Heading out for yet another day of discovery we traveled to
the Coronado National Memorial.
This National Treasure commemorates Francisco Vasquez de Coronado’s expedition
and cultural influences of the Spanish Colonial exploration in the Americas in
the 1500s.
With a backdrop of the beautiful Huachuca (waho-choo-ka)
Mountains, and from the top of the 6575’ overlook, you do get remarkable panoramic
views of the U.S.-Mexican Border, and the San Pedro River Valley, which was
Coronado’s probable route. Note in the “blurry photo” the fence that separates
the U.S. and Mexico.
As we left Coronado, heading back to Patagonia, we saw a
beautiful shrine from the road.
Being free of time constraints, we decided to stop and see what it was
all about. Turns out, Our Lady of
the Sierras Shrine, completed in 1998 was an amazing stop along the road.
It sits on top of a Huachuca hill, and greets you with a 75’ Celtic cross. Adjacent
to the Cross is a 31’ beckoning Angel who greets every visitor. More beauty as
the stone chapel is open to the public every day. It was constructed from river
rock mined from Ash Canyon, and is one of the largest stone structures in Southeast
Arizona.
It’s not for the faint of heart to get to the top of the
Shrine. The elevation is 5300’, and there are 72 alternating narrow, then wide
steps (yes, I counted them)!
After taking some photos and visiting the chapel, we
descended and now headed to The
Nature Conservancy’s Ramsey Canyon Preserve in Hereford, Arizona. The self-guided nature walk is charming. Set within the tall
Arizona Sycamore’s joined by Ramsey Creek running alongside the path…well; it
was a very peaceful place!
It’s fun to imagine how the nearly 100 early settlers built
their homes in this exact place – in fact there are two homes from 1902 still
standing.
The life of the settlers was not easy, raising apples, apricots,
cherries, peaches and plums. But in our eyes…it was sure picturesque now!
Now we really had to head back to our rig at Patagonia State
Park…having a full day, we were wondering what to do for dinner when it
occurred to us we could stop at Velvet
Elvis in the artsy town of Patagonia. So that’s exactly what we did! What a
charming place with great service, absolutely delicious food, and yep, they
even have velvet Elvis in artwork, although “the King” was not how the
restaurant was named. If you are interested in the history better check out the
link.
Finally after a full day, and pretty much exhausted, (but well-fed),
we head to the RV just in time to capture some amazing sunset photos. Here’s to safe travel and new adventures!
Birding
