The Great Escape... to Prescott AZ

As promised in "Blistering" (the last post), we were in search  of a cooler 

location so we packed a lunch, grabbed the masks & hand sanitizer,

and jumped in the car and headed north. Destination Prescott at

an elevation of 5200' and temps 20 degrees cooler than Gold Canyon.

About half way there we did the selfie thing as we stopped at

Sunset Point Rest Stop.

We stopped here last year for a geocache and there was another

one this year but we couldn't find it...

Old Prescott was charming to say the least.

The Palace Restaurant and Saloon is both the oldest business and 

the oldest bar operating in the state of AZ, located here on Whiskey Row 

in Prescott.   It opened in 1877, was rebuilt in 1901 after a disastrous fire in 1900. 

Some famous patrons such as Wyatt and Virgil Earp & Doc Holliday

were regulars and of course were involved in gunfights and knife fights.

The Palace Restaurant and Saloon as seen from across the street.

Solon Hannibal Borglum was Americas First Cowboy Sculptor 1858-1922. 

This free spirited son of the West, sensitive to the era in which he lived 

portrayed the western epic in marble & bronze.   “Buckey O’Nell"

this Monumental Bronze is among his greatest works

and is considered one of the finest equestrian monuments

in the world!!!  It is located on the grounds of  the Yavapai

County Courthouse which was build in 1916 and placed on

the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. 

The The war memorial was one of the virtual caches 

Don had to solve, and is also located on the courthouse grounds. 

It was dedicated by the Sunup Rotary Club in 2006.

I didn't get the official name of this sculpture, I

just called it "A Cowboy & his Horse".

Nostril shot!!!

The "Early Settlers"  Monument sculpture was my favorite.  

It was dedicated June 7 1985 to those whose vision and courage made 

the settlement of this area possible. 

This  bronze is the first public artwork to be erected in Prescott 

since the dedication of the “Rough Rider” monument in 1902. 

AZ sculptor  Bill Nebeker created this “Early Settlers”  Monument.

It  is located at the Prescott Memorial Park, along

with this monument (and Don got another virtual 

geocache  here).

Watson Lake Park was my gig,  with lots of walking

trails in a very unusual & beautiful setting

.

The elevation was about 5300' and the breezy temperature

about 82 degrees, so we wandered a few trails and yours 

truly took way too many photos...

You'll definitely want to double click on these to see

the detail.  You can walk all the way around the lake

and rent kayaks as well.  Maybe next time.

We abandoned the "snack" I packed and headed for Subway

for a late lunch.  Actually the first time we've been in a

restaurant in 6 months.  Everyone was masked except

when chewing and social distancing was the norm.  What

a day.  Left home at 7 a.m. and got back about

5:30.  Traveled over 235 miles for this "outing".

Missions accomplished...