Cowboy Folklore in Prescott

I'm going to Prescott, Arizona this weekend to say my final goodbyes to a very dear friend who died on October 14. He lived for years in this North-Eastern region surrounded by some of the most majestic red rock desert landscapes I have ever seen.

My friend Michael chose an interesting place to live because Prescott in some ways epitomizes the 'wild west.'

As a folk musician whose work crossed over into country western every now and then, he fit right into the rough and rugged terrain.

This sparsely populated state is home to the world's oldest rodeo and is Arizona's first territorial capital. It was founded in 1864, and then incorporated into Arizona in 1881. The city was named for William Hickling Prescott, a noted Arizona historian, according to the city's Office of Tourism.

The city also boasts containing nearly 800 buildings in the National Register of Historic Places. Wow, that's a lot of buildings!

I doubt I will have time to take in the scenery on this trip. But if I did, I'd want to see the local museum's current exhibit. In honor of it's cowboy-ladened past, Prescott's Phippen Museum's displayingWorking the West: Selections from the Phippen Collection is on display through February 20, 2011.

It promises to be a celebration of the working cowboy as seen through the eyes of renowned Western artists who captured this vanishing way of life on the ranches of the American West.

I will definitely keep my eyes open,though for far-flung lassos just in some stray cowboy mistakes my rental car for a steer and tries to rope and brand it!