We left our friends in Mesa three days
ago. Since we had chosen Globe to spend the night we had plenty of
time: it's only about an hour's drive. We were in no immediate hurry
to leave the Arizona desert; wherever we headed for next it was bound
to be cooler.
I fondly remembered the visit to the
Boyce Thompson arboretum just west of Superior from a few years ago,
and since it was right on our way we made that our excursion for the
day. Johann was happy to stay in the seating area near the entrance
and read while I spent time with the many cacti, agaves, succulents
and other desert plants in this beautiful botanical garden, one of
the oldest west of the Mississippi and the largest and oldest in
Arizona. It was founded in by Colonel William Boyce Thompson in 1924
as a desert plant research facility and is situated on 392 acres.
With no particular agenda beyond simply
enjoying what I saw I walked slowly, taking smaller trails branching
off the main one to see what I would find. There are, for instance,
the Chihuahua trail, the one leading to the legume section –
extensive, populated by all kinds of pod-bearing plants of the
desert, from the many different kinds of acacia to the mescal bean,
covered in clusters of sweet-smelling purple blossoms - , the agave
section, a South Africa, South America and Australia section, and
even a (man-made) lake, Lake Ayer, home to many water birds, fish and
amphibians. Wherever I liked it and it was quiet I sat on a bench in
the shade for a while, watching the butterflies and bees at work,
taking in the many different shapes and textures.
At the lake I received a very special
gift: a flash of bright red caught my eye, a male cardinal in search
of something to eat. He was not shy at all, and soon he was joined by
the female, as usual in the bird world less flashy, but still very
pretty. I could watch them for several minutes before a noise
startled them and they flew off.
In the cactus section I was happy to
find my favourites, the globe cacti, huddled close together against a
rock wall and interspersed with many different other cacti like the
fish-hook cactus, the hat-needle cactus, the hedgehog, prickly pear,
blind pear, and so many more.
Some time I spent in the Eucalyptus
cove, a shady, cool place dominated by huge red gum Eucalyptus trees.
It was hard to believe that these trees could grow in the desert, and
they probably couldn't if it weren't for the fact that this is a
riparian zone.
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| An odd-looking fellow: the Boojum tree, belonging to the Ocotillo family |
To take everything in the two hours I
spent at the arboretum would not be enough, but for me it had been
just what I needed to wind down after the intense hike the day
before.
In Globe we found out that there were
no hotel rooms available due to a mine closure (not sure what
influence that has on hotels, but that's what we were told), except
excessively expensive ones. It was still relatively early in the
afternoon, so we kept going towards Safford where, we were told,
there would be no shortage of beds, and it would be cheaper.
East of Globe the road climbed slowly,
and we were treated to the most amazing display of wildflowers in
bloom. The orange-gold and purple was a feast for the eyes. Thinking
that this would continue indefinitely I didn't stop once to take a
picture, and I could kick myself now: whatever came after these hills
couldn't measure up to what we saw there, and I doubt that we'll find
another place like that now. All of a sudden the landscape changed
completely. First we passed through rather desolate looking country,
the houses in the little communities dilapidated, often boarded up,
surrounded by old cars and other junk. Then it changed again and gave
way to agriculture, something we hadn't seen probably since Idaho.
Tractors were cultivating fields, irrigation ditches were running,
some fields, obviously some kind of grain, were lush and green.
Hilled fields looked like they would be planted with potatoes, but
Johann read up on it in the meantime and found out that it is cotton
growing country. Strangely, to me the somewhat desolate feel
remained, I don't quite know why. Maybe when all the fields were
green it would be different? I liked the natural high desert with its
silver-green or grey shrubs stretching into the distance towards the
high mountains better.
In Safford we indeed found a place to
stay for the night, albeit not a hotel that served breakfast, so we
kept going until the far southeast corner of Arizona where we passed
through a small town named Duncan. It, too, had obviously seen better
days, but at 'Hilda's Kitchen and Meat Market' we got an excellent
late breakfast/early dinner. The place was interesting, old and a bit
run down but huge, the server probably more proficient in Spanish
than English. For Mexican food lovers like me we had now arrived in
the right area, and the Huevos Rancheros were delicious.
Thus fortified we had no trouble
driving the rest of the way to Silver City, NM, where we have spent
the last two days in a cabin at a very nice KOA campground, at this
time of year not very busy yet.
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| Wildflower bloom in southwestern New Mexico |
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