Montezuma Castle and Jerome, Arizona

This past Tuesday we decided to get out of Mesa to escape the 90 degree heat. You don't have to drive very far to experience cooler weather, just head for someplace with a higher altitude. Jerome's elevation is at 5066 feet above sea level so its considerably cooler than Mesa which is at 1240 feet.

Before you arrive at Jerome there is a roadside attraction called The Montezuma Castle National Monument. Perched high on the side of a cliff are the reconstructed remains of an ancient adobe cliff house that has housed generations of natives dating back around 1000 years.

For a reference of scale, check out the size of the workers that are performing repairs the structure.

This cross-section drawing shows how the 20 room, 4000 square foot complex is anchored to the face of the cliff.

Yvonne posing by an Arizona Sycamore tree.

Like many other Arizona towns, Jerome got it's start as a mining camp. Today the town relies mostly on tourism. There are plenty of bars, restaurants and souvenir shops.

We ate at Vaqueros Grill,  Great Mexican food and wicked IPA.

Local artwork at $350 a pop. I might go into business making these things.

Yvonne recently attended a wildlife photography workshop in Leisure World. The instructor explained various ways to capture photos of wild animals in their natural habitat.  One method was to simply set up a tripod and camera and wait for an animal to enter your photo frame.  Well, just as she predicted, and before a minute passed,  this magnificent rabbit made an appearance.

Tombstone & Bisbee Arizona

Hooray!!! Yvonne and Sandi have resurrected our weekly outings. 

This time, it's an overnight trip to Tombstone and Bisbee.  Tombstone is a southwestern Arizona ghost town that is totally into keeping the famous "1881 Gunfight at the OK Corral" memory alive.

The first order of business was to get directions from the locals. These two guys were simply trying to hand out copies of their Awake Magazine when the girls turned them into instant tour guides.

Deputy US Marshal Sheriff Virgil Earp and his deputies and brothers Wyatt and Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday wait for suspected stagecoach robbers Billy Clanton and Tom and Frank McLaury. It's all part of the daily reenactments of the famous gunfight that left Clanton and the McLaury brothers dead.

The four of us enjoying drinks at Big Nose Kate"s Saloon and Brothel.

Crystal Palace barmaid sandwich.

Two bad hombres waiting for their turns on the horsy ride.

Boot Hill is a historic cemetery just outside of Tombstone. The graves are real and the grave markers are apparently realistic recreations of the originals.

Not sure how Big Nose Kate got her nickname.

Sandi was wrongly served Bourbon with coke. People outside of Canada don't know what Rye Whiskey is.

Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and Willy Nelson all rolled up into one.

Sunset photo taken from our room at the Tombstone Grand Hotel.

Bright and early, after a 9AM breakfast, we're off to Bisbee, Arizona. Bisbee is a thriving tourist town of 6000 residents about 8 miles from the Mexico border.

Although the State of Arizona is a "open-carry" state, many establishments choose not to allow firearms or weapons on their premisses.

We did not sample the food in Bisbee because of the time of day, although there were several restaurants that looked tempting.  Instead, we stopped for some traditional southwestern delicacies at Carls Jr in Tucson on the way home.

This is the Lavender Open Pit mine just outside the Bisbee town limits. Over a 24 year period, the pit grew to be 900 ft deep and miners had displaced 86 million tons of ore that averaged 0.7% copper, or about 600,000 tons of refined copper, with gold and silver as byproducts. Production stopped in 1974. Thank you Wikipedia.

Copper laden ore sample (Brochantite) from the Lavender open pit mine.

Whimsy decor on the outside wall of the Bisbee Museum.

Mesa yard plants

It's starting to get hot in Mesa. Into the 90s for the next week or so. The citrus trees are blooming so it's time to pick the remaining fruit that might still be on the trees.

Puerto Penasco, (Rocky Point) Mexico

Playing pickleball, sitting around the pool and enduring happy hour day after day was apparently starting to bore some of us. Jim and Sandy, Lorne and Cathy and Yvonne and I decided to hop in the car and take a four hour drive south into Mexico. We'd been hearing a lot about Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco) from some of our friends, Steve and Joanne Sullivan in particular. They've been travelling there for years by motorcycle and they had nothing but good things to say about the drive, accommodations and restaurants in the resort/fishing village on the Sea of Cortez.

Penasco sign on the Malecon in Rocky Point.

The six of us, trying out Sandy's selfie stick.

Jim and Sandy had a lawn, we had a balcony.

Three girls looking for trouble

2nd highest tide in the world and hardly a soul to witness the ~12 hr event.

Mexico produces great beer. This Bohemia Negra is excellent and so is Corona's Modelo Negra.

Wrecked on the Reef is well worth the drive. 

Drinks at the Wrecked on the Reef bar. We had the place to ourselves.

Rob and Jim

These two serenaded us, now they're waiting to be paid.

Beers at Mary's Seafood.

 C'mon, I won't hurt you but the fry might kill you.

Lunch at La Casa del Capitan. This restaurant is situated on the highest hill in town. It offers a great view of the townsite and the dozen or so resort complexes to the north.  Our resort, the Sonoran Sun, is the furthest on the left as seen on the horizon a couple miles away.

The Tequila Factory lured us in.

Sandy picked up a bottle of Peach Tequila to bring home.

We were offered some but we skipped the free samples. It was 10AM.

Our one bedroom-one bathroom condo in the Sonoran Sun Resort.

Wall art in our condo.

The view from Jim & Sandy's patio

Pelecanus Occidentalis Californicus (California Brown Pelicans)

Lunch at Mary's Seafood near the Malecon.

Fish tacos at the Sonoran Grill

Batman promoting a realtor.

Our resort, the Sonoran Sun

The unfinished hotel next door is waiting for investors.

Inside La Casa del Capitan Restaurant

Sandy, Lorne and Cathy

No bartender so Jim took over the bar.

Beautiful sunset as seen from our patio.

All things considered, this 4-day trip was an excellent idea and it gave us a taste of "old Mexico". Thanks to Jim and Sandy for putting the idea out there and keeping the ball rolling.  It was "low tourist season" so the hotels, restaurants and beaches were nearly abandoned yet, all were open for business and happy to serve us. Bottled water was supplied in our rooms and was available everywhere. The rooms were clean and modern and the food was authentic and exceptional.  We needed to buy Mexican auto insurance ($85 USD) because our Canadian insurance was not valid in Mexico. Crossing the border into Mexico and re-entering the US was virtually "hassle free".

Signs like this are posted all along the route.