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By Jim Lamb Green Valley News |
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Three well know restaurants are located at Amado—the Cow Palace, the Long Horn Grill and the Amado Cafe. Amado, about 10 miles south of Green Valley, got its start as a ranching center and in fact is named for a well-known ranching family, the Amados. Amado is also known as Arivaca Junction since the road to that community starts here. Lakewood is also located at Amado/Arivaca Junction, and just to the west is the Kay Supy-Sopori county park, complete with swimming pool. The Cow Palace is a favorite stop for many bound for Nogales since it’s halfway between Tucson and the border. The Long Horn Grill is famed because it’s built to look like a giant long horn skull. The site has been featured in at least three movies. The Amado Cafe is located at Amado Territories east of the Interstate. Besides the restaurant there’s also a bed and breakfast which advertises that it’s open all year. Amado ArivacaElephant Head NogalesSahuaritaSanta Cruz County TubacTucson |
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Several large ranches are located nearby and the Arizona Department of Commerce says several old—now abandoned—mines are found nearby. The U.S. Post Office was established in 1878 and the Department of Commerce reports that the state’s oldest standing school house is located there. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service operates a birdwatching refuge just east of Arivaca. It built a boardwalk through the cienega, a marshy area that lures migrating birds. To the west Fish and Wildlife operates the 115,000 acre Buenos Aires Wildlife Preserve. It’s named for a Spanish colonial ranch. The preserve is home to antelope, deer, giant jackrabbits and other wildlife. They feed on the lush grasslands, characteristic of this ranching area of the state. Just south of Arivaca is Arivaca Lake, a popular fishing hole. And further south is the ghost town of Ruby. It was the site of a now-closed mine. Private owners keep Ruby closed except to those who make prior reservations and pay a fee to enter. Northeast of Arivaca are "The Forties," a series of 40-acre parcels where people have bought and built, many of them seeking the rural lifestyle away from the highly structured life of the cities. Amado ArivacaElephant Head NogalesSahuaritaSanta Cruz County TubacTucson |
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Seen from Interstate 19 at Tubac the formation looks like the profile of the head of an Indian elephant, down to about where the trunk starts. But there’s also a community named elephant head, southeast of Green Valley. It’s a community mostly of residences, no signs of commerce. Retirees, ranchers and others who like to live in an awe-inspiring surroundings dwell there. The area around Elephant Head abounds in deer, javelina, coyotes, jackrabbits lizards, snakes and birds, including the ubiquitous road runner. Amado ArivacaElephant Head NogalesSahuaritaSanta Cruz County TubacTucson |
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It’s one of Arizona’s major gateways to Mexico and is also a major gateway for Mexico into the United States. During the winter thousands of produce-laden trucks enter Nogales heading for area warehouses. The U.S Department of Agriculture says 3 billion pounds of produce is imported at Nogales every year—the biggest port for Mexican produce in the country. The two cities of Nogales are called Ambos Nogales, twin Nogaleses. They share a common history and the colonial Spanish and Mexican influence is everywhere. Nogales, Ariz., is the smaller with 26,000 residents. Nogales, Sonora, has about 350,000 persons. Nogales, Sonora, is a manufacturing center with more than 75 maquilladora plants, manufacturing plants owned by foreign companies. Nogales, Sonora, is also a large tourist center. Most of the tourist center is located in a 10-square block area immediately south and east of the DeConcini Port of Entry. Parking on the U.S side is cheap, less than $4 a day. Entry and exit into and out of Mexico is easy-—just walk across. In a year’s time about 4.5 million pedestrians a year cross into the United States from Nogales, Son. U.S. tourists can bring back $400 worth of merchandise duty free. There are some limitations on what you can bring back. Some fruits, uncooked meats and absolutely no Cuban cigars can be imported. Each visitor can bring back a liter of alcohol— wine, tequila or beer and a carton of cigarettes a week. Cigarettes sold in Mexico—all U.S. brands—cost about half of what they sell for north of the border. Nogales, Son., is also a favorite place for some U.S. tourists to buy medicine. Generally it’s cheaper than identical medicine sold on the U.S. sides. Prescriptions are required for such things as tranquilizers, but Mexican pharmacists will direct you to a Mexican physician for a short office visit and the prescription. Be sure to declare all items acquired in Mexico, including medicine, when returning to the United States. Amado ArivacaElephant Head NogalesSahuaritaSanta Cruz County TubacTucson |
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Sahuraita has a town council and a mayor and a town manager. The community’s police force patrols the area. There’s an outstanding public school system which has achieved both academic and athletic recognition. Although it’s primarily a residential community, there is a shopping center, a hotel and other shops located in Sahuarita. But Sahuarita—including unincorporated surrounding areas—is big and full of wide open spaces, just the kind of place that encourages families to raise kids where they can spread out. Sahuarita, because of its rural characters, is home to many families who own horses and places to ride abound. Sahuarita Road, which runs past the schools and intersects with Interstate 19 and Business 19 is an important link to State Route 83 and Interstate 10 for those heading east. Long range plans call for up to 10,000 houses. Amado ArivacaElephant Head NogalesSahuaritaSanta Cruz County TubacTucson |
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Fray Marcos de Niza led an expedition that crossed part of the county in 1537, less than 50 years after Columbus first discovered the New World. The area now encompassed by Santa Cruz County is rich in mining and ranching history. Father Eusebio Kino, the famed Padre on Horseback, was one of the founders of the ranching in the late 1690s here. He showed Native Americans how to raise cattle and make them less dependent on hunting and the crops they could grow on the meager desert rain. The county is named for the Santa Cruz River—the Holy Cross River. It has also been called Rio Rico, or Rich River, and a development about 10 miles north of the border is also called that. The river rises in the San Rafael Valley in the county’s southeast corner. It heads into Mexico then loops back into the United States about six miles east of Nogales. Besides Nogales, the county seat and a trading and importing center, other important communities are Patagonia, named for a nearby silver mine, Sonoita, Tubac and Tumacacori. Sonoita is unusual in that the two main roads to town are Arizona scenic highways, Routes 82 and 83. It’s a ranching center, but some of it has lately been divided into lots for development. A citizens group is working now to help it retain its old west atmosphere. Occasionally a herd of pronghorn antelope can be seen northeast of the town grazing on the lush grass. Sonoita is also the site of the Santa Cruz County Fair and Rodeo grounds which hosts horse races in the spring, a county fair in the fall, a rodeo, quarterhorse show and numerous ropings. Patagonia is a mountain village which has recently been developed as an art center. Several artists live there and there are several art galleries. Near it is Patagonia Lake, a haven for winter and summer fishermen. Tumacacori is the site of the Tumacacori National Historical Park, created in the early 20th century by decree of President Theodore Roosevelt. The old Franciscan church is considered one of the best preserved missions of its kind in the United States. On Christmas Eve park staff and volunteers line the old church and other buildings with hundreds of luminarias--tiny candle filled paper bags. The luminarias cast a warm, dancing light on the historic walls. Tubac is the site of a 1752 Spanish presidio, the Tubac Historical State Park. It was the first park in the state’s park system. Juan Baustista de Anza II, a Spanish colonial hero, once commanded the fort and it was an important stop on his 1775-76 colonizing expedition to the California Bay Area. In Santa Cruz County there are golf courses at the Rio Rico Resort, the Kino Springs development northeast of Nogales and at Tubac Golf Resort. Amado ArivacaElephant Head NogalesSahuaritaSanta Cruz County TubacTucson |
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It’s the site of a 1752 Spanish colonial fort that was established to protect settlers from restive Native Americans and to help protect the clergy at nearby missions of Guevavi, Calabasas, Sonoitac and Tumacacori. The Tumacacori mission is well preserved and the other three are mostly crumbling adobe walls or mounds where walls once stood. Tubac has become a tourist center. Not only is it home to several fine galleries displaying works of local artists, but it’s also filled with shops of quaint Mexican folk arts and copies of Spanish colonial objects. In February the merchants stage The Festival of the Arts and invite out-of-town artisans to set up shop in small tents along village streets. There are several fine restaurants in the village. The Anza Days festival is also held in the fall. It commemorates the life of Juan Bautista de Anza II who once commanded the Spanish fort. His colonizing expedition of 1775-76 to the California Bay Area made an important stop here. Anza went on to other challenges for the King of Spain and eventually was named governor of New Mexico. At Christmas time merchants line their roof tops with luminarias—tiny bags with lighted candles inside—and invites patrons to stop by for an evening of good cheer and refreshments. A choir, sponsored by the highly respected Tubac Center of the Arts, strolls the streets. Tubac is just 20 miles south of Green Valley on Interstate 19. Amado ArivacaElephant Head NogalesSahuaritaSanta Cruz County TubacTucson |
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There are many fine arts performances and art museums and galleries, professional and collegiate sports, a very good university, movie theaters, restaurants and a bustling mercantile community ranging from fine shops to large department stores. There are also important medical centers and first-class hospitals. Several major airlines fly in and out of Tucson International Airport and Amtrack stops in downtown Tucson for those who like to use the train. The Saguaro National Park—a park devoted to those giant cactuses—is located on both the east side and the west side of Tucson. Also to the west is the Arizona - Sonoran Desert Museum which does an excellent job of explaining how and why this area is a desert. And it houses animals and birds which dwell in this often unyielding climate. There’s also a more traditional zoo at Reid Park in the central area of town, but its presentation of its traditional animals is anything but traditional. Animals are displayed in settings reminiscent of their home land. There are city, county and state parks in and around the city. Three major league teams come to Tucson for spring training--The Arizona Diamondbacks, the Colorado Rockies and the Chicago White Sox. In addition the Sidewinders, a Diamondback minor league farm team, plays at one major league center south of town. The University of Arizona is a member of the Pacific 10 conference and routinely sends its football teams to post season bowl games. Its basketball team consistently does well in the NCAA championship tournament. The women’s softball team regularly challenges for—and frequently wins—the NCAA national championship. The university has an annual artists series and other world class artists and performers come to town to appear. There are at least three art museums on the campus plus the Tucson Museum of Art regularly hosts world-class shows. Downtown Tucson has become something of an art center and the city was recently recognized as one of the country’s top 10 art destinations place where patrons go to buy art. Two Native American Tribes, the Tohono O’odham and Yaqui, have established gambling casinos on the of town. Restaurant food ranges from authentic Mexican fare to fine French dining. There’s a local symphony and ballet troupes and opera companies perform here regularly. In addition an organization regularly brings to the city touring plays and performances. Amado ArivacaElephant Head NogalesSahuaritaSanta Cruz County TubacTucson |
News,Sahuarita, Profiles, Inside Neighbors, Sports, Entertaiment, Weather,Business,T.V. Listing, Health, Classifieds, Letters to the Editor,Subscribe, Crossword, Obituaries, Meetings, Horoscopes, Links
