Matt and I hadn’t taken Airstreamy out since February; she’s been so lonely just sitting in the carport. We always try to figure out when we both have free schedules and we both happened to be able to take Labor Day off. So, even though we only have 1/2 a kitchen (we have lumber to order still), we called around to RV parks in Northern AZ to see what was available. My first call was to Rancho Sedona RV Park in Sedona, AZ. They were booked on the Sunday before Labor day, so I called Rio Verde RV park in Cottonwood, AZ. Rio Verde RV park had an opening on Sunday, so we booked it and then booked Rancho Sedona for Labor day.
We grabbed all our stuff and our 3 dogs, then hit the road late Sunday afternoon. It was the first time traveling with all 3 of our dogs, which wasn’t as hard as we thought it would be. We were somewhat restricted on where we could eat and where we could go, as we wanted to have the dogs with us at all times; nobody likes a barking dog in a trailer!
We arrived to the Rio Verde RV park right past sunset and found our spot; #55. The office was closed when we arrived, so we did a self check-in. The spot was not a drive-in spot, but a parallel spot. It took a few tries to get into the spot, which seemed a bit small for our 31′ trailer. We were immediately greeted by a pack of javalinas, who lived in the hill right across from our site. They were harmless, but we definitely didn’t want to be outside with the dogs after seeing how close they were to our trailer. Our site had a big red ant problem, which was unfortunate, as it limited our outdoor time. The Verde River was the main draw to this RV park. However, our site wasn’t close enough to the river to enjoy it; all the river-frontage sites were booked on the day of our arrival. The Verde River looks like Willy Wonka’s chocolate river and there was tall grass to walk through to get up close to it. The park looks to have a few regulars; trailers that looked like they hadn’t moved in a while, which makes sense, since they offer monthly rates. There is an on-site yoga studio, which offers free yoga on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30-6:30pm. There are tent and RV camping sites at Rio Verde RV Park and quite a few tent campers were set up on the river. For the price: $31.23/night, which includes full hook-ups, I would say it is a good place to stay, if you are in the area.
A video of our arrival at Rio Verde RV park
I was informed by a friend on Instagram that there is a glitter institute in Cottonwood—say what?! Yes, there is indeed a glitter store called Art Glitter and a neighboring building called the Art Institute Glitter. What’s even cooler is that Barbara Trombley, the owner, founded Art Glitter Institute in 1983. She is literally the undisputed queen of glitter! We went by early on labor day and they were closed. I called a couple hours later and the glitter queen herself, Barbara, answered the phone. She said they were closed, but she would let me come by anyway-WOO HOO! If you don’t know, I am obsessed with glitter. Glitter is everywhere in my life; I always have glitter cell phone cases, glitter nails, glitter shoes, etc. I walked in and was in heaven. She has a little bowl of glitter by the door that she encourages customers to place their hands in upon walking in. And, then you walk around with glitter on your hands; it was like crack for me. I ended up buying 20+ pots of glitter from Barbara. My nails have never been so happy; her glitter is epic!
Video from my Art Glitter adventure
After getting high on glitter (kidding), we went for a quick trip to Jerome. Since it was labor day, many stores appeared closed. We mostly went for sight-seeing, but we got lured into Mooey Christmas and Udder Things. Let’s just say that it is the Christmas store you’ve dreamed of in a Christmas store! I bought so much stuff that I had a hard time carrying everything back to the truck. I bought some light-up color wheel Christmas trees, a snowman color-changing snow globe, a trailer that plays Christmas music (it doesn’t say ‘Airstream’ on it, but it is basically an Airstream), an little retro TV that lights up and plays old rock ‘n’ roll songs, some ornaments, earrings, coffee cup, a couple salt and pepper shakers, etc. Pure holiday bliss!
Video from Mooey Christmas and Utter Things
We snapped a few pics around Jerome. It would be a great place to spend the whole day; we plan to go back and do just that!
After leaving Jerome, we headed back to Rio Verde RV park and packed up to hit the road to Sedona. We arrived at Rancho Sedona RV Park and were instantly blown away by how nice it is. There were workers cleaning all around the park (we arrived just past check-in time) and the grounds were immaculate. The best part is that we reserved a spot right on Oak Creek; #79. Price: $63.90 with a Good Sam membership, which includes full hook-ups, wifi and cable TV. The park is dog-friendly- paid $2/dog and they even have a dog run.
Our arrival at Rancho Sedona RV park
When we checked in at the office, we asked the gal if anyone swims in the creek, by the park. She showed up exactly where to go; a secret watering hole just to the right of where we were parked. We highly recommend spot # 79. You can walk right down to the creek behind #79 and then walk a little bit to the right to get down to the watering hole. Since it was still summer, the weather was beautiful and the water was probably as warm as it would get (still pretty cold). We hiked down some boulders to get the the secret watering hole and fell in love with this park even more. Not another soul was around and there was a rope swing and a swing seat; perfection. We went back a couple times and brought our chairs to enjoy the scenery. Molly even did a little swimming.
Video of Oak Creek watering hole behind Rancho Sedona RV park
We didn’t do much sight-seeing in Sedona (we were only there for a day), but we did make it to Chocola Tree, a local vegan-friendly restaurant. We brought the dogs and sat outside on their side patio, which is dog-friendly. They have amazingly big apple trees (by AZ standards) out front in the parking lot. I had a grilled cheese one day and a raw caesar salad for the car ride home. The caesar salad was the best I have had! I bought a few raw chocolates to sample and found my new favorite, a raw pine truffle in the shape of a crown. I went back and iterally bought all of them…like 15. ha.
Matt and I picked up matching airstream shirts by a company called United By Blue. If you haven’t heard of them, check out their site. For every shirt they sell, they do trash removal from major waterways and oceans around the world. By purchasing the Airstream shirt for $34, you help UBB remove 1 pound of trash from our oceans and waterways around the world.
Sedona is magical and inspiring; we can’t wait to go back. Until next time…weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee’ll see you later!
Next up for Airstreamy: Polishing. We are taking her down to Eloy, AZ today to get her polished up. We are visiting 3 different truck polishing shops (M & M truck polishing, Eloy show Truck Polishing and Flash Truck Polishing) to see who can do the best job for us. Polishing will be a catalyst to getting the exterior looking better. Hopefully, we can remove some dents from our banana wraps up front and get some rock guards soon, too. We are hoping to have a couple more adventures in the coming months.
airstreamy 