Bosque Del Apache NWR – Day 1

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El Ranchito Mexican Restaurant in Globe, Arizona

You never know when spotting a small roadside Mexican joint whether you found that diamond in the rough. Most are mediocre, but on occasion, we fall into some of the best experiences. We didn’t make note of this particular place as being extra special and never went back, so while it might have been okay, it wasn’t an Ed’s La Casita East further down the road here in Globe, Arizona. Ed’s has a spicy guacamole we are in love with, but if we never try new stuff, we won’t discover new loves.

Roadside shrine on highway 60 in Arizona

Roadside shrines often drag us in for a closer inspection, especially the ones that are ornately decorated and maintained, showing the love and prayers for those being memorialized out in the middle of nowhere.

Morenci Mine in Morenci, Arizona

By the way, we are on another road trip. This one is going east out on the 60 towards Clifton-Morenci near the New Mexico border. This is the Morenci open-pit mine that hauls out about a million tones of copper ore every day.

Caroline Wise and John Wise near Hillsboro, New Mexico

We’ve been traveling together now for about 13 years and still love one another’s company on these long journeys into parts unknown. This trip will last the entire weekend and will take us across the border to New Mexico with a few new places to mark on our map.

Hillsboro, New Mexico

Hillsboro, New Mexico: population about 100 people.

Hillsboro, New Mexico

If these places had seriously adequate internet service, they’d be the perfect place for Caroline and me to take up residence; that is, of course, until the connoisseur in me started begging for foodstuffs we wouldn’t find for 100 miles in any direction.

Hatch, New Mexico

This is the Valley Cafe, and they had one of the best salsas we’ve ever had. I asked them for the recipe, and strangely enough, they gave it to me.

Hatch, New Mexico

When in the world-famous Hatch, New Mexico, be sure to stop at any of the roadside chile stands and pick some up. Don’t worry about what you’ll do with them until you get home, and then start hunting for recipes to spice up your meals. By the way, is it chili or chile?

Boyce Thompson Arboretum

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Chapungu Sculptures at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park in Superior, Arizona

Well, how lucky are we here in Arizona that we have one of five locations in America that are fortunate enough to host the touring exhibition titled “Chapungu: Custom and Legend — A Culture in Stone”?

Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park in Superior, Arizona

We are at Boyce Thompson Arboretum in Superior, Arizona, the temporary home for this beautiful art from Zimbabwe. The contemporary stone sculptors who create these Shona Sculptures usually have their work displayed on the outskirts of Harare, Zimbabwe, at a 20-acre park. Roy Guthrie, who founded the Chapungu Sculpture Park back in 1970, set up this international showing of the sculptures to promote this stonework.

Caroline Wise and John Wise with Chapungu Sculptures at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park in Superior, Arizona

Spread out over the grounds of the arboretum are these incredible works, many of which are bigger than life.

Chapungu Sculptures at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park in Superior, Arizona

Shouldn’t every city on earth have some small garden park with a few dozen of these on display? We need more art.

Chapungu Sculptures at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park in Superior, Arizona

This makes me wonder where else people are making a type of sculpture that none of us know about. While almost everyone in the West knows Greek, Italian, and Egyptian art, how many of us know if other places in this world have similarly surprisingly inspiring works of art that don’t find their way to Western eyes?

Chapungu Sculptures at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park in Superior, Arizona

There’s something about the eyes of these sculptures that either looks inquisitive or loving, which I find very appealing.

Chapungu Sculptures at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park in Superior, Arizona

Embracing the rising sun, looking to the sky for the affirmation that life is indeed beautiful. While this sculpture is essentially fairly simple, its expressiveness speaks volumes.

Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park in Superior, Arizona

Oh yeah, and then there are nature’s sculptures here at Boyce Thompson that also draw us in to appreciate their inherent beauty.

Giorsetti Grocery Store in Winkelman, Arizona

Seeing we were already outside of Phoenix, why not head down to Giorsetti’s Grocery Store in Winkelman and pick up some fresh tortillas? It is only 32 miles south of Superior, and we still have a good amount of sunlight left.

On Cascabel Road driving south towards Benson, Arizona

Enjoying the drive, we let the car continue taking us south until the pavement ran out, and we found ourselves on Cascabel Road, driving in the general direction of Benson, Arizona.

Bull Canyon Ostrich Ranch in Cascabel, Arizona

Not in my wildest dreams did I think we’d run into ostrich out here in the middle of the desert, but sure enough, here at the Bull Canyon Ostrich Ranch in Cascabel, that is exactly what you’ll find.

On Cascabel Road driving south towards Benson, Arizona

We’re still out here on this long dusty road but will soon rejoin civilization.

Benson, Arizona

This is our turnaround point at the old railroad depot turned visitor center in Benson, and as you can gauge from the long shadows, we are now late in the day. It will take about 2.5 hours to drive the 160 miles home. All in all, this has been a spectacular day, and we consider the experience of seeing the Zimbabwean Chapungu Sculptures firsthand a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Walnut Canyon National Monument

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Walnut Canyon National Monument in Flagstaff, Arizona

Drove up north and then east of Flagstaff for a visit to Walnut Canyon National Monument. The cliff dwellings were once inhabited by the Sinagua people, but that was about 1000 years ago. Today, they lay in ruin in the cliff walls. The nearby Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot National Monuments are also considered early Sinagua locations.

Caroline Wise and John Wise at Walnut Canyon National Monument in Flagstaff, Arizona

The Arizona Black Walnut tree makes a home here on the floor of the canyon about 350 feet below the rim above. In all, there are more than 380 species of plants in the canyon. Unfortunately, the trails here are on the rim and down to the ruins; as far as we can find, there are no trails that venture into the canyon adjacent to the dwellings for us to familiarize ourselves with the local flora.

Walnut Canyon National Monument in Flagstaff, Arizona

And then I learned why there are no other trails: it’s because there are other cliff dwellings nearby that are off-limits to tourist-type visitors, which makes sense as, even though the percentage is low, visitors tend to also travel with an element intent of destroying or leaving their mark on native treasures and artifacts.

Walnut Canyon National Monument in Flagstaff, Arizona

A microcosm of the Grand Canyon is on display here, with the rim made up of Kaibab Limestone; below that is the Toroweap Formation, and Coconino Sandstone is the bottom layer. If you know what to look for, all three layers are visible here.

Stoneman Lake in Coconino County, Arizona

Stoneman Lake in Coconino County is one of just a few natural lakes in Arizona, although it’s not a large lake in any sense of the word. This is how we spent our Sunday.

Camping in Arivaca – Day 2

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Arturo Silva and Caroline Wise at Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in Arivaca, Arizona

Ricky is on the left, hidden in his hoodie, Arturo Jr is holding the water, and of course, you all know my wife. Arturo is out of the picture fetching more stuff for his incredible hot breakfast feast he’s about to cook up.

Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in Arivaca, Arizona

We are out here scouting hunting locations for the guys who have a permit to grab a javelina.

Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in Arivaca, Arizona

Where would you go, hang out, find a friend, and something to eat if you were a peccary living in a desert with predators after your ass?

Picacho Peak, Arizona

Picacho Peak is kind of redundant like an ATM machine because Picacho is Spanish for Peak, so Peak Peak State Park is a bit weird. This shark fin rock is famous for being one of the sites of the westernmost skirmishes of the Civil War. Seeing this means we are traveling north or south on Interstate 10, and seeing we’ve been down south the last two days, I guess you can deduce what we are doing.

Camping in Arivaca – Day 1

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Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in Arivaca, Arizona

We’ve driven down south for the weekend at the invitation of our friend Arturo Silva, who asked if we’d be interested in camping out with him, his son, also named Arturo, and a family friend, Ricky. With Arturo on the grill and a chance to hang out in the wilds of southern Arizona, there was no question if we’d go.

Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in Arivaca, Arizona

The campfire grows small as it gets late out here, not far from the old ghost town of Arivaca near the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge. We love camping.

California Missions – Day 3

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Quartzsite, Arizona

Spent the morning visiting my father in Ontario before heading back to Arizona. This is the tomb of Syrian-born Hadji Ali, who was one of several camel drivers hired by the US Army in the 19th century as part of an experiment to see if camels could be used as beasts of burden in the desert Southwest. Over several years, about 70 camels were brought to Texas along with camel drivers from the Middle East and put through their paces on trips to California and back. While the animals looked promising at first, things didn’t work out for several reasons, one of them being the rising tensions of the Civil War. The camels were auctioned off in the 1860s, and Hadji moved to Quartzsite, Arizona. His friends called him Hi Jolly, and the name stuck. He was so loved by the community that upon his death in 1902, the people of Quartzsite built this tomb of petrified wood and quartz in his honor.

Quartzsite, Arizona

We have seen this view of Quartzsite so many times in the past years as it’s the first sign of civilization after leaving Phoenix about 120 miles before getting to this point on the road. Today, though, we were traveling in the opposite direction, and likewise, after about 200 miles of driving across the California desert this is the first town we come across when returning to Arizona.