Picacho Peak State Park, Arizona

Good afternoon! We're back in the land of a decent cell phone signal, and so I'm back to catch up on what's been going on here at the Traveling Three Cats Ranch. We arrived in Picacho Peak just after noon today. We've had our lunch and our naps, and Smitty has been out for a short walk. This next shot of Picacho Peak was taken from our campsite, and I must apologize, because I think I've been spelling the name of the peak wrong for a blog post or two.

You might also recall we'd passed by a number of wildflowers on our drive to Kartchner Caverns. Now we're at home with the flowers, and I can see what they are. These next two images were also taken right next to our campsite. This first one is desert lupine. These grow in both the Mojave and Sonora Deserts.

These next ones are Desert Marigold and they've been lining the roads since just after we left Sedona last week.

Also, there are lots of poppies in bloom, but none near our campsite. We'll have to walk up the hill a ways and then I'll get pictures of those. The desert is very green here, and it's nice to see the flowers. Despite the green from recent rains, we're told the area is in drought and we have no fresh water connection. Happily, we filled our fresh water tank when we left Kartchner Caverns, and so we'll be fine here for our three-day stay. We have a 50-amp electrical hook-up, and so we're happy campers.

When I left off a few days ago, we'd been on the first of two cavern tours at Kartchner Caverns State Park. Smitty was able to get out for a good walk each day while we were there. The best walks start with a good roll in the dirt. Here, he turned his white parts terra cotta red.

And then, he bravely took off for a walk among the cactus.

And let me just tell you, this was the place Smitty has enjoyed most on this trip so far.

We enjoyed our first cavern tour so much, we decided to take the second tour through the Big Room the next day. He was miffed when we had to wait for us to return before he could get out for his walk that day.

We enjoyed the tours immensely. I'm sorry I can't show you any pictures, but cameras and cell phones were not allowed. I was just about to tell you about our day in Tombstone, Arizona, and so I'll pick it up there.

Leaving the state park to head to Tombstone, we were impressed by the beauty of the desert in this area. These pictures don't really do it justice, but we could see wide open spaces in all directions.

Tombstone was a bit of a tourist trap, but it was like stepping back in time. The streets are still dirt, and lined with hitching posts.

We walked along the board sidewalks, just window shopping for the most part.

There were an awful lot of "carnival barkers" who would have dearly loved to separate us from our money.

But it was also kind of fun to read the little placards with stories about the old west and events that took place here.

There were horses and folks dressed in period costume.

There were at least two opportunities to ride in a stage coach. We passed.

There were at least three opportunities to see a re-enactment of the shootout at the OK Corral. We were almost sucked in by one, but at $10 per person, we passed on that too. If I want to see the shootout, I'll just check out the Tombstone movie with Kevin Costner and Dennis Quaid, and I can probably do that for free.

We read many stories like this about a business that was up and running and then burned down. Structures were built from highly flammable materials, and there were no fire hydrants or sprinklers to douse the flames. A building could go up pretty quickly. You can see the former Cosmopolitan Hotel in the image below.

This is how the structure looks today.

This is the Tombstone Courthouse, which designated a National Historic Site. The date at the top says 1882.

We could have gone inside, but the price was $7 each, and that was more than our interest in seeing it could abide. Here was another stage coach ride we might have taken. These mules looked exhausted. Even if I'd wanted to ride the stage coach, I'd have decided against it just to give the mules a break.

There was a quilt show going on inside an "art gallery," there. It was 3:00 p.m. when we arrived at the window below, and the show was supposed to go until 4:00. We found the doors locked. There were people inside, and we could see quilts hanging on the walls. We rattled the door, but no one paid any attention to us. I guess Tombstone time is different. Anyway...this was the only quilt I could see. It was a little quilt. Check out that price at $100! Geez.

Arriving back at the RV, we were treated to a pretty Arizona sunset.

The birds discovered our seed feeder while we were there, which was terribly exciting. At least now we can say we didn't waste our money on this feeder. There was this pair of house finches, and we saw another pair on subsequent days.

Of course, this drove the kitties crazy. Interestingly, the birds could not see Sadie, and they weren't the least bit bothered by her baffing at the windows.

She was entertained by them for hours on end.

After filling up on seed, they'd fly off and land on a tree just to the right of the RV. Isn't he a handsome fellow?

I've been working away at my Stitched Inchies day by day. Now the silver French knots have been added and the pink flower petals around the large flower.

Also this heart applique. I'd chosen a fabric at the beginning, but then decided to use the pansy print I picked up at a quilt shop recently. I'll use the same fabric to turn this into a quilt eventually. Meg Hawkey hand sewed her applique piece and then added French knots all around. Mine is fusible applique, and so I first stitched down the edges with buttonhole stitch before adding the French knots.

Also, we stitched the large green leaves with a closely spaced fly stitch...I think fly stitch is my favorite stitch.

This morning, I added the purple bullion stitched flowers. The bullion stitches are getting easier for me, and so I'm doing a lot less whining about them.

So I'll leave it there for today. I still have more to tell you about our trip into Bisbee, Arizona, yesterday, but I'll catch up on the rest in tomorrow's post. It's good to be back. I hope everyone is well. Steer clear of that Coronavirus, okay? We're doing our best to steer clear of it at this end.

Oh yes...and I almost forgot...I need to pick a goal for March's OMG:

As it stands, we're heading for home now, and so I'm keeping this month's goal simple. For March, I'd like to finish stitching the seventh Snowflake.