Category: Around the Sonoran Desert

G & I have established a Thanksgiving tradition of finding nontraditional places to hike. This year’s adventure took us to Safford, AZ located  just 2 hours from Tucson. If you have read my travel posts before, you know G is always on the hunt for coffee. Always. That’s how we found the wonderful establishment Candy’s Ice Cream Company.

This lovely throwback establishment  is a coffee/ice cream/ deli/Friday night band havin’ shop that simply charmed us.

We ordered coffee laced with an espresso double shot fresh and delicious.  Visiting with the Barista/soda jerk/sandwich artist, she proudly states that the Owner is the former Mayor! In fact he normally plays in the band on Friday nights.

However, there wouldn’t be a live band tonight as SANTA was coming to Safford, AZ.  She invited us to a town wide party & we promised to return for the festival.

Fully satisfied we had explored the Main Street downtown, On to the hiking at  Black Hills Byway.

Black Hills Byway is on BLM land. This info sign states “no shooting ”

There is also a sign designating the center of a fire agate cache. Collecting is even encouraged.

Fire agate lying on top of the ground.

We came prepared with shovels and buckets but I kept getting distracted by the sheer beauty of this place.

High desert splendor came complete with a pair of camera shy hawks and a random grave. The marker says “Convict Shot 1916”.

We traveled through several ranches.  Some of the ranches have been in families since the 1800’s like the Twin C Ranch.

I found it cleaver that the local ranchers had an abundance of  white cows. They really show up against the black rocks. We saw several high on the cliffs and wondered if they were big horn sheep, no just cows. This one has found a  way to hide in plain sight.

Since I  was unable to secure a room at the local bed and breakfast we  stayed at a Best Western. I thought I would be disappointed  but earlier that morning, back at Candy’s, we had shared  our hotel choice with our Barista .   She said had a cousin, Leslie,  would be working the front desk by the time we would check in.  She & G came up with a scheme that he would pretend to know cousin Leslie.   She  shared several details about her cousin and sure enough Leslie was manning the front desk.  The shenanigans  almost worked until G said he had gone to school with her.  Leslie doesn’t miss a beat though and says “I KNOW!  You were the troublemaker” and THAT  is how Leslie and I instantly became friends. She even upgraded us to the Honeymoon Suite.  SCORE!

Clean up and off to dinner at Manor House for a $9.00 prime rib.

You might think that a $9.00 prime rib couldn’t be good but it was delicious.

These dead heads always freak me out a little. Especially while eating meat.

He looks quite judgmental and seems like he is yelling.

The food was great  and we had a fun waitress who was also looking forward to the end of her shift so she could head out to the festival.

Main street seemed ready to welcome Santa and we were not disappointed.

The street filled with food booths,  human snow globes, bounce houses,stations for children to make  gingerbread houses and ornaments, a movie in the park, lots of Christmas shops and even  an “ice skating rink”.

The town burst at the seams with all the families. It seemed no one stayed home. I am not sure what that woman is doing to the little girl in the picture below, but I assure you she is not blindfolding her for a kidnapping. Probably.

I was mostly impressed by the friendly atmosphere of Safford.  Also I found that during the festival there was a  lack of trash on the street and general goodwill these neighbors had for each other.  I have lived in a few small towns but never experienced this sense of community I felt here. Safford-ians are a  unique bunch of kind folks.  We snuggled down in our warm comfy Best Western Honeymoon Suite looking forward to the next day’s adventure. Who knew Safford Arizona would be such a treat.

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Today my parents have been married 65 years.  Holy matrimony!  I can’t even commit to a show on Netflix to binge watch.  In their honor we decided to take a picnic to  Mt Lemmon.  We are so lucky to have this beautiful piney forest just minutes away from the hot desert floor.   Along the way we spotted a few waterfalls in the 7 Cataracts area.

Tucson is around 2400 feet and in a few minutes we are pulling into Rose Canyon Lake at 7000 feet. We arrive at the lake  early (but not too early, puleeze). It’s around 10 and there is a family excitedly walking up the trail  toward us with a very full stringer of fish.

The approaching kids exclaimed loudly that they  used worms, elaborating on all the gross details of putting a live worm on their hook. Of course we had an OBLIGATION to hear their fish story. They were showing off as local experts sharing their  knowledge and establishing themselves as Rose Canyon Lake Royalty.    Once at the bottom of the very easy trail we see the lake shining on this clear day.

The lake has a cement walking path on the right (South? I am all turned around up here! ) There is a nice  a dock for fishing too. The cement walk and dock are full of giggling families. We turned left on the dirt trail and soon found a picnic spot. Voices carry across the water which make it so fun to hear the glee of the children  as they celebrated their catch!  We watched two men teach another grown man how to fish for the first time. Sheepishly he followed their instructions, made a beautiful cast and wham! Fish!  He was so happy and sounded exactly  like the children across the lake.

A few years ago we watched this mountain in horror from the valley below as most of the trees in this area burned. At night it looked like the crack in Amelia Pond’s room. (Random Dr. Who reference for my whovians)

I am now happy to report there are a lot of  new trees beginning their young life.  I know I won’t get to see the forest regrow my lifetime.  I am just so happy for future hikers and future families that the forest will return to the glory I remember.

It’s not easy being a tree here on this granite mountain.  Sometimes fancy roots are the only answer.

A breeze swirls around transporting the most delicious pine smell.

This is THE perfect place for a picnic.

After a while we head back down to the valley with a fresh sense of being.  Beautiful day here at Rose Canyon Lake.

They had me at cheap date.  The  Arizona History Museum advertises “cheap date night” on Fridays 4-8 admission is $3 so why not?

Interesting stories of Southern AZ including a wonderful mystery.  It seems in 1924 a man discovered a cache of lead artifacts of Roman design that have been dated 700-900 AD along Silverbell Road about seventy some inches underground.  The mystery surrounds who put them there and if there actually was a Roman colony in AZ.  It would be believable if it weren’t so improbable.  Still the iron crosses and swords are beautiful and mysterious.

The various cultures that shaped Tucson are all represented.Hohokam, Tohono O’odam, Mexican, European, Irish and Chinese. Some of the exhibits are displayed exactly as the items were found. Pottery, a Chinese fish plate, part of a china plate from England, all together.  The museum is like a walk back in time.

There is even a full scale mine tunnel to walk through.Well… I ran through because I don’t do dark tunnels.  Especially after the museum proprietor told us how two people were hanging out in the “mine”near closing time and they accidentally were locked in.   He warned us not to get lost.  Apparently it was a real Night at the Museum. .He CLAIMED he came back and let them out.  There was just a lot to see and we spent about 2 hours exploring.

Time to wander down University Blvd. to find an interesting place to eat.   Thank goodness the wind was blowing so hard ahead of the storm because we soon smelled the smokey goodness of Red’s Smokehouse and Tap Room. Try it?  Why not?

Real Smokehouse BBQ…AMAZing.  The meat was delicately smokey and delicious. Craft beers on tap too.  Great combo.  Pleasant atmosphere and you can watch the cooks handle their meat.

During dinner the sky opened up and the roads turned into rivers.  We ran through the summer rain laughing and puddle splashing. Notice in the picture below there is no one out on foot.  Water is about shin deep.

Now then,  G’s hat is made of cactus fibers.  We soon found out that when it gets wet it smells like it was made from armpit hair mixed with dried pea baby food.  Unfortunately it was a pungent armpit hair dried pea  hat ride home.  Worth it though because he makes that cactus fiber hat  look GOOD!