We had a great few weeks exploring this beautiful part of Arizona which we had not been to since our college days. It's very similar to Southern Utah but greener. The combination of all of all that green with the red rocks is really a stunning.
We stayed in Verde Ranch RV Resort which had a great monthly rate which we took advantage of. It was a large community with nice laundry/bathrooms and a fancy clubhouse with swimming pool/exercise room/hot tub. It's in Camp Verde which meant a 30-40 min drive for some of our hikes in Sedona, and is right off the freeway (which meant you definitely heard car noise), but you could also walk down to the river which ran behind it for this pretty view.
Some of our favorite hikes/bike rides surrounded the Bell Rock/Courthouse Butte area. There's lots of intersecting trails so you can wander and explore as much as you like. You can buy a weekly Red Rock parking pass for this area for $15 or an annual pass for $20 at some local stores. Jordan did battle a couple of times with cactus and ended up using glue to help get all the needles out! It worked but ripped off a lot of his hair on his arm as well!
Another favorite hike was Fay Canyon which takes you through a ravine with lots of green and ends at rocks that you can climb up for some fantastic views of the canyon. It was a great payout for such a short hike!
One day we rented an ATV and explored four different trails. It was so much fun and each one was slightly different. Jordan had a great time driving and we we were utterly covered in red dirt by the end!
The drive up to Mingus Mountain is really cool as it winds it's way up and through the town of Jerome. We spent a few hours enjoying gorgeous Fall colors and great views as we hiked the North Mingus Loop Trail. Eating a burger at Haunted Hamburger was fun as we sat outside watching the sun go down.
We decided to spend a day at the Out of Africa Wildlife Park and really loved it. Since it was November it wasn't crowded at all and we took our time wandering all around to see the incredible variety of animals they have here. We especially enjoyed our open jeep ride with zebras running right up to us and getting to feed the giraffes celery.
