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Day 8-9
===== DAY 8 =====
Wednesday was one of our top days to look forward to, and you'll find out why...
We left the resort just before 9:00am MST and headed across the way to the neighboring town of Clarkdale. Our first stop of the day was the Tuzigoot National Monument. Now we've already seen a plethora of pueblos, and this monument just had one. But the difference here is that this one had 110 rooms over 3 stories. We headed around the path detailing each of the areas, and also headed up the stairs to the 3rd story roof with once-again panoramic views all around. There's never a shortage of photo opportunities.
After heading out from there, we loused around in Clarkdale for a bit before heading to our highlight of the day (and perhaps the entire week) of the Verde Canyon Railroad. We had made 1st-class reservations a few months ago to secure our spot on the "longest running nature show."
Upon reaching the station, we found and entered our "Yuma" car, where a set of couches, a nice table and some snacks awaited us. We had our own bar and buffet along with very nice servers. Right out the door was our viewing car where we had Brandi, who shared her knowledge about the canyon, the river, the structures, and whatever else you had questions about.
We departed shortly after 1:00pm MST and spent the next 2 hours heading northwest to the remote railtown of Perkinsville. Over the route we headed along side the Verde river, which had carved out a nice canyon complete with the accompanying flora, fauna, and formations. We had hoped to see the bald eagles in their nest, but they were out to lunch at the time. Traversing through the 680-foot tunnel near the end of the route was pretty sweet as well.
We reached Perkinsville shortly before 3:00pm MST and hung out for 15 minutes while they moved the engine to the other side of the cars using an auxiliary track. When that was completed it was time to make the return trip to Clarkdale. We made sure to spot the features that we missed on the way up. We tried to even out our time between the viewing car and our comfy area in the car.
Our journey came to an end at 5:00pm MST as we pulled back into Clarkdale station. That was a pretty good ride I must say. Definitely worth the price, and then some. Our guides/servers were awesome as well. If you're in this area, do it. Do it now!
We headed back and I topped off another night in the hot tub, of course meeting new people since the spa is by itself in an intimate setting. It would be awkward NOT to talk to everyone that was in there. Good times.
===== DAY 9 =====
All right, this is it, our last full day here in AZ. We figured to fill in the missing cracks before prepping our journey home.
Our first stop of the day was back in Flagstaff. On Tuesday we drove to the Lowell Observatory, but it was in between their hours and wasn't an optimal time, but we made sure to get it in this time.
We caught the 10:00am tour as the guide took us into the old observatory from the late 1800s, complete with the original telescope and the revolving dome. We were also led into the neighboring museum that contained more ancient telescopes, as well as the machine that helped discover Pluto. Awesome stuff.
We were on limited time so we made a quick jog of the exhibits in the main lobby, bought our souvenirs, and headed out in time for the next thing on the agenda.
We arrived at the Riordan Mansion State Park at 11:30am, where we had scheduled a 12:00pm internal tour. We first walked around the outer perimeter of the mansion and got in what pictures we could (since we couldn't take any inside).
Once that was all said and done, we had our tour guide take us inside and spend the next hour showing the old authentic rooms up and downstairs. I think the coolest part was the old 1904 Steinway piano they had in their entertainment hall. Even though the group was not allowed to lean on or touch anything, the guide asked the group if anyone played the piano (which I do) so I had the privilege of getting to play on a 105-year-old Steinway. It was only for about 30 seconds or so, but it was awesome.
The tour ended inside the "West Wing" where there were little exhibits (and other pianos) to look at. We thanked the guide for the great presentation and headed down and out of Flagstaff. This was also the first time it rained pretty hard while on the road.
We stopped in Uptown Sedona on the way back to do another hour's worth of shopping and memorabilia collecting. I was afraid we'd go the whole week without doing this.
I think this was the earliest we got back to our room. We decided on our final "fancy" dinner at the Cucina Rustica, since it was close proximity to our resort. Pretty good Italian food. I recommend it if you're in the Village of Oak Creek.
Looks like that's all she wrote for this trip. I doubt we'll be doing anything special on the return trip home since we have to get our rental van back by 5:00pm PDT. But who knows? There might be something unexpected. Isn't that what makes it fun?
I'll give you the wrap-up soon...
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Originally Posted by Kinless
