Prisoner of Hopes

Category: Perspectives

  • Gold King Ghost Town: Rural Road Trip

    Occasionally you regret almost immediately your choice of adventure. I’m sad to say, today was one of those days. I was enticed by advertising. Signs along the highway teased us with promises of the King gold mine. It was just up the road a bit higher on the mountain from Jerome. I love a good…

  • Jerome: Rural Road Trips Arizona

    Jerome is a little city with a big past and tenacious residents. It is built on a steep hillside. Some might call it a mountain. It once was the center of a mining empire. Today it is best known as a ghost town. There are only dozens of people who call it home. I drive…

  • Pink Jeep Tour: Rural Road Trip

    We pile into the pink jeep with six strangers. Our driver seems a little crazy….in a mostly good way. He navigates the heavy Sedona traffic like he has done the route hundreds of times. So far so good. He tells stories as he drives. He finds them funny and entertaining. I find them hard to…

  • Safari In The USA: Rural Road Trip

    I am going out on Safari! Our bus just arrived to take us to the bush country of Afri…… make that Arizona. Somewhere between Camp Verde and Cottonwood Arizona is the Out Of Africa Wildlife park. It is a crazy place. A few minutes ago I stepped out of my car. Now I am boarding…

  • Camp Verde Community Camping: Rural Road Trip

    Life on the road requires a home base every once in awhile. For the next several days, we will be in Camp Verde, Arizona at the Verde River RV Resort. We have rented a small campsite with grass and an outdoor table. This is definitely not a beautiful, spacious site. But the RV is roomy…

  • Route 66 in Holbrook, AZ: Rural Road Trip

    We planned a three day stop in Holbrook, AZ thinking we would enjoy petrified forest national park. It is shut down, due to the government’s fight over the big beautiful bill. There isn’t much to do in Holbrook except the park. So….. We visit the rock shops. Turns out there is plenty of petrified wood.…

  • Standing On A Corner: Rural Road Trips Arizona

    “Standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona. Such a fine sight to see.” The Eagles’ hit dominates the town of Winslow. At the infamous corner, you can take a picture at the junction of Route 66, take your picture with Glenn Frey, take your picture with a local musician, buy souvenirs, buy a guitar, have…

  • Trading Post: Rural Road Trip Arizona

    On our way to Canyon de Chelly, we stop at the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic site. To get here, we drove though miles of Navajo Country, wdesert and across a tiny one lane bridge. On the outside, the building looks as it once did. Adobe bricks baked by the sun form crude walls. A…

  • Canyons in Navajo Country: Rural Road Trip

    Sometimes a place calls to me with no rhyme or reason. Canyon de Chelly has jumped off the map for a number of years. It is off the main highways and requires a multi-hour detour through rugged landscape. Deep in Navajo country, the canyon has remained illusive. You have to mean to go there. It…

  • Zoos and Aquariums Always Make Me Smile: Rural Road Trips

    Few things beat a day at the zoo. Seriously. I love zoos. Animals and small children are too cute. The combination is irresistible. The Albuquerque combo ticket fee is a good value and includes the botanical garden, the zoo, and the aquarium. As a St. Louis girl I am used to the world class zoo…