Saturday: January 8th
While Bruce and I went on a local bike ride Betsy took an exploratory walkabout of Green Valley.
Yes, we have settled on the 55+ community of Green Valley (GV) for our first stint as Snow Birds. GV has a lot going for it but the clincher was when two different people told us "when it's 8pm in Green Valley, they roll up the sidewalks."
Except for the very last one, the photos were taken by Betsy.
Click on the photos below for a larger image.
Typical landscaping in GV: Mesquite, Yucca and Bevertail Cactus.
GV is a planned community and all the homes are tract homes. They range in price from 50k to 500k. One of the defining factors in desirability and price is whether there is a mountain view or not.
These homes have a great view of the Santa Rita Mountains.
The Santa Rita Mountains, located about 65 km (40 mi) southeast of Tucson, Arizona, extend 42 km (26 mi) from north to south, then trending southeast. They merge again southeastwards into the Patagonia Mountains, trending northwest by southeast. The highest point in the range, and the highest point in the Tucson area, is Mount Wrightson, with an elevation of 9,453 feet (2,881 m), The range contains Madera Canyon, one of the world's premier birding areas. The Smithsonian Institution's Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory is located on Mount Hopkins. The range is one of the Madrean sky islands.
The Santa Rita Mountains are mostly within the Coronado National Forest. Prior to 1908 they were the principal component of Santa Rita National Forest, which was combined with other small forest tracts to form Coronado. Much of the range is protected by the Mount Wrightson Wilderness.
Source: WikiPedia
Agave is also a commonly used landscape plant in GV. This is the same plant which is grown in large numbers in Mexico where is used in the making of Tequila.
This is one of the species of Barrel cactus which we saw some nice specimens of while in GV.
One of our favorite desert plants, the Teddy Bear Cholla.
A nice view of the Santa Ritas as seen from one of the neighborhoods of GV.
How cute!!!
I think this was taken from one of the main drags, La Canada Street.
One of the birds I was looking forward to hearing again was the call of the Curved-billed thrasher. It is a common bird though out the area and has adapted nicely to urban life.
Mia told us she thought the call sounded like " Mai oui!"
Bruce and Mia have two spaniels named Penny and Whimsey. They are both lap dogs. Here, Whimsey keeps Betsy company as she reads about the different types of braiding.
We stayed for 5 nights with Bruce and Mia and I have to say we could not have been treated better. Besides being good company they really helped us get a feel for GV and the surrounding area.
Thanks Bruce and Mia!!
Next installment: Hiking the Santa Rita and Santa Catalina Mountains.
'Till then... Adios!
~ Mike and Betsy