Dinner At The Palace

Still in Prescott

For A Good Time - Eat At The Palace

The Palace Restaurant and Saloon is the oldest bar in Arizona. Located on Whiskey Row, the servers are all dressed in period costumes (think wild west saloons with gamblers, boozers and loose women). It was opened in 1877, and rebuilt in 1902 after a fire swept the district in 1900.

Over time the Palace has seen some famous patrons - Wyatt Earp, Virgil Earp, Doc Holliday and Steve McQueen. It has also been the scene of violence - Wyatt in gunfights and responsible for two deaths. Holliday also killed a man in the saloon during a knife fight. The beating death of a lady of the evening by her boyfriend. 

In 1900 a fire hit Whiskey Row. During the fire the bar patrons picked up the fancy hand-carved Brunswick bar and carried it out of the burning building. They set it down across the street and continued to drink as the fire burned. (I forgot to take a picture of the bar, so this picture is from Experience Prescott Website)

During Prohibition, the saloon closed, but a speakeasy and an opium den continued to operate in the basement. The bar has been featured in several films such as Junior Bonner, Billy Jack, and Wanda Nevada.

We had a really fun waitress who took great care of us. She made sure to get our order in ahead of the 30+ Combat Veterans (Viet Nam) who were there to have a celebration of life for one of their own. 

 

Paul ordered the Back Country Burger for dinner and I had fish and chips. They were both really good. But the atmosphere made them extra good. 

This is the balcony on the second floor where the women and men could go to find some privacy. 

Headed for Prescott? Make sure you stop at 

The Palace.

Whiskey Row

 We're still having really nice weather for the month of April. Cool mornings and warmer afternoons.

I'm off again on another adventure in Arizona - this time with Paul. He and I have been talking about going up to the Prescott/Jerome area for over a year and finally said, now is the time.

We made it to Prescott in time for lunch. Decided to give the Bear and Dragon a try. Good choice. 

The couple who own the restaurant named it after their children's nicknames - Bridget Bear and Drake the Dragon. They wanted an Old World English feel to their place and they succeeded. 

You really need to go to their website and look at their menu. It's set up like a book with a cover, and a prologue, and chapters and endings. 

I decided to try the Samwise soup for lunch. A puree of Yukon Golds, vegetable broth and cream, with crispy shallots, micro greens and lemon oil. Yummy. It was so good. I'd definitely order that again.

Paul had the Little Bear (I forgot to take a picture) which was a Grilled Ciabatta sandwich with turkey, cheddar, tomato and mayo.

An excellent lunch. After lunch, we walked around courthouse square. For whatever reason, there were armed guards at the one door that was open to the public. We decided being outside was just fine for us. 

Monuments around the courthouse.

Surrounding the courthouse is Whiskey Row, so called because at one point the block hosted a total of 40 saloons. 

Prescott is an old mining town and was no stranger to shoot outs, bawdy girls, gamblers and cowboys. In this day and age, there are still several saloons left but most have been turned into art galleries, fashion stores, and really good candy establishments.

Art galleries

$3,800 -

$5,500 -

Paul went looking for a tee shirt to add to his collection. I did a lot of people watching.

But I made sure I didn't miss the fudge store.

We took a short drive out to Watson Lake. 

And look at who we saw hunting for some dinner. They are such majestic birds. Anybody else watching Sunny and Gizmo grow up under the watchful eyes of Shadow and Jackie?

We have a special treat for dinner tonight. Check the next post. 

Tea With The Clydesdales

 Another beautiful morning in Gilbert, AZ

After recuperating for a day from our Route 66 trip, we had our next appointment for Saturday Morning.

 Every year just before Mother's Day, the USA Clydesdale Preservation Foundation in Gilbert has a tea with the Clydesdales. That sounded like a really wonderful time, so off we went.

 

Rebecca is in charge of the foundation and is trying to recover from Valley Fever, but she and her volunteers really put on a wonderful food spread and all the tea you could drink.

 Rebecca talked about the difference between a rescue and a foundation. The foundation raises money which is then passed onto rescue organizations. The foundation does not rescue horses. She also gave us a lot of information on Clydesdales and told us that there are only about 5000 of these horses left in the world. 

Veronica sat at our table with us and was so knowledgeable about the horses. She has volunteered with them for several years. We were glad she decided to sit with us and share her knowledge.

As farmers increased their use of machines, draft horses soon got replaced. And as big as they are, their upkeep is very expensive. The foundation is working to make sure Clydesdales do not become extinct. 

The Foundation had 6 Clydesdales but four of the horses were all about the same age and all died within the last year or so. So she only had two horses for us to visit with. She just bought a third one, but that horse is not ready to be with the public. 

Her Clydesdales do not actually look like the Budweiser horses that you are used to seeing on commercials and at shows. Those horses are bred to have specific coloring and markings. Rebecca's horses are the much more common ones that you would see working on a farm.

You can see Pat's hand in this picture as she's trying to convince this girl to come closer.

Finally she gets close enough so Pat can touch her.

This was such a great way to spend a beautiful day. There were lots of little ones that they let feed the horses through the fence. I was a little disappointed that we weren't able to get closer to the horses and to have our pictures taken with them. But it was still amazing to see these gorgeous animals up close.
 

Next Stop - Poozeum

Weather is still beautiful as we leave Route 66 behind and move on down the road.

I didn't tell Pat and Marilyn why I wanted to stop in Williams. It was a big surprise. Have you heard about the Poozeum? It is the only museum in the world dedicated to the preservation, exhibition, and education of coprolites. 

And what are Coprolites, you ask. Coprolites are fossilized feces. The picture probably gives you more info then you would ever want, but it is quite interesting.

I'm not sure the girls were ready for dinosaur poop but they are good sports and ended up having a great time. 

Enjoy pictures of dino poop.

This next picture is a challenge - how many pieces of coprolites do you think are in this jar.

I'll post the answer near the end.

The answer is 6195 pieces of coprolites.

 I asked the guy who owns the shop, why?  He had to have a reason to open a poop museum. He told me that he got fed up with the corporate rat race and wanted to do something interesting and fun. So he came up with Poozeum.

This guy greats you as you enter the Poozeum.

We didn't spend much time in Williams because we had a date for dinner in Flagstaff. We got checked into our rooms and rested for an hour. Then we headed to La Fonda Mexican Restaurant to meet up with Pat's granddaughter Abbygale. She is going to college at Northern Arizona University. A very impressive, very smart, and very hard working woman. We really enjoyed getting to know here a little bit.

We ate a leisurely breakfast Thursday morning before making the drive down the Mountain to the Valley and home. The end of another fun adventure. 

We're On Our Way - Route 66

More beautiful weather 

We were excited to get going in the morning. The drive from Kingman to Seligman is 88 miles and there are some stops you definitely want to make on your way. 

Our first stop was Antares. It was really hard to miss this stop because it is the home of the Giganticus Headicus. 

Giganticus is a 14 foot tall Tiki head created by Gregg Arnold. Some say it is a tribute to the statues of Easter Island. It is made of cement, chicken wire, and styrofoam and has been painted different colors over the years. 

Antares is also home to the Guardian of Route 66. She was also created by Greg Arnold.

 

So much to love.

 

 

(I hit a wrong button because the blog is now being centered. I have no idea how to undo it.)

 

The store at Giganticus was closed so we were able to leave our money in our purses.

 

Our next stop was in Valentine, AZ. Valentine has only 39 residents. But we noticed this abandoned building and decided to check it out. The building was built in 1903 and is located on the Hualapai Reservation. It was a schoolhouse called the Schoolhouse at Truxton Canyon Training School. It is known for its role in educating predominantly Hualapai but also Apache, Havasupai, Hopi, Navajo. It was also used during the Assimilation Policy era when the federal government wanted to separate a child from his or her family and culture and to provide basic skills for earning a living away from the reservation. 

We were ready for getting more kicks on Route 66 and our next stop is Hackberry General Store which was originally a gas station but now it is a museum and gift shop. The building itself seems to be held together by old metal signs and license plates. If you want a souvenir of Route 66, this is the place to find it.

We next traveled on to Seligman. It's the largest town on this portion of Route 66. Which means it was overrun with tourists. Not sure where they all came from. Many motorcycles and even regular bicycles. Thought we might pick up an ice cream from The Snow Cap diner but the line was out the door and down the street. So we moved on. We are now back on I-40 and I have one more blog post to share. That stop was really interesting.