Ghosts, trucks and chefs! (Oh, my!!)

Today began with hidden treasures and ended as nothing short of amazing.


We began the day by heading up Historic Route 89A toward Jerome, AZ. Jerome was a silver and copper mining town in the late 1800's, and more recently, was the birthplace of Maynard from Tool :)


We tried to visit the State Park there first, but - our luck - it is only open Thursday thru Monday.

Luckily, we had more then one stop planned! Next we headed to the Gold King Mine and Ghost Town.

We felt a bit like the American Pickers, this guy had stuff everywhere!

Something different around every turn.

After we'd had our fill of buried treasure, we headed for lunch at a BBQ place nearby. We were actually heading somewhere else, but I saw it and we thought we'd try it. Turns out, the owner is from Chicago and came out here (like everyone else - all transplants!) to bring Chicago BBQ to the 'Wild West.' 

Stuffed and happy, we headed back to the hotel. Andrew wanted to take a nap - he's getting homesick for our bed! - and I went to the pool. After a while, Andrew came to meet me there and then we went back to the room to get ready for dinner.

As I mentioned when we first got to Sedona, Bob had set up reservations for us at two locally-owned restaurants as a wedding present, and tonight we dined at the second one: Dahl & DiLuca Ristorante Italiano. 

A-MA-ZING! 

We started with the stuffed mushrooms, followed by the Insalate Mista (house salad) and our entrees. Andrew had Rainbow Trout stuffed with crab meat and wrapped in prosciutto, and I had the Ribeye with a gorgonzola sauce. Both were the specials tonight, and both were fantastic! 

Just as with the other restaurant, desert was compliments of the chef - a wonderful Amaretto Crème brûlée:

And then, the really amazing surprise Bob had set up for us arrived.

Chef (and co-owner) Lisa Dahl stopped by our table and gave us a personalized, signed copy of the Dahl & DiLuca cookbook! How wonderful it was not only to meet the mind behind the delicious food, but to also be able to take home something that so well represented our amazing honeymoon! We've had such a great time, and it's only been made better by this great gift Bob gave us! 

Tomorrow is our last day here, and we will miss it - but, to quote Chief Seattle, we will "take [our] memories and leave only [our] footprints," as Arizona has left its footprints on our souls.