June 20, Saturday
Today we drove to Gila, New Mexico via Globe and Miami. The 259-mile trip took a little over 5 hours. We arrived at the Casitas de Gila around 4:00 pm. After entering through the gate, we saw the casitas in this beautiful location:
View of Bear Creek from our casita (the Casita de los Animalitos):
Shortly after we got there, Aileen and Phil also arrived - from Tucson. Thanks to Chef Richard, we had a fine meal of salmon teriyaki and vegetables, prepared on the grill. Here are Phil, Aileen, and Richard, getting ready to enjoy our al fresco meal in the cool air (the low was 52 that evening). The setting is certainly idyllic!
Karen and the talented Chef Richard:
Phil said hello to the horses. In this photo, you can barely see the bird feeder hanging in the tree behind the horses. The next morning, we saw one of the horses very cleverly tip this feeder sideways and empty the contents into its mouth. I had no idea that horses loved birdseed so much!
At around 9:00 pm, we were treated to an tour of the night sky by Michael O'Connor, owner and resident astronomy expert. With his 10" telescope, he showed us Saturn, a "cheerio" cluster of stars, and a double star (with one orange star and one blue). I had never seen Saturn before, so this was exciting - I couldn't believe what a bright, silver color it is -- and the rings too. This is a photo of what we saw: http://chandra.harvard.edu/
June 21, Sunday
After a leisurely breakfast, we decided to visit the Catwalk, about 40 miles from Gila. This is a beautiful, riparian area where a suspended walk has been constructed through the canyon. Aileen and Phil at the entrance:
Aileen & Richard on the trail:
Photos of the Catwalk:
Richard, Phil & Aileen:
Richard:
Phil moving a boulder off the trail:
The second half of the trail is uphill all the way! By 1:00, the temperature was 90, so it was quite warm. Too warm for me anyway - I really struggled with the heat and the 6,000' altitude.
Karen, Richard & Phil:
Richard, Aileen & Phil near the end of the trail:
June 22, Monday
After a wonderful, relaxing weekend, we are moving on today. Phil and Aileen headed back to Tucson ; while Richard and I headed to Paradise. Aileen & I made one last visit to the art gallery/gift shop at the Casitas for some productive shopping. Michael and Becky O'Connor (owners) are amazing artists - Michael does oil painting and Becky makes jewelry. This is a great place to shop:
On the 121-mile drive to Paradise, Richard and I stopped in Silver City at the Bear Mountain Lodge to check it out. We agreed that it would be a great place to stay on our next visit to the area (especially since they gave Richard a free homemade cookie):
Mosaic windmill at Bear Mountain Lodge:
We arrived in Portal around 1:00 and had lunch at the cafe there. We then drove to the Research Station to look at the hummingbird feeders. I was amazed at how few hummingbirds there were at this time, compared to a month ago - I guess I really did see quite a migration in May! Although it was a bit overcast, the temperature reached 93. A favorite stop at the Research Station is the Nature Shop:
Bridge, pond, and hummingbird feeders at the Research Station:
Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly:
We arrived at the George Walker House around 2:00 pm:
This photo shows the progress on Winston and Jackie's house since last month:
After sitting out the hottest part of the day, we emerged around 7:00 pm to watch Mexican Free-Tailed bats drop out of the box below. The box holds 200 bats, and I saw about 50 drop out at one time, with the rest of them straggling out later...
While watching the "bat drop," a tiny bat fluttered by that Jackie identified as a Western Pippistrelle. This is a city bat and now I realize that is the species of bat I watch on my street in Phoenix. I was not sure what kind of species it was until Jackie identified this one for me.
June 23, Tuesday
On our way home today, we made a few stops. We drove by the Colibri Vineyard so that we could see where it was located, on Hilltop Road near Portal. Further on, near Willcox, we stopped at the Coronado Vineyards, and did some wine-tasting.
Coronado Vineyards - tasting room and restaurant:
Our last stop was at the Fort Bowie Vineyards, located in Fort Bowie. We had to double back about 20 miles to get to it. As you can see, the wine tasting room is not exactly fancy! I recommend the Sangiovese wine as well as their homemade turtles -- delicious! It was a nice way to end the weekend!
Richard in front of the tasting room:
