After we called Dean and Jane we called the state park and found that there was only one site available for three nights and it was one away from them.  After a 112 mile drive down from Scottsdale we settled into the park and were joined by Dean and Jane for Happy Hour.

Jane told us that she had a planned hike with a group for the morning.  The profile was 5.5 miles round trip and the elevation difference between the start and the high point was 900 feet.  Her hiking group rated it easy to moderate.  I will try to up load the actual profile as an attachment, but needless to say the description left out some details like the elevation changes along the way which resulted in a lot of steep climbing and, oh by the way, much of the trail was rock and narrow passages through more rock.  We stayed with the group most of the way to the pools, the hike was to Romero Pools.  Carol and I dropped back the last half mile as our lack of recent climbing caught up with us.  We rejoined at the pools and took a half hour break before beginning the descent. 

 Carol and I brought up the rear and were dropping back most of the way.  We returned to the trail head about 20 minutes after the gang.  We took the afternoon off to read, recoup and clean up.  Happy Hour on their coach was accompanied by a great bottle of wine from our expedition with Anna Lee and Jerry – this bottle was from Hahn the Syrah, yummy.

The next day we located the UPS Store that had our mail and did a bit of shopping.  We put stuff away and went for a bike ride in the park.  We road all the paved roads and even some of the dirt.  Although we were sore when we got off the bikes it was good to get back on them.  We had not taken a serious ride since December in Livingston.  Neither the locations we were in nor my sore wrist had been conducive to riding.  The wrist was sore before we left Rochester and after the ride in Livingston I had to splint it and rest it completely for a week.  At some point it has stopped bothering me.

We could not make our minds up where to go from Catalina SP.  We had read a lengthy article in the NYTimes Travel section by Paul Theroux on Nogales and decided that it was time for us to venture across the border into Nogales Mexico even though US State Department says Mexico is dangerous and everyone we mention it to agrees that it is foolish to go there.  So we are a bit foolish.  We drove to Nogales, AZ and parked a short walk from the border.  As in most other places the walkway is reasonably controlled, sort of a cattle chute with no turning back once you enter.  The fence, wall, that extends through the town is a steel obscenity.  Peering through the bars from either side must be what it feels like to be in prison.

The Fence seen from the US

  The silliest thing is that three miles out of town you can walk around it!  Nogales Mexico does not feel any different that Algadones, or any of the other border towns we have visited over the years.  Lunch at La Roca was a real treat.  It was better than many of our previous experiences.  We walked in on a huge baby shower that occupied two thirds of the tables with very well dressed women and several very large stomachs.  There were three tables of Americans along one wall, we were at the middle table.  We did talk to a few others who had come over the border.  All in all it would seem that the most of the people we saw were Mexicans and there were very few Americans from north of the border.  The Chicken Mole was wonderful and well seasoned without being excessively spicy.  I also had a lovely soup and Carol had Chiles Rellenos.  She gave the dish high praise.

After lunch we did a little shopping. Carol bought a small bottle of Vanilla and I bought a bottle of Blue Agave Tequila for me.  Then we located the line to get back over the border. We no sooner got ourselves situated when the couple from the table next to us came walking along and joined us in the line this gave us someone to talk with for the hour long wait to get to the border.  They have had a place in Tubac for twenty years and come over to Nogales fairly often.  We parted at the parking lot and we headed up I 19.  We got off in Tubac and began to wander through the galleries and shops near the presidio. This is a very substantial art market. After a couple of hours the galleries were closing and it was time for us to return to the coach and have supper.

Here is a picture of a Hudson Hornet I saw in Tubac.  Mostly I remember that my father had one that started out green and eventually was repainted brown, this must have been when I was 10 years old.