really like a picture of a vortex.

Actors playing Mike and Tami