Empire Ranch Roundup

Unfortunately, I forgot to include this picture, so I have to add it. Additions on this blog end up at the beginning of the story - yeah - it is weird. Anyway, there is a little boy under that hat! It was too cute to skip. Enjoy the tour!

Oh, what a beautiful morning to be heading to Empire Ranch! Two beautiful percherons took us to the site of the festival. They had a team of mules for the other wagon. We listened to a talk by Tim Vail, the great-grandson of the man (Walter Vail) who developed Empire Ranch in the 1800's. He started with 160 acres. There were too many talks to listen to all of them, so we had to make choices and we did enjoy our day! This festival is once a year and certainly worthwhile!

We were treated to Mariachi and some western music.

Miniature horse!

We saw such beautiful horses and many people in period clothing.

Rex Allen Days 2009

We had some time before the concerts started, so we went exploring the area. Sandhill Cranes migrate there for the winter and we found one of the areas. None had yet arrived, but we should be able to find them on our next visit down there. The area is so beautiful that we want to plan a few days there to see the Chirachua Mountains and hike there. We are so blessed to live in such a beautiful part of the country!
The parade pictures follow. I passed out the Sweet Evangelism pkgs to the crowd.

This good ol boy was supposed to be running the sound system, but he was passed out drunk on the stage!

Fort Bowie National Historic Site

After a nice church service at the truck stop across from our hotel, we decided to go to Fort Bowie. It is a pleasant 30 minute drive south of Willcox and then many minutes going 8 miles on a dirt road. The sign said a 1 1/2 mile walk to the fort. We didn't have hiking shoes, but a "walk" didn't sound bad. Well, after eventually climbing up about 1500 ft, we reached the fort. Next time we will bring proper footwear and more water! The hike is well marked, so enjoy the pictures!

This is a beautiful Arizona Walnut tree - the first we've ever seen!

This spring was very important and the reason why this area was the sight of such fierce battles.

Here is a picture of the young man, who was captured by a band of apaches as a youngster. His kidnapping was blamed on Cochise, but his group was not responsible and he knew it. It led to a major battle. There is a lot of history - if interested - check it out on your own!

There is no known photo of Cochise. The bust below of him is modeled after a picture of his son, who is said to strongly resemble him.

These are views from the ranger station, which overlooks the fort location.

We left the ranger station and took the trail up another 1000 or so feet from the 5000 ft level to a wonderful peak. The unfortunate part was that it was very windy, so we had to pause and wait for a break in the wind to avoid falling over. However, it was worth the climb. We then took the trail on the back of that peak and saw the following vistas and a great view of the 1 1/2 mile wide pass.

How about a beautiful end of a wonderful weekend! Isn't God a wonderful Painter!