Rolling Castle Travels: Patagonia State Park and other stops

Today we took the scenic route (HWY 82) to Nogales and see what we could see. A couple of Coues deer crossed the road in front of us but they darted into the thick bush along side the highway quickly and Woody could not get any pictures. It is a beautiful drive with views of grassy plains with mountains in the background then up into the mountains where the landscape changes dramatically from grassy plains to hillsides covered with various bushes, trees and cacti with views of valleys as we drove south winding our way up over and around the mountains.

Close up of the rock formation in the above picture, I love all the colour and different formations.

We decided a visit to Patagonia Lake State Park would be our first stop, one of three lakes in the area, a small park with a fairly large marina, small campground, visitor centre, store and of course the 265 acre man made lake that is home to many species of fish; provides the opportunity for water skiing and other water sports, although there are restrictions on weekends due to the number of people the lake attracts. Lake Patagonia sits in a valley surrounded by small mountains. The lake was created by the damming of Sonoita Creek in 1968 and The State Park was officially opened April 1, 1975. For more information on the park click on the link.
http://azstateparks.com/parks/PALA/index.html

A view of the arch bridge as we walk towards the lake.

The lake is bigger than it first appears in this picture.

Looking the opposite way.

From another view of the lake.

There were a few ducks floating around enjoying the nice day.

A boat coming out of the marina onto the main body of the lake. The arch bridge in the background.

Prickly Pear catus with a hint of pink.

The park sits in a large valley, can only view a small portion of the lake from the road on the way back to the main road. This picture is zoomed in on the camera.

Another view of the valley.

Not sure where the gravel road ends up, we didn't check it out.

We continued south to Nogales, AZ just to take a look, of course it was New Years Day; we had the dogs with us so did not stop anywhere interesting in the city and plan to go back to visit this historic city. As with the rest of southern Arizona the Spanish were among the first non natives to inhabit this area as early as 1539 and there are many ghost towns in the area due to mines running out of gold and other precious metals. Nogales was named by the Spanish for the groves of walnut trees that grew abundantly on the mountain sides and was eventually split when the Gladsen Purchase was completed, creating the border between Mexico and Arizona, and splitting Nogales; Nogales, AZ was incorporated in 1893.
http://www.arizona-leisure.com/nogales-arizona.html

On the way home we drove down the main street in Patagonia, a small town of around 800 people and as with most of these little towns, after the mines shut down and the railroads discontinued trips through the town the town almost disappeared. Patagonia became a town for artists, bird watchers has some great restaurants and a theatre, it is a nicely kept little town. For more information click on the link:
http://www.patagoniaaz.com/history.html