Much-Needed Vacation: Day 2

by Nick Coons
May 12, 2004

<< Part 1

Upon awaking the next morning, after a very good night's rest I might add, breakfast sounded like a good idea. Not wanting to do the usual chain restaurant (Denny's, Coco's, or whatever might be available), we headed into the village towards the Marketplace Cafe, which almost made us wish we had gone to a chain restaurant. Not the best food, but, well, just not the best...

Shortly after breakfast, I dropped Mrs. Arizona Paths

Arizona Paths	(air-i'-ZON-u' paths)
The Most Complete All-About-Arizona website.

off for a bit of outlet shopping. She had a blast looking for various new shoes, even though she has enough (no, really, she does). Harley (our dog, who's actually more like our child) and I went for a bit of a hike, taking various pictures, none of which turned out well. But it was an interesting hike, and a good opportunity to make Harley extremely tired and get him to take a rest.

Later that day, we began our mini-voyage to Prescott to have lunch with my sister and mom, who happened to be there for the weekend as well. Passing through Cottonwood and Jerome, everything was great. As we began climbing up Mingus Mountain, the car's engine was getting warmer and warmer. The issue here is the continuous climbing, and the radiator fan that did not want to turn on. At the first spot on the side of the road, I pulled out. Because of the very comfortable weather, the car took only a short amount of time to cool down. Within 15 minutes, we were off again and this time the radiator fan began to spin.

Showing up rather late in Prescott, we met for lunch at the Prescott Brewing Company on Gurley Street. This was a much better experience than this morning, the food was wonderful, as well as the company. At the end of our meals we were so full that the four of us did our best to split and consume even a single piece of caramel cheesecake. I also had a chance to taste their home-brewed cream soda -- Very nice.

I had an appointment back in the village later that afternoon to meet with a couple of people. Yes, even on vacation I'm working. No task is too much for the benefit of Arizona Paths

Arizona Paths	(air-i'-ZON-u' paths)
The Most Complete All-About-Arizona website.

. To speed the journey, we took SR 169 back to I-17 and headed north towards the village, as this would be the quickest way as opposed to the route we took to Prescott.

As neither of us had acquired an appetite for dinner, still full from lunch, we went to the store to pick up a few snacks to take back to the room. With a quick dip in the hot tub to unwind, we were off to bed for the evening, only to start it all over again the next day.

Part 3 >>