At Home on the Range

Real cowboy hats for the real cowboy and cowgirl.

Cowboy/chef giving us the two-finger salute.

Paul with his boarding-house reach trying to steal my dinner.

The barn at Dave and Micki's. Beyond it, green pastures and the Verde (or "Green") River.

Prison garden. The chicken wire keeps the plants in and the critters out.

Micki's dad carved this moosehead out of wood. Its life-like detail is amazing. He had worked for Walt Disney at one time. Micki's dad, not the moose.

Cowboy's sweetheart, Micki. Proving that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, she has her father's talent for woodcarving. This "twisted cross" is only one of many impressive examples.

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Sedona has the reputation of being a magnet for new age afficionados. Some would call them "nutcases", citing the long-haired guy in the flowing purple robe and gray beard who strolls through the tourist district with arms upraised and eyes rolling in their sockets. In reality, Sedona is more a haven for retired people, reclusive Hollywood celebrities, and cowboys.

This has been and still is ranching country. Sedona began as a farming community with apple and peach orchards planted along the banks of Oak Creek. The farms butted up against open range that fed herds of cattle. You can still see some grazing along Highway 89, the artery that runs from Sedona south to the town of Cottonwood.

Like Sedona, Cottonwood is also a retirement town with a cool historic district that houses some of the best restaurants in the area. Better than almost anything you'll find in Sedona which likes to be known for its cuisine but "ain't". The restaurateurs have the attitude that since this is a tourist town people will pass through once so let's not go all out and serve them up the finest fare possible. Let's give them mediocre food that's overpriced.

So that's why when we go out to eat we head south to Cottonwood's Tavern Grill, Nick's, Hobo Joe's (for breakfast) or the old standby, Casa Bonita for good Mexican food. There's also a Casa Bonita in Sedona and it's excelente. It defies what was previously said here.

But you won't find a better meal in Cottonwood than at our close friend Dave Garner's. Dave is the real deal--a gen-u-ine cowboy who parlayed his love of good, downhome cooking into a career as a professionally-trained Cordon Bleu chef. He and his wife Micki operated a sheep ranch in Wyoming along with running a popular restaurant near the town of Thermopolis. Dave built the restaurant himself-- a huge strawbale structure that served up everything from homemade pizza to blue-ribbon steaks.

Being the renaissance couple, Dave and Micki eventually traded in their snow shovels and relentless heat of the restaurant kitchen for 'year round warmth and new careers in Arizona. Micki is the activities director at a residence facility in Cottonwood while Dave sells real estate. He was the agent who found us our house in Sedona. He, along with our buddy Tim Dugan in Green Valley, are the best agents we've ever had.

This past Sunday evening, Dave cooked us up a scrumptuous pork roast with bread stuffing and studded with peaches. Accompanied by new potatoes, green salad and topped off with cherry cheesecake. Oh, and lots o' wine. We provided a big cheap bottle called "Red Eye" or "Fish Eye", some Australian swill that wasn't befitting the wonderful meal.

We had appetizers in their rolling garden that Dave built atop a wheeled trailer, encased in chicken wire to keep the critters out. Those critters not only include wild birds, squirrels and other high-desert dwellers but a herd of cattle that Dave and Micki manage. Their gen-u-ine ranch house sits on a small plat near the Verde River not more than a mile from Cottonwood's city center but a million miles away in look and feel. We'd love to live there, having developed a taste for farm and ranch life during our tenure on "America's Heartland", the TV series Paul hosted.

So kudos to Dave and Micki for another wonderful evening. We'll host them for bbq and beer later this month.