We’re still at Patagonia Lake State Park – Thursday, 5/17
we took another day trip. Madera Canyon
is about 40 miles north on I-19, off at Green Valley, then about 12 miles east
to the canyon. This is a very popular
area and it’s also very special to us.
Back in 1993 we flew to Tucson, rented a car, and went to Madera Canyon
for our 25th Anniversary (15 years ago and we’re now coming up on
40). There is a lodge that has cabins
and rooms and the whole place is pretty rustic.
They have a big area at the lodge where they have a lot
of birdfeeders and a covered viewing area next to the office & gift
shop. We sat awhile and saw lots of
birds!
There’s lots of other things to do in Madera Canyon – picnicking,
camping, and lots of hiking trails. Back
in ’93 we took advantage of the trails and did some hiking – now we can’t hike
much anymore, so we sat and watched the birds!
We are reminded every so often that this whole area is very
close to Mexico and the Border Patrol is much in evidence. On I-19 north out of Nogales there is a
Border Patrol checkpoint and every vehicle has to stop. They have the drug sniffing dogs that go
around your vehicle before they let you go on.
If there’s anything suspicious, they pull the vehicle out of the line
and check them out further. I wanted to get a picture coming through the
checkpoint, but then I figured if they saw me doing that, they might want to
check me out a little extra. So, I
waited until we were southbound. I guess
they are not too worried about folks headed to Mexico – there’s no checking in
that direction.
Today (Friday 5/18), we went back to the Paton
Hummingbird Center in Patagonia for a little while. Saw a few of the same types of hummingbirds
as before, plus a couple of extra birds.
The rest of the day we did some housecleaning and resting
up. We’ve been pretty busy the last few
days and needed some “catch up” time.
Tomorrow we’re on the road again – starting to head back east. So, until
next time --------
No comments:
Post a Comment