Sedona and Jerome

Time to head towards Phoenix (not By The Time We Get To Phoenix) to see our great friends David & Gill and their boys Jamie & Alex - they actually live in Scottsdale outside the huge metropolis - and we break the journey with overnight stop at Sedona, a lovely little town set among green forests and red rock canyons.
Next day take a trip out into surrounding countryside to area known as Crescent Moon Ranch where there is a picturesque ford across Oak Creek at Red Rock Crossing. Enjoy a picnic here under the shade of overhanging tree.
It's very different to Grand Canyon - softer, gentler, more wooded, but it's name is apt - the rock here is a remarkable deep red. Like Monument Valley, many westerns have been shot at Oak Creek, but area is not as well-known perhaps (we virtually have the place to ourselves) and take a cooling paddle in the river.
Refreshed, we head to Jerome, a former silver mining town perched high up on a bluff overlooking the valley back out towards Sedona and Oak Creek. Spectacular setting, it reminds us of parts of the Rhondda, but, of course, much drier and dustier. Silver mining began here in 1870s and discovery of copper made it boom time there during First World War. However by early 60s Jerome was virtually a ghost town, though today it is enjoying a revival thanks to art galleries, native jewellery stores and, subsequently, tourism.
We pop into one store and talk to Elin, whose family we discover hails from Cross Hands and Pontarddulais. She is Welsh-speaking and a member of the Welsh Historical Society here in this corner of US. America seems so huge to us, but this is a 'world's a small place' experience.
Jerome to us becomes a little corner of Wales in Arizona.