so, let me begin by saying that so far our trip has been awesome! However, I will say that it is not exactly what we had planned. The trip was supposed to start out with a whirlwind trip around Arizona and Nevada checking out a bunch of national monuments beautiful sites, and abandon places.
however, due to some very poor weather, up to 20 inches of snow, we had to keep completely reroute our trip and we ended up in Tucson much earlier than we had expected. To be quite frank with you this really wasn't that big of a deal because we love being in Tucson. So we've taken in the past couple days to adjust to desert life and to adventure around the area. What we did fine on our ride down and throughout the couple days that have passed, or some really great fines. Outside The Wickenburg area we found Vulture Mine. Although it was Christmas day, and we cannot get in to see the entire mine, we did get to see some of the buildings and get an up close look at what it was like to live around of mine. The sides of the mind of the distance to a really cool, and we have vowed to return very soon.
One of our next stops it was actually today, and which we were actually headed south but detoured east to check out the Dragoon Mountains . we were actually a little disappointed when we couldn't hike around the mountains and the amazing rock formations. We later found out that the section that we were looking into exploring has been blocked off due to the fact that people have been hiking and pushing the rocks over. Very disappointing that people would do that and equally disappointing that we were unable to explore. But we did get a couple good shots so we were on our way.
Our last thought for the day was a town called Willcox, Arizona. As soon as we got into the area one of the first things we saw was an abandoned mini golf course. Definitely had a wild West Native American vibe to it. Many of the holes were completely overgrown, but you could definitely see some the actual holes and even some of the greens that were left. A giant food store and front and center with a rickety set of steps leading up to the top. There was a broken down bar and a whole, what looked like a mask hole, a WinMail hello, Wishingwell hole and at the back the most frightening of all, this gnome/cowboy that was mechanical stood I got us the entire time. I have to admit that he creeped me out so badly that I use my zoom to get pictures of him because he really weirded me out. Upon exploring for sometime, receiving many scratches from brush, we exited the property and headed into the actual town. Basically the entire town is abandoned. There were so many things that were closed and boarded up we didn't even stop. We did try to find the old cemetery and using a dirt road found it, but realize when we got there that it was closed off and you were not able to access it. We did find a really cool 1950s hotel called Sands. It was completely gated off but I was able to snap a couple pictures of the front. I think the only thing that would've been better is if there was a pool. And so after a full day of driving in exploring, laughing and singing and enjoying our ride, the husband and I ended up driving back up north and into Tucson. Another wonderfully successful expiration..
One of our next stops it was actually today, and which we were actually headed south but detoured east to check out the Dragoon Mountains . we were actually a little disappointed when we couldn't hike around the mountains and the amazing rock formations. We later found out that the section that we were looking into exploring has been blocked off due to the fact that people have been hiking and pushing the rocks over. Very disappointing that people would do that and equally disappointing that we were unable to explore. But we did get a couple good shots so we were on our way.
Our last thought for the day was a town called Willcox, Arizona. As soon as we got into the area one of the first things we saw was an abandoned mini golf course. Definitely had a wild West Native American vibe to it. Many of the holes were completely overgrown, but you could definitely see some the actual holes and even some of the greens that were left. A giant food store and front and center with a rickety set of steps leading up to the top. There was a broken down bar and a whole, what looked like a mask hole, a WinMail hello, Wishingwell hole and at the back the most frightening of all, this gnome/cowboy that was mechanical stood I got us the entire time. I have to admit that he creeped me out so badly that I use my zoom to get pictures of him because he really weirded me out. Upon exploring for sometime, receiving many scratches from brush, we exited the property and headed into the actual town. Basically the entire town is abandoned. There were so many things that were closed and boarded up we didn't even stop. We did try to find the old cemetery and using a dirt road found it, but realize when we got there that it was closed off and you were not able to access it. We did find a really cool 1950s hotel called Sands. It was completely gated off but I was able to snap a couple pictures of the front. I think the only thing that would've been better is if there was a pool. And so after a full day of driving in exploring, laughing and singing and enjoying our ride, the husband and I ended up driving back up north and into Tucson. Another wonderfully successful expiration..