Monday, being Valentine’s Day, we spent a quiet morning at the campground but in the afternoon went to Sierra Vista for lunch. We thought the restaurant selection was better in Sierra Vista than in Benson. Benson’s restaurants that we have been to have good food but they are just like down-home cafes. In Sierra Vista we were disappointed to find several restaurants closed- don’t know why unless they close on Mondays but it was Valentine’s Day. We finally settled on Chili’s and had a nice late lunch/early dinner.
Today, Tuesday, we drove to the Colossal Cave Mountain Park north of Benson.
We took the cave tour. This cave is a dry cave so it is inactive. It seemed so strange to not see any water dripping. Many formations have been broken by early visitor/explorers in the cave.
Dust over the years has filtered into the cave covering the formations. This cave and surrounding area was a Civilian Conservation Corp project. The walkways through the cave were constructed by the CCC. There is also a ranch with horses, a museum and a butterfly garden. There also is a turtle habitat but the turtles were hibernating so a big kitty cat was taking up residence in that area.
Afterwards we drove to Tucson in search of a Mexican restaurant which we found and had a good Mexican meal- Tom had shrimp fajitas and I had shrimp rancheros. After a stop at Trader Joe’s to get some pasta ( we had gotten some pesto filled tortellini before and really liked it) and some fresh produce, no wine this trip. The weather has really been nice for several days now with temperatures in the upper 70’s to lower 80’s. Put away the long pants and long sleeved shirts and get out the shorts and tee shirts- maybe. LV
