2020 01 04-01/31 Benson, Tucson, Patagonia Bisbee, Sierra Vista, Wilcox..

CT RV Resort, Benson, Arizona - 4-11 January 2020

Around CT RV Resort, Curved-billed thrasher and one tired pup.

Homemade Ravioli, Full Moon over the mountains and Happy Dogs

Mission San Xavier Del Bac, Tucson, Arizona - 13 Jan 2020

These pictures do not show just what a shining jewel in the desert the Mission is. Driving south from Tucson, leaving all the office buildings, the multistory apartments, the shopping malls, the desert flats surround both sides of the highway leading straight south toward Nogales, Mexico. Suddenly, to the west is the gleaming dome (behind the darker facade) and bell towers rising above the desert. At first, it appears to be silos but getting closer the details come into view. Surely this is a planetarium, not the Mission. Crossing the boundary onto the Tohono O'odham Nation San Xavier Indian Reservation, a National Historic Landmark, the San Xavier Mission was founded as a Catholic Mission in 1692 by Father Eusebio Kino. Constuction of the current church began in 1783 and was completed in 1797. It is the oldest intact European structure in Arizona. And continues to minister to the religious needs of its local parishioners.  

Original 18th Century decorations and roofs made from the ribs of the giant saguaro cactus. This Mission has been under the control of four different "governments"; Spain which always sent missionaries with their explorers, Mexico after it gained its independence from Spain, United States after the Gadsden Purchase from Mexico and currently under the Tohono O'odham which has over 2.8 million acres of land.

Gutenberg Bible and other 18th Century artifacts. 

Original paintings, decorations and icons that were transported from Mexico. At the time the Mission was established, Southern Arizona was part of New Spain. After the Jesuits were expelled from New Spain the Mission was taken over by Spanish Franciscans until 1821 when they also leave. 

Little is known of the artists who provided decorations and statues for the interior, including Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, a Mohawk woman who in 2012 became the first Native American to be named a Saint. She is depicted in the wood carving at the right and she is known as the White Dove of the Desert.

Outside to the courtyard on the west is the Stations of the Cross garden. It leads to this small chapel which has been set aside for dedication candles which lined every wall and multiple rows in front of the statues of several saints. This was established to eliminate the heat and smoke inside the mission which was ruining the building. Restorations from an 1887 earthquake and and 1939 lightning strike are ongoing and included a 5 year program by an international team to clean the interior, remove over-painting and repair the interior painted and sculptured art. Part of this international team was responsible for the restoration of St. Peter's Sistine Chapel in Rome.

Audubon's Paton Center for Hummingbirds, Patagonia, Arizona - 14 Jan 2020

About an hour from Benson is this bird sanctuary. We were hoping to see several more wintering hummingbirds. There were a couple but Gold Finches and woodpeckers were popular. Lower middle picture are javelinas aka collared peccary, a medium-sized hoofed mammal that look similar to a wild boar.

Right is a Violet-Crowned hummingbird, top middle is a Broad-billed hummer, bottom middle is a white breasted nuthatch. On the left is a Lesser Gold finch.

Copper Queen Mine Tour, Bisbee, Arizona - 17 January 2020

Thousands of visitors descend into the Copper Queen Mine. While waiting for our tour, we met a young couple who had just moved to Sierra Vista. He is in the Army and was transferred to Fort Huachuca and she is expecting their first child VERY soon.

Donning hard hats, miner's lamps and yellow safety vests, it's time to head underground and back in time. Using the original transport, straddle seat trams, the tour guides (former Phelps Dodge employees) lead the group 1,500 feet into the mine.

Walking up to the next level, each one 100 feet above or below. The picture at the right shows a small vein of pure silver.  

The Honey Wagon is a two-seater (potty). Specially trained burros were used in these mines until the poor beasts began loosing their eyesight. Don't worry though. They did get their sight back by exposing them to small amounts of light and slowly increasing it. Many innovations were introduced including bicycles on rails. The supervisor would use this to inspect parts of the mine. The only problem is when he would get off to do the inspection practical joking miners would hide his cycle. Chisels and hammers in the hands of two man teams were replaced by water pressured hammers. Then a system of dynamite explosions.

All aboard for the return trip. In emergencies or to bring down equipment, there was an elevator with an extensive bell system designed to detail where and what was using the lift. 

Outside of Bisbee is the Lavender Pit Mine. A former open pit copper mine names after Harrison M. Lavender who as VP and General Manager of Phelps Dodge Corporation, conceived and carried out the plan for making a previously unprofitable low-grade copper bearing rock into commercial copper ore. I remember visiting this mine with my family in the mid-1960s while it was still active.  

Coronado National Memorial, Sierra Vista, Arizona - 20 January 2020

This site commemorates the expedition of conquistador Francisco Vasquex de Coronado which passed through this region in 1540-1542. It is a natural setting on the international border with Mexico on the southeast flank of the Huachuca Mountains.

Just beyond this valley is the Mexican border. 

And stretching along the border is the infamous "Wall". 

Like many areas in Arizona, the rubble strewn mountain is hard packed as volcanic ash and rocks fused.

Evidence of more recent wildfires.

Old Pima County Courthouse, Tucson, Arizona - 22 January 2020

The former main county courthouse building in Tucson. It makes a good starting point for a walking tour of downtown Historic Tucson. Designed in 1928 in Mission and Spanish Colonial Revival style with Corinthian colonnades, stucco and red clay roof tiles. Its mosaic dome is one of the Old Pueblo's most recognizable structures. A portion of the east wall of the original Presidio (fortified base) of Tucson runs through the courtyard.

The first capture of "Public Enemy Number One" John Dillinger in 1934 right here in Tucson. Renting a room at the Hotel Congress, this desperado and his gang were evacuated due to a fire. A fireman was asked to rescue their luggage but the weight was suspicious as was the extravagant $12 tip. After he was arrested, John Dillinger was transferred to the Lake County Jail in Crown Point, Indiana, from which he escaped a month later.

Southern Arizona Transportation Museum is set in a former depot featuring railroad-related artifacts, photos and this 1900 locomotive. A statue of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday which marks the spot of the gunfight between them and Frank Stillwell in 1882 who was suspected of killing Wyatt's brother, Morgan. 

Established in 1922, El Charro is the nation's oldest Mexican Restuarant in continuous operation by the same family. Lovely decorations including this wonderful stained glass window. We each had a salad but mine introduced us to the jicama root.

Fort Huachuca, Sierra Vista, Arizona - 24 January 2020

Army Installation Fort Huachuca established on 3 March 1877. From 1913 to 1933, the fort was the base for the "Buffalo Soldiers" of the 10th Cavalry Regiment. During WWII, it quartered 25,000 soldiers and hundreds of WACs. Libby Air Field was an alternate landing location for the Space Shuttle but was never used. Radar-equipped aerostat, one of a series maintained to detect low-flying aircraft attempting to enter the US from Mexico.

This statue in Legacy Plaza is to honor the valor of the Buffalo Soldiers. They distinguished themselves during the Spanish American War and the Mexican War. Commemorating the Fort's 100th anniversary, the over 9 foot tall statue honors not only black soldiers who served at Fort Huachuca but also the contributions of all Buffalo Soldiers in Arizona and the Southwest.

A section of the Berlin Wall is housed at the Army Museum. A separate building has examples of several Air Force deployed drones. The Fort also contains the training for Military Intelligence. 

Ramsey Canyon Preserve, The Nature Conservancy, Sierra Vista, Arizona - 27 Jan 2020

The property is situated in the valley between the canyon walls which creates a cool environment for hummingbirds, black bears and threatened Chiracahua Leopard frogs. A riparian sanctuary and ecological crossroads where several mountain ranges meet and rise from the surrounding grasslands create "sky islands" that harbor tremendous habitat diversity.

At first we thought these trees had been through a wildfire but then noticed they actually had no soot. They are called Alligator Juniper pine for obvious reasons. The 2 ponds are being restored for protection of the leopard frogs. 

The natural spring, rain fall and snow melt keep the stream running all year round through the preserve. So peaceful with the sounds of the water throughout the preserve. 

Something I really miss doing since leaving Ohio. Walking in the leaves during autumn. I love the sound of rustling leaves. Is this Arizona? Oaks, maples and sycamores thrive in this environment.

And evergreens cover the mountain sides at the top the Ramsey Peek Vista accessed from Hamburg Trail, a half-mile switchback climbing over 500 feet.

A final look at the local inhabitants, a doe with two offspring, one from last spring and one from the year prior. Very tame though we kept our distance as they grazed the early shoots. 

Chiricahua National Monument, Wilcox, Arizona - 31 Jan 2020

Established on 28 April 1924 to protect the extensive hoodoos and balancing rocks. 

It was hard to capture the awe inspiring views and vistas of this area.

The Chiricahua Wilderness with its recent snow consists of 85% of the monument. The left photo looks like a pika, small, rodent-like mammals who live in alpine terrain above tree line. Middle: Balancing rock. One of several very tall formations balanced on much smaller ends. Lunch break while enjoying the sunshine. Twenty-seven million years ago thick, white-hot ash spewed from the nearby Turkey Creek Caldera, cool and hardened into rhyolitic tuff, laying down almost 2,000 feet of ash and pumice. Over the millenia, the volcanic material eroded into these natural rock shapes and columns.  

Willcox Playa, Willcox, Arizona - 31 Jan 2020

The Willcox Playa is a large endorheic dry lake or sink and part of the Sonoran Desert ecoregion and is the remnant of a Pleistocene lake. Designated a National Natural Landmark in 1966 for the thousands of sandhill cranes and largest diversity of Tiger Beetles in the United States.  

We may not have seen any of those elusive tiger beetles but the sunset was beautiful on the lowered clouds and mountains. We walked the 1.5 miles to the viewing area without seeing any cranes and were completely disappointed with the lack of any cranes at the lake. Happily, as we were returning to our truck, out of the smoky clouds to the east came a long line of majestic cranes. We hope you enjoy the sunset photos behind the Dragoon Mountains as the cranes come in for roosting.