Empire Ranch and the Wine Route

Where are we today ?

Quail Ridge Resort Huachuca Ciy Az

clic on a pic to enlarge it.

     More amazing weather, up early and a nice walkabout the park after coffees and breaky at 7 am before it gets too warm. Couple miles done then when Suzie ready to go we hit the road at 9 am. Heading out to the Empire Ranch only 30 minutes away. We had planned this for a while and  fellow blogger's we follow were there this winter Goodtimes Rollin, The Bayfield Bunch, and Oh the places we go,  You can check out Empire Ranch visits if you like, it sure was a great place to explore.
     Some wonderful history of this area.  Ranch website is  HERE for your info. Sure is worth while in our opinion.
      There by 9:30 and met with the BLM host. He gave us some great info and we watched a 20 minute video that was very informative. Nice that there was no one else here we were free to roam and explore. Did I say the was free? We picked up the walking tour map and headed out by ourselves. No interruptions, just taking it all in, Amazing how these people and families lived and ranch here from the late 1800's until the early 2000's.  There is a lot of free BLM boon docking here as well.

start here at the contact station

this is the main house area the ranch

contact station 

    The tour starts here and we spent about 3 hours exploring , what a wonderful place this was, nice that it is being kept up with volunteers, donations and fundraisers.

    The original house was 4 rooms and over the years expanded to 28 rooms. Really hard to imagine life back then and what it would have been like.

     We walked from room to room and each had info in it and some history of times gone by.

the cooks bath added in 1948 

central heat in some rooms

walk in freezer added in the mid 1900's

cowboy shower what is left of it 

newer Kitchen 

pretty good back in the 1940'/50s

     Fire places in a lot of the rooms 28 in all. some have been fixed up.

this was a dining room

this a living room.
bay window installed in 1881

master bathroom added 1890

      The children bedrooms to the right off the screened porch. below.

adobe barn 

   Then we checked the outside areas, headed over to the Heritage discovery trail.

hired man's house 

huge cottonwoods

the newer ranch home

       Left here and headed south to Elgin check out the winery tour. No we are not  wine snobs so not a big deal for us, because we were here took the drive, small wineries along this route about 20 of them.

    We enjoyed the drive and stopped at one just to check it out $16.00 for a wine tasting each! this included buying a wine glass ,of course if we bought lotsa wine we would get a deal but $20.00 a bottle don;t think so, Was a nice drive anyway and on our way home.

nice small winery

     As were were leaving a limo pulled in with a chauffeur , opened the rear doors for 2 people to go in for a tasting. Yup think we are out of our element !
         Back home about 1 pm, time to relax in the shade . Our indoor outdoor thermometer  was reading 106.9 f, (41 C ) but realized the sensor was in the direct sun, We knew it was hot but not that hot. Moved it to the shade and very comfortable at 89f (31c)

opps was in the sun

    Now we got things done in the morning before it gets too hot and can now relax in the shade enjoying this amazing weather and more quality reading time.

cactus in bloom

      While we did that I took a whole mess of chicken bones from the freezer to boil down for a tasty chicken broth. Just cause I could and we outside anyway.

     Tonights supper a couple of marinated boneless skinless chicken breasts on the Weber Q and our tasty salad.

Sure hit the spot on an amazing warm spring day

   We had a fun day and hope you did as well. If you in the area it sure is a worthwhile tour.
   Thanks for stopping by! And if you feel like a comment is appreciated.

When we back to Canada

Where have we been this Winter