Valley of the Sun 2016: Farewell Arizona!!!!!

At 5:45 p.m. this evening we crossed the state line into Utah bringing to a close to our 2016 Arizona adventure. Wow! What an adventure it has been.

Dana asked me this evening if I was going to blog tonight. I said, "probably". This is always one of the toughest posts to write, the one after we leave Arizona. I usually start the post with lyrics from a song, or maybe a photo. Okay, I'm waiting for some inspiration, or just plain imagination..... Still waiting..... Nothing yet..... Maybe if I wrote a little something will come to me.

Since my last post we have been staying in Green Valley, Az. at the AzBirder Casitas. If you google AZBirderCasitas you will see where we were staying. Dorothy and John own 3 casitas and rent them by the week or month. We stayed there last year and enjoyed it so much we went back. This year was a bit special as our friends Bud and Joanne came down from Victoria and stayed in the casita next door. The four of us spent the week birding some of our favourite locations in southern Az. If you want a great vacation in this area I highly recommend you inquire about renting one of these casitas.

Over the course of our 6 days in southern Az. we birded pretty much non-stop. I think the term is "industrial strength birding". We were out of our casitas and on the road by 7:00 a.m. every day except the last one when we started at 6:30 a.m. We travelled approximately 600 km going to and from locations. I have yet to finalize my bird species lists for all locations. I will put these details in the next post. I can say that I added a couple of birds to my life list, and many to our year to date list.

I took quite a few photos during our 6 days of birding. Alas, once again all of birds. I had great intentions of taking landscape photos but every day I forgot my landscape lens. Maybe I need a separate camera body for landscapes. That way I don't have to worry about changing lens or forgetting to pack the 18-55 landscape lens. You know, that is a great idea. I will run that one by my accountant.

Oh by the way, tonight we are in Kanab, Utah. We got here by way of highway 89A out of Arizona. Fantastic scenic byway that cuts through northern Arizona, north of the Grand Canyon. It is a 2 lane road that winds up into the mountains topping out at 7,980 feet of elevation. Lots of red rock cliffs and tall pine forest. Fortunately there was very little traffic. If you went on that road in the busy season it would be very, very slow going.

Kanab is a very pretty town. Tonight we ate the Iron Horse Restaurant. Plastered on the walls were dozens of black & white photos of movie stars from the days of western movies. They call Kanab, "Little Hollywood" where over 200 movies and TV shows have been shot. If you are a western movie buff, a visit to Kanab should be on your list of places to visit. Google Kanab, Utah and check out the film and TV credits (Gunsmoke, Outlaw Jose Wales, Stage Coach, Lone Ranger, Death Valley Days, etc.....)

Still nothing on the closing lyrics. I will definitely come up with something on my closing post. No this adventure is not over yet. 6 or 7 more days on the road before we get home. I leave you with a few photos from our birding in southern Az. Enjoy!