April 11, 2008

April 11, 2008

We are going to be hitting the road again next week, so we feel some urgency to see more of the local sights this week. Today we are up early for a drive southeast of Tucson. Our first stop is Whitewater Draw, a lake that lures lots of large waterfowl. I saw a picture of it in the newspaper with thousands of Sandhill cranes. Well, we should have done some homework. The cranes are migratory and like us are only here during the winter. They are long gone along with most of the water. There is always next year.

Next we head west to the town of Bisbee. On the outskirts is a large abandoned strip mine, the source of the town’s former wealth. Bisbee is a former mining town that climbs up the local hill and looks like it is frozen in a time from 100 years ago. As a result many movies have been filmed here. We take a quick walk around the now artsy downtown, have lunch, and then head on to the Sierra Vista, AZ area.

Our last stop is Ramsey Canyon, owned by a local conservation society. After paying a fee, we take a mile hike up through an area that looks decidedly non-desert. We pass up the side of a hill along a stream loaded with trees. This can’t be southern Arizona.