Agua Caliente

For the past couple or months Dave and I have been out roaming around, trying to find different places to hike or casual walk. Sometimes we have gone back to our known haunts such as Boyce Thompson which is an arboretum north of Oro Valley, or to Madera Canyon about 20 miles southeast of Tucson. We also go to Ramsey Canyon which is much farther south, not far from the Mexican border and that is a hummingbird paradise. But, I wanted to go to a yarn store north of Tucson and it's on the way to Mount Lemmon. Found Agua Caliente and we were blown away.

Who knew something like this is in the middle of the desert? It's located north of Tucson, and it's where a fault in the earth has made hot water (caliente is hot in Spanish, agua is water) seep out and down the mountain. They have had archealogical digs and found that peoples were in the area over 2000 years ago. The Army had a fort south called Fort Lowell, an historical neighborhood still in existance today,just north west of downtown. On our way to Agua Caliente I knew that we were not far from the ranch that Paul McCartney and his wife Linda owned (he still owns it) and visited over the years.

Were able to tour the ranch house (saw some neat quilts) and learned more of the history of the ranch over th years from when the Army came through to conservation to ensure it continues to function as a sanctuary. Just gorgeous. I was astounded at the number of turtles. Lots of photographers taking pictures of cormerants, of various duck species, lots of birds. It is known as a fly-way for migrating birds in the fall and spring.