HBGALLAVANTERS

  Today we moved to Benson, AZ so we could explore some spots in southeast Arizona. Our first stop was the spot where Coronado first explored California. This Memorial sits on the border of Mexico.  Some of the trails were closed because the border wall is under construction in this area. You can see the wall for miles as you drive into the park. It’s hard to believe that this Memorial sits at over 5000 feet elevation and has its highest peak reaching over 9,500 feet. It snows here in the winter.   We then set off for the artist community of Bisbee.  We walked around Erie Street which could be the set for a fifties movie. Lots of old cars and memorabilia.   We then set out to explore the other parts of Bisbee.  We found an outdoor walkway lined with art.  We found a dog friendly brewery where we sampled the local brew.  Our last stop was the tourist trap of Tombstone.  We walked around but really had no desire to watch a shootout.  

  Today we explored the east section of the park.  We decided to drive the visitor loop to get an over all perspective of this part of the park.  The road is paved here but boy is it steep, circuitous, narrow and full of hairpin turns. So happy we had our jeep and the road was one way! Lots of bikers 🚴‍♀️ on the road here. Makes for a great a workout if you are able to bike early before it heats up.  Saw lots of saguaros that had lots more arms. This side of the park may be more sheltered from the winds thus allowing those limbs time to grow.   The visitor center on this side is more a store than interpretative center. Social distancing is required and enforced.   Some beautiful ceramic art installations on the outside of this sections visitor center.    Tomorrow we move east to reposition so we can explore Bisbee, Tombstone and some more National Historic Sites.  

Second stop on our tour today took us down toward the Mexican border to explore an area that was home to the O’odham people.  It was here that Spanish priests, not Junipero Serra’s Franciscan contemporaries but Jesuits settled and eventually built three Catholic Churches, Timacacori being the largest, longest active, and best preserved of the three. No matter your politics on the Catholic Churches’ impact on native peoples, it does show what life was like for those living within the mission community between 1691 and 1848. This site has the ruins of multiple iterations of the different churches that were built in this area to convert the local native peoples. The site has a great museum explaining the battles faced by the natives - the Apaches  being a problem not only fir the missionaries but also the O’odham people. Beautiful location even in 80 plus heat. 

 Today we headed to our first, of what we hope to be many,  National Parks. Saguaro is one of the more interesting parks because it has two different sections located in two separate parts of Tucson. Today we explored the west section which is truly the home of the cactus for which it is named. There is a visitor center in each section so you can get two passport stamps (I’ll discuss this in a future post).  Traveling with Ricky the rat dog does complicate visiting because one of us must stay with him while the other explores. We did try to take him on a dog friendly hike in this section of the park but this beach dog was NOT digging the heat.  So we did the long loop driving tour which was incredibly picturesque.  So happy we have the jeep to do these more remote tours. We had made a lunch so we found a covered picnic area where we were able to enjoy out AZ. green tea in AZ. All in all it was a great visit. Tomorrow we plan to explore the east section which has...