August 23, 2014

August 23, 2014

Some friends invited us to accompany them to a wine tasting in the Sonoita, AZ area.  It sounded like fun so we agreed.  Every locale in the country seems to have vineyards now, including our own town, so I wasn’t too surprised to hear of one in southern Arizona.  We have traveled all over Arizona, so I was shocked to discover how different the terrain is in Sonoita.  After we left the interstate and traveled south we gradually gained elevation climbing tree-studded hills emerging into flat ranch country.  Since we are in the middle of Arizona monsoon season, the grass is green with the recent rains.  And with an elevation 2000 feet higher than Tucson, it is refreshingly cool.  This just cannot be southern Arizona.  In a way it isn’t; it looks more like Oklahoma, or at least the Oklahoma of our dreams.  So much so that the movie with that name was filmed here.

We did tastings at three different wineries, enjoying flavorful wine, delightful weather, and good friends. Aimee and I need to find a summer ranch here.

Afterwards we returned to Tucson to attend the Big Ten Mixer/Charity event. All fourteen schools were represented. To my pleasant surprise I met two Illini alumni who were on the 1963 Rose Bowl squad. That famous team included Dick Butkus and Jim Grabowski. Their stories were fascinating. In those days, college players played both offense and defense. I am hoping some of their magic rubs off onto today’s Fighting Illini.