Apple Annie's, Mountains, and Wine

We spent the last two days touring around the Willcox area. Even though this is considered high desert, agriculture is still a big business around here. One example is Apple Annie's. The site we went to has a huge orchard with pears, peaches, and of course, apples. It is a "pick your own place" but we didn't want to get that sweaty. Grin. So instead we settled for buying some apple butter, apple bread, and Max even found some yummy apple cider donuts!

They have quite the setup, as you can hopefully see below. We probably should have done some picking, but Ron O has kept us in yummy pears from his trees at home.

My Dad used to live and work out in this area. Before our trip, he was telling me to be on the lookout for Dos Cabezos, which literally means two heads. And yep, sure enough, it does look like two heads up there!

No, we did not hike to the top. Do I look like an outdoorsman?!? Grin. Instead we went to the town of Dos Cabezos, at the foot of the mountain. The intent, beyond seeing the mountain, was to take me to a rock shop over there. All of a sudden, I've been thinking I ought to have a couple of their beautiful local rocks for my garden at home. (Guess Mom and Judy O are finally rubbing off on me!) Anyway, unfortunately the shop was closed today. However, on the way out to Judy's sis-in-law's mom's farm (whew!), Ron was pointing out some green granite and quartz rocks along the road. Well, let's just say that I ended up with 4 or 5 rocks! Grin.

The other form of agriculture that we visited today was a winery. Really. Napa Valley of the Southwest. Despite the arid conditions, this is apparently a pretty good place to grow grapes. There are several vineyards and wineries around and we chose to check out the Coronado Winery.

After some wine tasting (they let you try up to 6 wines), we came away with several bottles of wine, some beautiful stemless wine glasses that are etched with the winery logo, and..... oh, we also came away slightly tipsy. Our friends, Ron and Judy, after the wine tasting.

To round out today, we had dinner at a BBQ place that is located in a converted rail car. Sheesh, that was some really good food!! And the rail car is actually located on the site of the hotel that Judy's mom and dad bought and ran when they first came to Willcox. Judy can remember watching her very first Rex Allen Day parade from her bedroom window on the second floor of the hotel. Cool, huh?

Tomorrow, more sightseeing.....

Cheers,

Dr J