Lori's Travels

It was another beautifully sunny day when we woke up Tuesday morning at the Spirit Tree Inn. Mary Jane’s husband Tom was in the kitchen of the ranch house by 6:30 a.m. fixing breakfast for the guests. There were two other couples staying there besides Nancy and I. One couple was from Boise and the other from Green Valley, AZ. We talked while drinking tea/coffee and watching Tom prepare breakfast. The breakfast itself was great, with the best grits I’ve ever tasted, egg and ham muffins, and pineapple.

After breakfast, Nancy and I moved our luggage to the car, but hung around the grounds of the inn for another hour or so, finding more birds. The other guests, Mary Jane and her husband left for the day, so we had the yard and birds to ourselves.

We decided to go into Las Cienegas National Conservation Area before going to Hereford, our next hotel spot. The grasslands conservation area was recommended by Nolan, our owl guide, as a good place to see birds and it was along the way to Hereford. It was a vast area of rolling hills, a few mesquite trees, a few springs and dry river washes. At first the road was paved and traveling was easy, but the road soon deteriorated into a rocky, difficult way. We saw some birds and some pronghorn antelope. We finally turned around as the road got worse and we encountered a gate.

We continued on to the city of Sierra Vista, where we looked for a lunch spot that preferably wasn’t fast food. We found a German deli that served authentic German food and we enjoyed some Black Forest ham sandwiches. It was about 2 p.m. by that time, so there were only two other people in the deli besides the German lady owner and us. After lunch, it was time to find our lodgings near the town of Hereford.

We drove to our upscale B & B, the Casa de San Pedro, and arrived a few minutes before the 4 p.m. check-in time. One of the owners, Patrick, met us at the gate to the inn’s courtyard and showed us our two rooms and the grounds. What a beautiful place! There are 10 luxurious rooms surrounding a courtyard with gardens and a fountain. Bird feeders and bird nest boxes surround the outside. A large sitting room with tall windows looks out on the courtyard. The dining room adjoins the sitting room, where breakfast is served and there are a selection of pies laid out on a countertop for any guest to help themselves in the afternoon. Desert gardens, a shady ramada with a barbecue, labyrinth, and pool are also outside. It was a delight to walk into my cool room after being outside in the sun and dust.

After being shown around, Nancy and I walked through the gate pictured above, into the San Pedro River conservation area that adjoins the B & B. Notice the rattlesnake sign. Patrick said he had seen the first snake of the year earlier in the week. It was a short but hot walk to the river in the afternoon. We didn’t see any snakes and only saw a few birds, so we returned quickly and got ready for dinner.

Patrick had suggested a couple of restaurants, so we drove into the spread-out town of Hereford to one of them. At Mimosa Italian, we ate a light and late dinner, then returned to our inn for the night.

After a restful night in Tubac, Nancy and I left the inn Monday morning and found breakfast just 3 blocks away at the Tubac Deli. I enjoyed a ham and egg breakfast sandwich and a blueberry-spinach smoothie. Then we drove a short distance to bird on the Tubac bridge over the Santa Cruz River plus hike a little ways along a dry river channel in search of a rose-throated becard nest we had heard. We found an old nest, but not the becard, but there were other birds to console us. We returned to the car to drive south to Patagonia. Of course, we stopped along the way to walk a recommended spot and there we were lucky to see a gray hawk fly over. There are only 50 nesting pairs in the area.

We arrived at the the small town of Patagonia around lunchtime and found a busy little restaurant for a sandwich and salad. Then we drove a few blocks to the famous-among-birders Paton Center owned by Tucson Audubon. It’s a house once owned by a bird-loving couple that has LOTS of feeders of various types to attract many species of hummingbirds and other types of birds. We spent a while there, walking around to view and enjoy all the birds at the many feeders.

Then we drove about 10 minutes outside the town to our B & B, the Spirit Tree Inn. This inn was previously a cattle ranch, with the main ranch house and out buildings built in the 1930s. Our host, Mary Jane, met us and showed us to our two rooms in the main ranch house. Creaky floors and doors, plus a living room full of antiques, made it an interesting place, and outside it was amazingly birdy. Many types of feeders to attract birds, including orioles, hummingbirds, pyrrhuloxia, cardinals, quails, and lots more. Nancy and I walked around the grounds to spot as much as possible.

After a dinner back in Patagonia at a saloon where there was only the bartender to do everything, including serve our so-so Mexican food, we drove to the post office to meet a birding guide Nancy had arranged. At 7:15 p.m., our young guide Nolan met and took us to find owls.

We followed him in our car, right back out to the road leading to our inn. It turns out that gravel road was the best place for owls in the area. Right away, after we parked on the road, Nolan heard and shone his flashlight on a calling elf owl and then a western screech owl. They were both in trees right next to the road. Then we spent another 90 minutes or so trying to find others that we heard but never saw. They included a whiskered screech owl, great horned owl, and common poorwill. We heard coyotes in the distance too. It was such a different experience to stand in the near absolute silence, under the bright stars and sliver of a moon, listening to hear owls. Nolan had fantastic hearing and knew exactly what birds were calling.

About 9 p.m., when Nancy and I were getting cold in the low 50s temperatures, we called it a night. We only had to drive a few feet to turn into the yard of the Spirit Tree Inn again, returning to our rooms for a very quiet, comfortable night.

On Saturday morning, we again left early after breakfast at our rental house for a day of birding. This time we went to Catalina State Park, just north of Tucson, where our birding book said we would likely see the flame-red vermilion flycatcher. It was only a 15-minute drive from our house on a very sunny and warm morning. After paying our entrance fee, we drove to the picnic area where the bird was supposed to hang out. We parked and got out and there it was, sitting boldly out in the open on a bare tree branch. There’s nothing shy about the bird.

After expressing appropriate enthusiasm about finding this showy little bird, we went in search of other species. We were rewarded with seeing a greater roadrunner in the campground, a gila woodpecker, and several other birds. Then we drove to the trailhead parking lot, which was quite full of cars. We set out on the Birding Trail, one of several trails in the park, to see more. After first crossing a dry wash, we took the dusty loop trail to see what we could see and ended up seeing a few more species. By the time we finished the loop, we were really hot, sweaty and tired and we returned to the car.

We had a second destination planned too, so we left the park around noon and stopped for lunch in one of the many strip malls along the highway. Then we made our way downtown to Tucson Audubon’s nature shop. There we did some binocular and souvenir shopping and learned more about this large chapter, which was started in 1949.

Returning to the rental house, we took it easy until dinner time, when we went to a hip place called Culinary Dropout. The kitchen was visible through glass and was huge, the waiters were young, and the place was large, airy and very busy. I enjoyed a great hard cider and chopped chicken salad, while Nancy had a spicy vegetable curry.

Sunday was our day to check out of Tucson and move on to Tubac. First we enjoyed a good breakfast at Blue Willow restaurant, where I had huevos rancheros. We returned to our VRBO house to finish packing, then hit the road about 10 a.m. southbound. An hour later, we were in the small artist’s village of Tubac.

We drove to the trailhead for the Juan Bautista de Anza Trail and set out to see Lucy’s warbler, among other birds. And we found the Lucy’s, thanks to the help of two birders from Portland who took us to the right spot.

It was another hot and dusty trail, so we hit Tubac Jack’s Saloon for beers right away. After being refreshed, we found the Tubac Country Inn, a cute five room inn where Nancy had reserved us a two-room suite.

Tubac is a very small town with only seven streets. After taking it easy in the suite for a while, we looked at the list of the hotel’s recommended restaurants for dinner ideas. Some were in a nearby town, others weren’t open on Sunday. We ended up eating in the restaurant of the nearby Tubac Golf Resort and it was nice. It had been another good birding day.

Thursday morning, March 31st, I woke up on the train before sunrise. I had slept better than on the Coast Starlight train, but still not too soundly. On this train, the dining car was five cars away, with coach cars in between. As I walked through the coach cars, I felt a little sorry for those passengers sleeping in their seats with their masks on. In my roomette with the door closed, I could take off my mask for sleeping.

After ordering the continental breakfast, I looked out at the dry Arizona scenery. The first Arizona birds I saw from the train were doves, which really contrasted to the next birds: dozens of ostriches on a farm next to the tracks.

The train arrived at the Tucson station about 7:40 a.m., just 10 minutes later than scheduled. I “detrained” with my luggage and summoned an Uber to take me to the Tucson airport where I was to meet Nancy coming in from Seattle. I found a nice waiting area near the Alaska Airlines baggage claim and hung out until her flight arrived about 10 a.m.

Once we had picked up her luggage and the rental car, a Nissan Sentra, we set off into the Tucson sunshine. Our first stop: the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum. We had to park seemingly miles away from the entrance; there were many more visitors than I expected on a Thursday morning! We donned our binoculars and sun protection and walked for several minutes to the entrance. Once inside, it didn’t feel too crowded because it’s a big, outdoor museum of native plants, birds and animals. We walked the paths through display gardens, two aviaries, and a few native animal displays. We saw our first cactus wrens, Inca doves and Costa’s hummingbirds. We finished with lunch at the museum’s cafe.

By then, it was mid-afternoon so we drove to the northeastern Catalina Foothills area to our VRBO house, a two-bedroom stucco house on a large lot. We got the key and entered, exploring the house and grounds a bit before heading out to dinner. We ate at Oregano’s, an Italian food and pizza place, where we shared a large salad and a delicious thin-crust pizza. After dinner, we stopped at a grocery store for breakfast items and snacks for the next day, since we had a long birding day planned.

On Friday morning, Nancy and I were up around sunrise, which was easy to do since we’re both early birds. After getting dressed and eating breakfast in the house, we left for a day of birding on Mt. Lemmon. It’s in national forest land and there’s a 29-mile drive to reach the 9000+ foot summit. Using Tucson Audubon’s birding location book, we were guided to many birdy spots on the way to the top.

During our stops, we saw many birds that were new to us. There were bird calls we didn’t recognize and some birds we saw that we couldn’t identify, but generally we figured out most of them. It was a great day for birding: sunny, not windy, and a pleasant temperature that cooled near the top. The best stop was a campground called Marino Basin, where we walked for a ways along the road between mostly empty campsites. So many cool birds! It was nearly a perfect birding day, with the only thing lacking being internet connectivity. Without it, we couldn’t use the bird identification apps on our phones, so had to identify the old fashioned way, from knowledge, memory, and a field guide Nancy had brought.

During the whole drive up, from Tucson’s 2,300-ft altitude, to the top of the mountain, we saw bicyclists going up the road. They had impressive endurance to continually ride upwards. We saw them descend too, which looked considerably easier and more fun than going up.

We were surprised to see snow at the top, persisting despite daily sunshine. It wasn’t on the road and it wasn’t deep, but was interesting to see in southern Arizona. Also surprising was the small, one-lift ski area near the top. The lift was operating, but the snow cover so sparse that it would’ve been difficult to ski down.

We closed out the nearly perfect day with a great Mexican dinner and margaritas at Guadalajara restaurant about 15 minutes away from our house.

Who spends time in downtown Los Angeles? Me, as a result of travel arrangements. When I had booked my train legs, I was uncomfortable with planning to get on the Tucson-bound train that leaves just 1 hour after the Coast Starlight is supposed to arrive in L.A., since trains are so often not on time. So I chose to layover a day before catching the Texas Eagle train to Tucson. That left me in downtown Los Angeles, near the train station and the Doubletree, for a whole day. I planned to go to the Skyspace observation floor for a bird’s eye view of the city, which I had booked and paid for through Amtrak Vacations, plus Little Tokyo, which is just a couple blocks away from the hotel.

So I started this morning with that plan and left the hotel in late morning, taking an Uber to the US Bank building. In the lobby when I asked how to reach the Skyspace floor, the information lady told me it had closed at the beginning of the pandemic and wasn’t planning to reopen again. WHAT? Amtrak Vacations never informed me of the closure! So there I was in the business district of downtown, my plan shot. But taking advantage of a beautiful day, I chose to walk around instead. I aimed generally for Little Tokyo and started walking.

I found Little Tokyo, so at least the second half of my plan worked out. In the Japanese Village Plaza I stopped in a bakery and bought a couple of steamed buns filled with chicken curry, which I enjoyed for lunch while seated on a bench outside. Then I visited the Japanese American National Museum across the street, spending a while there absorbing their exhibits of the history of Japanese Americans from initial immigration through the internments during World War II. The exhibits were well done and moving.

After walking back through Little Tokyo to the hotel, I spent the rest of the afternoon lounging in the lobby and hitting the adjacent Starbucks. Dinner was in the hotel restaurant, then I picked up my luggage from the hotel’s storage and returned to Union station via Uber for the 10 p.m. train, with another roomette, to Tucson.

The train left on time and I was asleep not much later.