Verde Canyon Wilderness Train Ride

We had a very interesting afternoon yesterday riding the Verde Canyon Railroad. It was a four hour ride from Clarkdale to Perkinsville and back. Along the way we saw the bald eagle nest of Black and Decker, the two resident bald eagles along with two chicks. It was across the canyon so was actually kind of hard to see without binoculars, but you could make out the outline of the babies. We also saw one adult soaring in the sky. While, in my opinion, it does not even begin to compare to the Grand Canyon, it was a pretty ride and worth the $$. We also saw several cliff dwelling ruins, and a lot of rock formations. There were a several areas where the train rails hug the side of the cliffs, scary!

Here are a few pictures....I have 70+ but can't put them all here!

When you enlarge this picture you will see the cliff dwellings tucked on the ledge.....



The engines crossing an old trestle.....



and here comes the caboose....



It was a long train and we were in the middle which was great. They had an open air car for each closed car and most people spent their time outside - it's where you got the best views.

Turtle rock......



The canyon wall where the eagle's nest is. It at the white spot on the left, almost center picture.



Looking up and looking down from the train......



Fascinating rock formations.....





The old and modern......



Our evening ended at Nic's Italian Restaurant in Cottonwood. Don't go there. The food was OK, the service was OK, but they will NOT give separate checks, not even for three couples! I can understand for a large group, but come on, three couples. Really ticked the guys off. Our server said we could tell him which items were our and he would then ring it up on our credit card for that amount - what he didn't tell us was that we needed to also figure the tax into the amount - how stupid! Anyway, he ended up putting all the tax on Henry and Anne's bill. I'll not go into all the detail of the rest of the story, but we all ended up paying for our own meals without tax! We, Henry & Anne and Jake & Nancy will never set foot in that place again.

Other than the restaurant experience, the day was fun and we all had a good time. Jake & Nancy are leaving today and we will miss them. But, the nice thing is that somewhere, sometime our paths will cross again. We will be here at the 1000 Trails, Verde Valley until next Tuesday when we will begin heading to Utah. I'll be back though as we still have a few more sights to see in this area.