Yuma Geocache Tour

February 26, 2013 - Sunny with a light wind 

We headed north of Yuma for a tour by fellow Canadians, Tom and Elaine, who reside in Yuma for the winter months. They took us to Laguna Bridge, Mittry Lake and the Yuma Proving Grounds. Tom took the opportunity to do a couple of geocache searches, finding two of three.

Mystery of Yuma's swastika bridge explored

Tom finds the first cache. 

The second cache found had lots of key rings, no keys.

Lorraine didn't have a flower to put in the barrel so she improvised. 

So until next time remember to "Discover It and Live It".

Castle Dome City

On February 24, Tuesday, we drove to Castle Dome Silver Mines and Museum/Ghost Town of Old Arizona.

The Kofa National Wildlife Refuge 

The Yuma Pruving Area has signs posted along the grid road to Castle Dome Mine.

From Yuma it was 20 miles north on #95 and turning on the Castle Dome Road for the first three miles paved, then onto gravel desert roads for next seven miles.

The admission fee into the museum was $20.00 and we toured for 3 hours. That's $3.50 a person for each hour in the sun.

The first Americans reached the Castle Dome Mountains in the early 1860s. It was generally held that Native Americans had engaged in mining in the Castle Dome Mountains some years before.

As the area grew, the town was renamed Castle Dome. By some accounts, the population of the town peaked at over 3,000 people, in 1880, other sources put the full-time residents at only 50. At its peak, it housed a post office, a hotel, a saloon, a general store and smelting facilities.

The school was shut down in 1950, and the mines went into and out of use as the price of silver, still found in the area, rose and fell. By 1978, the mines were all shut down, and the last of the residents left leaving everything behind.

The property that was previously Castle Dome town and mining camp was purchased in 1994 by Allen and Stephanie Armstrong, and turned into the Castle Dome Mines Museum. Seven buildings original to the town, and the rest are period representations built mostly from locally scavenged materials. Each building, among them a saloon, a hotel, a mill, and a blacksmith, is staged to look like it might have looked in the town's heyday, some 100 years ago.

“Castle Dome's silver mining began in 1864 and was mined until 1979. The characters who have come and gone have made Castle Dome City's history one of Old Arizona's most appealing chapters. There are over 35 restored buildings full of artifacts are diverse as the folks who lived there .”----from the brochure. Www.castledomemuseum.com

The Castle Dome mining district is a popular district for mineral collectors. The region is known for striking combinations of cerussite, flouorite, vanadinite, wufenite, barite and minetite galenite and anglesite.

So until next time remember to "Discover It and Live It".

Sabino Canyon

Tuesday February 19, 2013

On our last day in Tucson we drove out to Sabino Canyon, A Desert Oasis. 

A short history of it 12000 A.D. Columbia mammoth roamed here; 1200 A.D. Irrigation dams were placed in the creek by Hohokam Indians. In the 1870's pony soldiers from Fort Lowell enjoyed horseback excursions to the “ol' swimmin' hole' still in use today. In the 1930's 180 bridges were built and 3.8 miles of road up into the Santa Catalina Mountains. Many varieties of birds, deer, and other animals make their home here in the Coronada National Forest. Hiking trails and picnic areas abound in the canyon.   

We paid $5.00 for a day pass into the park and then $16.00 for the 3.8 mile shuttle ride to Sabino Canyon Trail Head at the end of the road where trails spread out in all directions. Along the way there were 9 unloading and loading stations. Almost everyone, many other tourists and hikers, like us rode all the way to the top.
  

Several passengers got off the bus and hiked on the many trails available or walked back down the road. Many others were seen walking in both direction. Others stayed on the bus and made the return trip down.

There are nine shuttle stops along the way that could be taken to travel in what ever direction one wished. To really enjoy the area and the hiking opportunities one would have to visit this park more an once.

We took many pictures and videos as we rode up in the shuttle and shuffled down the road. We got to the number 4 shuttle stop and took the ride down to the launching area. We could have gone all the way however, we were pressed for time to return to our trailer.

All in all it was a wonderful way to be out in the sunshine and enjoying nature.

Until next time remember "Discover It and Live It"

Green Valley

On Sunday February 17, 2013

Traffic was have ... moving to Beverly ... Hills that is.

We left at 9:00 am for our Day's Adventure.

Green Valley Chamber 

We headed down Nogales Highway south. Our first stop was at the Chamber of Commerce in Green Valley to pick up information on the area and Sahuarita. The kind lady at the Tourist Info Centre gave us a lot of ideas of what to see and do.

We backed tracked to the Green Valley Pecan Company Store, The world's best and largest irrigated pecan orchard, with 1080 acres are certified organic. It is a family owned business, since 1937, by Kieth Walden. The trees can grow for more then 1000 years, however, these trees were planted in 1965. It was great to be able to purchase jelly, syrups, and whole pecans for a reasonable price.

We then drove to Madera Canyon Santa Rita Mountains and Coronada National Forrest. We paid $5.00 to walk on the many available trails. We parked at Madera Creek and waled up more than 500 feet on a Nature trail.

Looking out the Madera Canyon to the Santa Cruz River Valley

There was snow in a few places along the path. It was a two hour walk and we met two hearty seniors who does this climb quite frequently.

Climbing  up and up until we find snow.

Snow still on the ground  from last weeks storm.

In the afternoon we drove further down on I-19 South to Tubac close to the Mexican boarder.

Title of this piece is "Heart Break at the Boarder" 

Tubac is a place where art and history meet. There are over 100 eclectic shops and world class galleries that are situated along meandering streets punctuated by hidden courtyards and sparkling fountains. Tubac was established in 1752 as a Spanish Presidio, (fort). In the old town is the State Historic Park and museum.

Until next time remember "Discover It and Live It".

Old Tucson Studio

February 14, 2013 Valentine's Day

Our adventure today was to head to the old west and to Old Tucson State Park and Studio.

Once in the park we saw a sign with a still camera and the words "USE PULLOUTS". Now was this related to the camera type or what? Well the road is very narrow and off to the side in places were small parking lots or pullouts.










We stopped in one and walked a path up a hill and got a good view of our destination the Old Tucson Movie Set.




When we arrived we paid $32.00 for a walking tour of the old west set.

Old Tucson Studios is a movie studio and theme park just west of Tucson AZ, adjacent to the Tucson Mountains and close to the western portion of Sanguato National Park. Built in 1939 for the movie Arizona, it has been used for the filming of several movies and television western since then, such as Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and Little House on the Prairie. Opened to the public in 1960, historical tours are offered about the movies filmed there, along with live cast entertainment featuring stunt shows and shootouts. Old Tucson Studios was originally built in 1938 by Columbia Pictures on a Pima County-owned site as a replica of 1860s Tucson for the movie Arizona, starring William Holden and Jean Arthur. Workers built more than 50 buildings in 40 days. Many of those structures are still standing.

We took in a re-enactment of fist fights and shoot-outs by three talented stunt men.

We also went to the Grand Palace Saloon to see a live show called "A Musical History of the Silver Screen".  This was a  live singing presentation revisiting some of the greatest songs featured in films shot right here at Old Tucson. Singing the songs were five young ladies dressed in period customs. The movies were shown on a large screen next to the singers.

We took a train ride and walked around with many other tourists

There are movies still being filmed there.

There were over 300 movies made there. Some of the sets were built in the 1930's for John Wayne's 100 movies. Here is "My Rifle, My Pony and Me" one of my favorites from "Rio Bravo".

Until next time remember "Discover It and Live It".