We arrived in Cottonwood from Tempe on a quiet Sunday afternoon and checked in to the Tavern Hotel, which is a small boutique hotel in the heart of Old Cottonwood. Lou purchased the Sip and Stay Wine package, which made it easy for us to decide where to have breakfast every morning (Crema Craft Kitchen & Bar). Our first day in town was low-key. After unpacking our bags, we went straight to the Tavern Grille for a cocktail. I had an Old Fashioned, which tasted like Fireball to me. We watched the bartender prepare it, and knew he used the right ingredients, so he must have had a heavy hand with the bitters. We next went to Kactus Kate’s, where I had another Old Fashioned to compare it to the one I had at the Tavern Grille. It still tasted like Fireball. I had to drink that one fast because we didn’t like the way the unmasked man sitting beside me was spitting when he talked. We then made our way to COLT 804 Grill, where I had another Old Fashioned (same Fireball taste) and we succumbed to the smell of the BBQ by eating a sampler platter of smoked meats. Across the street from COLT 804 was the Belfry Brewery, which had a musician from Jerome playing on the downstairs patio. We lucked into a table next to a propane heat tower (which unfortunately was not working that night), and I sipped on another Old Fashioned (same Fireball taste) until the show was over. We ended our night back at the Tavern Grille because I had to find out if the Old Fashioned there would still taste like Fireball. It did. Thanks to all those Fireball Old Fashioneds, I was feeling pretty toasty so we called it an early night.
The next day was a Monday, and we decided to spend it driving around the area looking at places that could potentially be a retirement destination. We did see some homes that we liked, but they were either outside our price range, or didn’t have enough space between homes. We drove up to Jerome again, and then continued up to Mingus Mountain before making our way back to Cottonwood. Since we had spent most of the day driving around, we took a walk around town before having dinner at the Tavern Grille. When we walked back to the hotel there was a family gathered around the fire pit and I asked them if they’d like to play a game with us. They enthusiastically said yes, so I ran upstairs to get the game. We had such a lovely time chatting that we never ended up playing.
On Tuesday we decided we were going to take a hike. We chose Bell Rock, because it had a Vortex, which was on my bucket list, and because Lou wanted to test his knees and hip on a hike that was a little more challenging than what he had done in Sedona. The parking lot was full, so we had to park across the highway. We expected with that many cars the trail would be very busy, but there are so many different trails you can take after the approach to Bell Rock that we didn’t see very many people once we were on the Courthouse Butte section. What’s funny is that on the other side of Courthouse Butte there’s a rock that looks more like a bell than the actual Bell Rock. It was a beautiful day for the hike, and on the way back to town we took one of the ORV roads to a quiet place where we could enjoy a picnic while wondering at the beauty of the area. We weren’t quite ready after that to call it a day, so we stopped at the Cliff Castle Casino to try our hand at video poker and have an adult beverage. After losing the $20.00 we each played in our own machines, we went back to the hotel to clean up before having dinner at the Pizzeria Bocce Patio Bar. Upon our return, we sat at the firepit hoping that another fun family or couples would join us again. We were joined by two couples who were in town just for the night on a quick get-a-way. After one of the couples went to bed, we ended up having a strange and disturbing conversation with the remaining couple. I asked Lou to remind me to never invite strangers to explain their cryptic comments ever again.
Wednesday was our last full day in Cottonwood. After the successful hike we had on Tuesday, Lou decided he wanted to take on an even more difficult challenge. While out on Tuesday we discovered a hike called “The Crack at Beaver Creek.” Its a seven mile round trip hike on Bell Trail #13 that follows Beaver Creek to a crack, beyond which is impassable. The description of the hike indicated that its heavily traveled and the parking lot gets quickly filled early in the day. It turns out that Wednesday was a good day to go, because we were the only ones there when we arrived. By the time we were ready to hike, there were still only two other cars besides ours. The hike is also described as “easy” because there isn’t much elevation gain, but the elevation gain when it comes is concentrated within about 3/4 of a mile, with a significant drop off a ledge. Fortunately that ledge is fairly wide and I was wearing my best hiking Merrells. If it hadn’t been for that and Lou talking me through that section, I might have turned back around and missed the beauty that awaited us at the crack. Apparently during the summer months the place is crawling with people who had hiked there to spend the day picnicking, swimming, and jumping off cliffs into the cold mountain pools. On the way back down we passed several sets of people, only one of which was hiking with anything close to sufficient drinking water. We couldn’t believe how many people we saw who were carrying just one bottle for the entire trip. Not just on this hike, but for all the other ones we took on this and the Sedona hikes. Back in town we rewarded ourselves with a complimentary wine tasting at Pillsbury Wine Company, before having dinner at 3 Kings Kasbar. Fortunately, our last conversation with strangers on this trip turned out to be another pleasant one. It was with an older gentleman who took his dog on a date night every Wednesday and fed her lamb meatballs cut into tiny pieces while she sat patiently on a bar stool. Our last night in Cottonwood turned out to be our best.
