05/12/12 (Wednesday)

After another lay in this morning, we went shopping again today. We visited Walmart, the Dollar Store, Joann, Big 5, Costco and a think a few more thrown in there also. Danielle is really impressed with the shops here and Chris and I didn't need any encouragement to take her to the various shops. We might have had a late start but we made up for it by shopping well into the evening!!!! Another great day!

06/12/12 (Thursday)

This morning Danielle and I set off on a 'road trip' in the hire car. Firstly we called in to see Matilda the Motorhome and dropped off a few things we brought over with us. Our next stop was then at iHop for breakfast then we then set off along highway 17 and up to Cottonwood. Danielle had a go at driving also along the highway for awhile. I should have let her drive all the way to Cottonwood because I was pulled over by a policeman on his motorbike for speeding on the way into to Cottonwood. He said he clocked me doing 72 mph in a 55 mph zone. I have no idea because we were talking and I was pointing things out to Danielle along the road and just following the other cars in front of me. If I was going that fast, so were all the other cars in front of me but I was last in the line!!!! Anyway, we were very nice to him and he was very nice to us and let me off with a warning to slow down……… not like me to speed J He thought that my driver's licence was funny with the unusual wording we have on it! We had a quick chat about Australia and then when he left all we could do was laugh and it has been a continual joke here every time we see a policeman. We stopped in Cottonwood then drove up the mountain to Jerome. It is a very old town built on the side of the mountain overlooking Cottonwood with the streets twisting and turning right past the front doors of houses and stores. We had a walk around and looked in some of the shops and took some photos before driving back down the mountain to Cottonwood then on to Sedona. Sedona is such a pretty town below the beautiful red rocks and the buildings of the town are coloured to blend into the mountains. We had a walk around and looked in some of the shops there also and took photos before heading back to Cottonwood for the night. We stayed in a motel across the road from Sizzlers so guess where we went for dinner!!!!! We have to admit that Sizzlers Australia is still sooooo much better. After eating way too much we headed back to our room and off to bed.

07/12/12 (Friday)

We had a bit of a restless night as we had some young guys in the room beside us who are apparently working in the area and they decided to have a bit of a party. They finally quietened down around 1am then left at 6am to go to work. Definitely no .00 for driving heavy vehicles here!!!!! We were also woken by sirens around 3am and when we woke again at 6am our room smelt like smoke and outside was thick with it. It smelt like cigars burning! A produce store just down the road from where we were staying was destroyed by fire and they had their semi full of fresh green lucerne (or something like that) in the shed and it was still smouldering when we drove past around 10am. We got a lovely cooked breakfast included in our room cost which was a nice start to the day. We drove back to Phoenix and on to Good Year and called in to give the motorhome a bit of a clean as it was thick with dust on the outside. We also checked the water and oil etc. ready to head off on Sunday. We got back to Ken & Chris's later in the afternoon and Chris cooked us Beer Chicken for dinner with is just lovely. Their chickens here taste so much nicer than ours!