Prescott

It’s not pronounced like you think. Think of what you might get in an envelope if you attended the White House Correspondent Dinner. You might get a “Press Kit”. That is how its pronounce by the locals. No long “O” in this here word. We strolled the main downtown historic district with all its old, interesting buildings, all holding either art boutiques or bars. The bars date back to the late 1800’s when this block of Montezuma was known as Whiskey Row.

We visited Agua Fria National Monument. On January 12, 2000, President Clinton declared the 71,000 acre 40 miles North of Phoenix and placed it under management of the BLM.  As a Monument managed by the BLM there are essentially no visitor infrastructure.

There are no paved roads in the monument. It appears that those most interested in the site are ATV owners, and there were plenty of them around. Still, the terrain was pleasing and the views very compelling. We were glad we visited.

We found a map of the Monument and learned we were only about 10 miles from an archeological site. Even on dirt roads, 10 miles can be managed. However, the road conditions require a higher clearance vehicle than the Equinox, and on a couple of occasions, we parked and walked.

We managed to find Pueblo la Plata, the archeological site near the Agua Fria River. While there was not a great deal of signage or interpretive information, there were pottery shards up the ying yang. While not exactly sure of the age of the ruins we were observing, the ample supply of pottery shards held our interest, and made the visit a winner.

Talk to you soon!