Prescott, Arizona

We got to Prescott in the middle of the afternoon and found that most hotels that were affordable for long-term stays were full or didn't allow cats. We found one just outside of town, though. They had all of their long-term rooms rented out, but she took pity on us and gave us a weekly rate on a room that was supposed to be rented nightly.

We struck out early the next day searching for an apartment for Chrissy. No luck. Slum-type apartments were going for over $600 plus utilities. I'm not just talking "could be better" slums. I'm talking rotting window sills and floors, smelling of decay slums. Decent studios were running close to $1000 a month plus utilities and pet fees.

Nobody wanted to allow Grandkitty to live there, either. Arizona has this idea that the Fair Housing Act doesn't apply to them, so only service animals (like seeing eye dogs) qualify. Emotional support animals - especially cats - don't get to live there. Yeah, I could have pushed it, but she ended up not wanting to stay, so why bother.

We found out later that housing is so tight because Prescott has become a haven for addiction treatment facilitites. There's nothing wrong with that, but the outpatient treatments facilities have so many patients that most of the affordable housing is used by their patients.

It's a nice little town, and they have live music on the courthouse steps on weekend nights. Lots of nice trails to hike. Along with walking all over town looking for a place for Chrissy to live, we also hiked Watson Lake. It was awesome. I especially liked "sleepy rock".