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Our Awesome Travels

Our Awesome Travels
Taken In Quartzsite Arizona Dec 7th 2015

Friday, March 10, 2017

Empire Ranch and the Wine Route

Where are we today ?
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.

Where have we been this Winter

22 comments:

  1. I am so glad you had a good time at Empire Ranch! It is such a great place to explore...and especially nice you were all by yourselves!

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    1. We really enjoyed it here , hard to imagine what it would have been like living here back then.

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  2. Sounds like an enjoyable ride thanks for taking us along through your pictures.

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    1. It was a very nice day trip and the weather amazing too boot. Glad you came along.

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  3. It's great that a place like that is being preserved. I saw many of the movies that were filmed there.

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    1. It is nice to see it being preserved, and yes we also have seen many of the movies that were filmed there.

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  4. Looks like a great place to visit and learn about history.

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    1. The history in the old wild west on a huge ranch.

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  5. Okay. You talked me into it. I have been debating whether to head North or South and your post along with Al and Kelly's post of the area has convinced me to do some exploring down Sonoita way. So, packing up and heading out today.

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    1. I think you will enjoy it and lots o free BLM camping there as well, We did not check it out but the contact station host told of some great spots.

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  6. Cant' imagine trying to clean 28 rooms! :cO

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    1. If you can afford, the ranch and the hired hands and cooks, think you could afford to have someone clean it too.

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  7. Love the ranch house! It would be really interesting to try and imagine life back then.

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    1. Seeing the ranch really helps you step back in time.

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  8. Empire Ranch sounds like an interesting place to visit. I always wonder what life must have been like back in the day. You can read all about it of course but you still can never really understand unless you personally had to experience it.

    $16 for wine testing! We wouldn't be doing it either. I will be curious what the wineries here in Italy will charge. We may check out on or two but if they have prices like that we certainly won't be paying.

    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

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    1. It sure is an interesting place to visit, and lotsa free camping around here as well.
      I think you will get pretty good prices on wines there in Italy.

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  9. Elgin does have some decent red wines, but at $16 to taste Id have never discovered that. Won't be back on the wine tour any time soon. Thanks for the warning!

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    1. The wines may be wonderful , but I will not pay for a tasting of their wines, sorry .

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  10. What an awesome history lesson. I wonder what life was like back then? I bet it was a lot different than today. I'm glad that thermometer wasn't exactly right.lol.

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    1. It is amazing too explore the southwest and learn some of the history.\
      It was in the sun, quite comfortable in the shade.

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  11. What an interesting post. Thanks for the tour.

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    1. So many interesting things to see here thanks for joining us.

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