Southern Arizona

This past week was spent at Empire Ranch – a working cattle ranch that also allows camping.  It is rather high altitude so the nights are quite cold but the days have been warm and sunny.  Much of it is grassland surrounded by mountains and many come to ride their horses.  The countryside is one where a number of western movies have been made.

There two other couples camping here with us so it has been a perfect time to get in lots of visiting which has been great.  What a great place to stay – visiting with friends, lovely days, peace and quiet like very few places – almost perfect.  The only downfall has been the lack of cell service.  It is amazing how dependent we have become to be constantly linked to the outside world.   There is also some wildlife to be seen.  Thanks to our group photographer,  Myrna, I am able to share some of her photos as well as ours.

Since it was fairly warm when we arrived, there were several sightings of snakes, including rattlesnakes.  This was a baby rattler which  lost a war with a vehicle.

 An antelope herd was in the area among the cattle

Of course, the coyote.

Got this stickbug climbing on the wheel - looking to hitch a ride?

The black tailed prairie dog had been pretty well eliminated from this area.  However, they were introduced by creating underground tunnels using drainage pipe.  These dogs were kept in cages for a couple of weeks and soon created their own tunnels.  They have certainly reproduced as there are burrows everywhere.

We took a little drive to a small town – Patagonia.  What a lovely little town with a number of craft shops.  We had lunch, walked around, and came home.

The past couple of nights were cold (-2.8C Sunday night) and today, while it is 16C, there is an incredibly cold wind.  I know - don't complain, there is no snow!!!  This week we will be heading out – stop by next week to see where our next address is.  Until then, have a great week!!

Down to New Mexico and Into Arizona

What great weather!!  I understand this is in sharp contrast of what is happening back home.  This past week was spent in New Mexico and Arizona.  We stayed at a state park, La Conchas, in New Mexico, which is just outside Roswell, NM.  This great park overlooked a lake where deer came by to graze nearby.

Some of you may know of, or remember,  when an alien vehicle crashed at a location near Roswell.  As a result, there is the International UFO Museum which we went through.  It is reported that there was a huge cover-up of the crash with many reports later on about what various people actually saw and were told.  It was a great display and one could believe or not!!

From  there it was to Bottomless Lake state park near Deming, NM which in an area of numerous smaller lakes that were created from sinkholes.  The scenery was incredible when the sun shone on the banks.

Chili Peppers 

On our way into Arizona we saw numerous signs advertising “The Thing”.  What is “The Thing” – no one seemed to know.  Well there is only one way to find out  in we went.  Another interesting story about how aliens have been around since the beginning of time.  It told the story of how they controlled the dinosaurs, and how the two factions of aliens (good and the evil) have been influential in the various wars through history – from ancient times up to world war II.  Many instances throughout history were explained by What If……. The aliens had control.  We ended up seeing “The Thing”.

The THING

From there, we stopped at Kartchner Caverns  state park where everyone took a tour of the caverns.  I say everyone but actually it should be almost everyone – I stayed back as I had no interest in a tour of the underground caves!!

On the road again to Empire Ranch where we will spend a few days.  Empire Ranch is still a working ranch; however, it is also similar to a recreation area.  Today, when we came in, we discovered they were having Cowboy Days so we went.  It was rather interesting to see different historical re-enactments.  They had a cannon and shot it several times.  They also had a demonstration of a cavalry and some of their techniques.  One of the demonstrations was the cavalry displaying some of the skills such as shooting and picking of rings with a lance.  One of the riders shot, the horse jumped, and off she went.  Fortunately, she was not  hurt other than perhaps a bruised ego.  Throughout the grounds there were various demonstrations, story telling, and vendors.

Back to the campsite to watch some football, before and after supper as it is another day of CFL marathon.  Thanks for stopping by - I hope everyone has a great week.