Perhaps you recall that sometime back I wrote about two old
retired Santa Fe stations that sit alongside Iron Springs Road. Here's the third of the trio -- unlike the other pair, it is less than a mile from its original railroad home in Skull Valley. I was fortunate enough to score a ride down the hill for the annual ice cream and
PIE social sponsored by the Skull Valley Historical Society Saturday morning.
There were ladies and gents in period costumes, the men as Arizona Roughriders...
...and the ladies in their Sunday-go-to-meeting finery.
There was music -- by the bluegrass gospel & western group, Extra Touch.
This was not an occasion for all those sales booths we see at most summer events. Only a few items were on sale, all local, including honey...
...cute little owls made from what look like Arizona walnuts...
...Skull Valley tee shirts...
...cloth books made by a Skull Valley woman...
...and pie, wonderful pie! Oh, so many kinds of pie there were.
Pumpkin. Apple in various guises. Lemon meringue. Lime cream. Chocolate. Assorted berries. Pecan. You name it...
Well, I did. I asked for good old fashioned rhubarb. It took some looking, which the ladies did willingly. Finally they found two, among all those homemade goodies that were still packed away, waiting to be served from the long table. But I'm sorry to have missed tasting some of those other confections. At $5 a pop (priced to pay for the entertainment and food), a slice of that lime cream looked a hair pricey. But mainly, I was short on cash!
Folks ate at tables in back of the museum in the shade of those immense cottonwood trees for which Skull Valley is famous (all thanks to the best water table in all Yavapai County, BTW.) If you still need convincing, the picture below should help gauge the size of those trees.
I haven't room in this post for the other pictures you'll see soon, of the beautiful quilts and the really, really antique autos that were on display! And, not so incidentally, the reason I made it all the way down to Skull Valley is that a dear friend, Georgene Lockwood, is running for county supervisor for district one. She is attending all manner of local events to meet people and get a feel for what they expect of a candidate.
Speaking of Elections: In case you were looking for a website for the Yavapai Wester (formerly the Yellow Sheet), it is here. There's a good story about the election of our new mayor.
Well, actually, it was a general store -- groceries and mining supplies -- long before it became a must-stop-at cafe and saloon on the road north from Phoenix. The web site for the Rock Springs Cafe explains that Rock Springs, a couple of miles north from Black Canyon City, became a stage stop back in 18-aught-84 and that the store began operation under a canvas roof in 1920. The main structure, which included 6 hotel rooms, was completed in 1924.
Arizona-style tschotckes are sold at this side stand.
Love those classic covered sidewalks found in the old west; it's one way to guarantee shade in the hot desert. And how about that classic coin-op motor car (below)...
Inside -- dark wood (of course) ...
... and the ever-present rack.
Of course, what the Sson and I had come for was a piece of pie; we were on our way back to Prescott from The Valley. All out of rhubarb, so I settled for a yummy lemon meringue; as usual, he chose the Jack Daniels pecan pie. For a complete list of pies, go here.
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