Velvet Elvis and the Trogon

 

After I typed the title I realized it would make a great name for a heavy metal band. Instead, Velvet Elvis Pizza Company is where we enjoyed gourmet pizza with Chuck and Carla yesterday. They are spending the week in Tucson, and made the almost 70 mile drive to join us for lunch. Now those are good friends!

 

Besides the velvet Elvis, the rest of the decor was interesting, too.

This restaurant is listed in USA Today’s 51 best pizza places in the country, one from each state, which is a big deal considering Patagonia, AZ is in the middle of nowhere. We would definitely eat there again.

Late yesterday afternoon we took a walk along the birding trail by the creek and lake, and stopped to chat with a guy who said he had just seen a Trogon. We had no idea if a Trogon was animal, vegetable or mineral, but he whipped out his bird book to show us a picture. What a beautiful, parrot sized tropical bird. As luck would have it, we saw some people taking pictures and quietly walked over to them. Sure enough, the Elegant Trogon was perched on a limb. He flew off just after Jim snapped this shot. We guess it was a big deal since the guy said people even come from Europe to get a look at this bird.

 

Not so rare but still entertaining to us were all the cattle and deer we saw on our walk.

It was a very good day indeed.

Patagonia Lake State Park/Sonoita Creek Natural Area, Patagonia, AZ

 

Moved on to Patagonia Lake State Park yesterday and managed to get here early enough to get a couple good sites by the lake. Since half the campground is closed for construction while they are putting in electric, the park is filling up every day, usually before noon. Hard to understand how the state has the money to do any upgrades when they were closing many of the parks last year due to budget issues.That’s government for you.

Yesterday we took a walk by the lake and along the birding trail.

 

  

This is a popular spot for birders, and although we aren’t serious about birding, we enjoy seeing and hearing them. We saw this vermillion flycatcher down by the creek, but we’ve seen more birds around the campsite than along the trails.These are very easy to spot because of the vibrant red color.

We also saw a deer and a couple of these. We didn’t realize this is open range until we had to dodge cow patties on the trail.

Today we went over to the adjacent Sonoita Creek State Natural Area to do some hiking. Our camping fees included the admission charge, but they only give 30 passes a day. Although the campground is full, we saw one other car at the trailhead. I’m sure it’s a different story on the weekend.

We hiked two trails, the first just a 0.7 mile hike to the Valley Overlook. The climb up wasn’t too bad, the views were great, and there was a nice bench at the top.

Then we took the Sonoita Creek Trail, a 1.5 mile hike to the creek. Along the way we saw a small slot canyon.

And came upon another bench with a beautiful view of of the creek and waterfalls in the distance.

 

We had another encounter with more cows and a calf just before we turned around. Papa bull wasn’t too crazy about us getting close to the little one, but what were they doing walking on the trail right in front of us anyway! We did manage to escape with our lives.

Bisbee, AZ

 

We moved on to Double Adobe Campground (and Shotgun Sports!), only 9 miles from Whitewater Draw, and 8 miles from Bisbee. We stayed here for a few nights in 2009 and although it isn’t the most attractive RV park, we are more protected from the strong winds that are affecting southern Arizona. Right now we are having gusts to 45 mph, a good day to stay inside and off the roads.

Yesterday was less windy, so we went to Bisbee for lunch, window shopping, and “hiking” the hilly streets and some of the many steps.

Bisbee is a quirky little artist town that used to have a prosperous copper mine. There are some nice shops and galleries along the main street, and this was one of our favorites.

Sam and Poe are two different artists with quite the imaginations and creative talents. Nothing would fit in our RV but we liked their unique art work.

We also saw some interesting things while walking the streets.

 

Including unusual decorations on many of the houses.

The streets are more like alleys, but cars actually drive on them to get to the houses.

We ate lunch at Bella Roma Pizza, which sounded and looked good, but turned out to be just average. Why is it so hard to make a really good pizza? Guess we’ll just have to keep searching!

Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area, McNeal, AZ

 

 

After a couple hours of goodbyes to all our Lazy Daze friends, we left Benson yesterday and headed off with Debbie about 50 miles southeast to Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area. We had a great time at the get-together, but were ready to go somewhere quiet away from the road and train noise. Ed and Carol stayed here a couple weeks ago and recommended it. The one thing they failed to tell us about was the 2.5 mile washboard dirt road to get to the camping area. We had to drive under 5 mph to keep the rig from falling apart. Good thing Lazy Daze are well built.

This area used to be a ranch but is now managed by the Arizona Fish and Wildlife Dept, and attracts lots of birders due to the thousands of sandhill cranes that migrate here each winter. They allow overnight parking with a three night maximum stay in a small dirt lot. Ed said there are a couple other areas where you can camp but we didn’t look for them since we are the only ones here. There is no water but they do have vault toilets and a trash dumpster, and it’s free. And quiet. Except for the sound of the cranes.

 

We walked all the trails around the ponds and through the grasslands. Hundreds of sandhill cranes and some snow geese were hanging around in the afternoon.

There are a couple of nice viewing platforms with scopes to get a closer look.

Someone pointed out to us that there were some avocets in the water. They were beautiful birds and now we know what an avocet looks like.

We went back at sunset to watch more of the cranes come back for the night. It is quite a sight.

At 6:30 this morning Debbie and I bundled up (it was 24!) and went out to watch them take off but we were a little late and most were already on their way. Good thing Jim stayed in bed. He would not have been happy!

The best part of coming here has been watching the pair of great horned owls in the rafters of an old barn near our parking spot. We were lucky to see them fly off to hunt at dusk, and this morning the male entertained us with lots of hooting as he sat next to the female in the nest.

Southern Arizona is in store for high winds and cold nights the next few days so we are going to find someplace with hookups. We missed our electric heaters last night as we were kept awake by the propane furnace kicking off and on.

This is a pretty place to spend a night, though.

Pato Blanco Lakes RV Resort, Benson, AZ

 

We’ve been at Pato Blanco Lakes RV Resort since Monday, with the Southwest Lazy Daze group. I counted 16 rigs, and we knew all but three of the couples from previous get-togethers, so it’s been a lot of fun. The setting isn’t the greatest, with the RV park being close to I-10 and the railroad tracks, so it is a bit noisy and not very scenic. Also, the town of Benson doesn’t have much to offer.There is a short trail up a hill behind the park, which gave us an even better view of the interstate and RV park.

After happy hour hors-d’oeuvres the first night, and a potluck dinner last night, we needed to get some more exercise today. Most of the group went on a cave tour at Kartchner Caverns, but the rest of us took a ride about 20 miles south to the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area and the ghost town of Fairbank, which is now managed by the BLM. Along the way we stopped at the Holy Trinity Monastery in St. David and walked along their birding trail.

We had a nice 4 mile hike on the San Pedro trail at Fairbank, which was once a bustling town in the late1800’s that served as the nearest train depot to Tombstone and was a major stop for Wells Fargo. There are several old buildings still barely standing, and the old schoolhouse, which has been restored.

The trail also took us to the old Fairbank cemetery, where there were some strange looking gravesites.

And some strange looking people. From left, Debbie, me, Jim, Chuck, and Carla. (Thanks to Bob from Yuma for taking our picture.)

We continued on past the remains of an old silver stamp mill.

 

Then we looped back along the San Pedro River, where we found a nice shady spot for lunch.

  

Tomorrow we have a potluck breakfast and another happy hour on the schedule, then everyone is departing on Friday. We haven’t decided where we’re going next, but Jim saw his ophthalmologist in Tucson yesterday and scheduled cataract surgery for the 23rd of this month, so we will be heading back there in a couple weeks. More medical care for Jim. He is becoming very high maintenance!