GREAT WEEKENDS

The Sedona, Jerome, Prescott Triad Offers Fun, Food, and Old West-style Outings

Do you have a weekend to search for the soul of Arizona, its natural beauty, and Wild West past with the added benefits of good food, great shopping, and cozy inns? If so, then three days in Sedona, Jerome, and Prescott should begin a love affair with Arizona's Heartland. Just keep your eyes on the road or ask your traveling companion to drive so you can enjoy watching the landscape change from saguaros to grasslands to red-rock buttes to riparian forests.

Leaving Phoenix 1½ hours behind you, exit Interstate 17 at State Route 179 and follow it 14.5 miles to Sedona. Designated the Red Rock Scenic Highway, the road from the interstate to Sedona will reveal around every curve a new red-rock monument jutting out of the ancient seabed. Stop at one of the numerous turnoffs along the road, and see if you can spot buttes called Bell, Cathedral, Castle, and Snoopy.

At dinner you can continue the special Sedona views by eating at the Sedona Airport Restaurant, located on a mesa above the city. Here the quiet will surround you, the sunset will thrill you, and small planes landing will entertain you. If you'd like to wake up with this view, stay overnight at the Sky Ranch Lodge, located less than a quarter-mile from the airport. With our two year old along, we stayed down the hill in a child-friendly Comfort Inn, part of a national chain. Whatever your preference, from a four-star resort to a Coconino National Forest campground, there are accommodations in Sedona for everyone.

Saturday morning we started out at the Ranch Kitchen, a country-style cafe famous for its cinnamon buns. Children love the cafe for the crayons and paper supplied at every table. After breakfast we went to Tlaquepaque, a collection of pricey boutiques and galleries built to resemble a Mexican village. Beautiful rose gardens and shady sycamores make strolling through this outdoor mall a relaxing affair.

At the sculptured lawn of El Prado Gallery, an overlook of Oak Creek became our son's favorite spot when he discovered ducks gliding in and out of the cattails.

After shopping we followed the Oak Creek Canyon Scenic Drive north of Sedona. The highway narrows and curves its way through the canyon, switchbacking up more than 7,000 feet to a scenic view of the red-butted valley and forested canyons that challenge the Grand Canyon for magnificence.

Because our son fell asleep as we drove back down the road, we passed up a short day hike along the West Fork of Oak Creek and instead stopped at Garland's Indian Gardens General Store for lunch. The store, in the middle of the canyon, sits next door to Garland's Indian Jewelry Store. Buy your lunch from the general store and enjoy it on shaded picnic tables located on its back patio.

After lunch we left the canyon and drove west across the Verde Valley on State 89A toward Jerome, stopping briefly at the Page Springs Fish Hatchery, where I knew our son would be enthralled by so many fish in one place. The Arizona Game and Fish Department opened the hatchery in 1932 and annually raises more than 300,000 pounds of trout for stocking the state's streams and lakes. The selfguided tour starts in a modest museum that displays game fish and exhibits on the local ecosystem. Then we moved on to two barnlike structures where the trout grow in concrete tanks called raceways. A natural pond waits at the end of the walking tour, where we bought some fish food and helped our son feed the jumping trophy-size trout.

Back on 89A, we turned toward Jerome, an old mining town that clings to its past and the up and down topography. Perched on the side of Cleopatra Hill, Jerome was nearly abandoned when the mines closed in the early 1950s, but in the late 1960s the rowdy copper camp became a refuge for retirees and artists. Today, with almost 500 full-time residents, Jerome survives as a mountain home for artisans and tourists who share a love for Arizona's past.

Once a town you visited by day and left by night, the old mining camp currently boasts more than a half-dozen inns and bed and breakfasts offering unique accommodations and great views of the Verde Valley. For downtown convenience, we stayed at the Inn at Jerome. The inn's cozy, antiqueappointed rooms and its location near the town's Main Street shopping district make it a favorite for first-time visitors. For a Really private getaway, try the Rose Garden Bed and Breakfast, where you will be the only guests, or the Surgeon's House, which offers the best view in the city.

Most people who come to Jerome spend some time shopping in the galleries and boutiques along Main Street. My wife's favorite was Magdalena's Bazaar, a nook of a store filled with colorful Latin American imports and local artwork. With the stores closing at 5 P.M. and a nagging hunger intensified by walking the roller-coaster streets of Jerome, we opted for the casual ambiance of the Jerome Grill, on the ground floor of our inn.

For a more formal meal, eat at the House of Joy - if you planned ahead. Located in a former bordello, the restaurant serves its gourmet dinners only on Saturday and Sunday nights. Reservations must usually bemade at least two weeks in advance and are taken only on Saturday or Sunday morning. After our dinner we walked up Main Street under the lingering light of sunset for a view of the distant Mogollon Rim set aglow in shades of orange and pink.

The next day, we started with a quiet walk through the peaceful streets of a late-sleeping Jerome. The smells of breakfast led us to the English Kitchen, the oldest diner in town. With a view of the Verde Valley in front of us, we sat under an umbrella and misters and enjoyed French toast and scrambled eggs.

After checking out of the inn, we went to Jerome State Historic Park. Originally the private residence of mining mogul Jimmy “Rawhide” Douglas, the mansion has been restored by the state and converted into a museum of Arizona mining history. Each room of the house tells a different story. If it's not too warm, take a picnic lunch and enjoy an incredible view of the Verde Valley from tables on the south end of the house.

We bought sandwiches to go from the English Kitchen and drove up the Mingus Mountain Scenic Highway to the cool pines of the Prescott National Forest. Descending out of the high country, the road curves down the mountain across the grasslands of Chino Valley to Prescott. Settled in 1864 as the original Territorial capital of Arizona, Prescott and the valley remain at the heart of Arizona's romantic Southwestern past.

Travelers in search of Prescott's rough-hewn origin will find it on the grounds of Sharlot Hall Museum. Named after a local pioneer, the museum preserves the original governor's mansion and other early Territorial buildings. Our son loved the beautiful gardens more than the museum displays, so after a quick outdoor tour we went on to the Yavapai County Courthouse Plaza for a walk around Whiskey Row and the antique shops of Cortez Street.

The plaza, with its stoic granite courthouse, exudes an atmosphere reminiscent of a Midwestern town. While window-shopping along Whiskey Row (Montezuma Street) on the west side of the plaza, we paused in front of the Palace Restaurant and Bar, which has been reincarnated from a rowdy saloon to a family restaurant. But we returned to Cortez Street for a root beer float at the Deja Vu Antiques and Soda Shop. Soon realizing our son had too much energy for antiquing or fine dining, we again sought the open spaces of the courthouse square.

In the late afternoon, the plaza had all the elements of a Norman Rockwell painting:running children, strolling cou-ples, and family picnics in the shadows of memorials to Prescott's heroes. As the park began to fill for an evening musical performance, we followed our son up the steps of the courthouse and took a moment to think about our three-day journey. Looking down on the heartwarming scene below, we knew we had found Arizona's Heartland in a weekend, and its soul was booming at us from the thunderheads floating somewhere between Sedona, Jerome, and Prescott.

WHEN YOU GO