Wine, Books and Day Tripping in Arizona

An article from Traveling Pat!

Patricia is a regular contributor.  She has an adventurous spirit with a love for travel.  Follow along with Pat as her journey takes her around the world.

Enjoy! 

♥Wendy Irene

Together again, Barb, Aaron and I.  It’s not India this time but the 3 of us set out for a day trip from Tucson Arizona with our ultimate destination being the Wilcox Wine Festival.  Gassed upped, with a Starbucks traveler we are ready to go.
 
First on the agenda…..The Singing wind bookstore just outside Benson.  By the way, a stones throw up the road from there is Tombstone “the town that was “too tough to die” where the famous shoot out between Wyatt Earp and the Clanton brothers took place.  Worth a quick visit if you are in the area.
 
Anyway you gotta love a bookstore that you get to by driving on a dirt road (no signs that we could see) turning into a working ranch, skirting by the horses and farm equipment and are greeted by a rancher on a tractor waving his hand and saying “Winn’s in back, just ring the bell”. So we did and Winn and her dog Chester came over, welcomed us and gave us the tour. The place is a haven, jammed with an eclectic array of titles and housing an impressive assortment of books chronicling the history of the southwest. The children’s section is so adorable with its antique chairs just waiting for little ones to plunk themselves down and immerse in a story. Anyway with our moods lightened along with our pocket books we forged on toward Wilcox and the promise of some fine Arizona vintages.
 
Wilcox is in the heart of Apache country and when it was established 1880 in it was a cow town and a whistle stop along the railway line.  The wine festival was located right beside the tracks and whenever a train came along the band quit playing and all conversation ended until it finished thundering by.  No problem, it gave us more sipping time! It was also just down from the Rex Allen museum.  In case you don’t remember (and really why would you?) he was a cowboy movie star and singer from the old west days. So there was lots of local color. The white tents, sound of clinking glasses and cheerful live music beckoned us.  What could we do?  Ten bucks gets you a wine glass and 6 tasting tickets.  I’m rather embarrassed to say that I used all my tickets up in one place savoring the Grenache and Shiraz from Shafer/Keeling.  Mmmmm who ever associates Arizona with producing good wine, let alone producing wine at all!  I just sat at a table, quaffed yummy wine, tapped my toes to the music and enjoyed the scene.  Barb and Aaron were much more democratic, spreading their tickets among the colossal 8 or 9 vendors that were tasting that day.
 
It just goes to show you that you don’t have to spend a great wad of money to have a little travel adventure.
 
Cheers all,
 
Pat   

Wilcox wine fest …Aaron tasting at Shaffer Keeling.