The Town of Patagonia is appropriately proud of our history and distinctive character. The community is quirky and we like it that way. Visitors tell us that Patagonia’s unique spirit is easily perceived and is their reason to stay or to return.
Situated at over 4,000 feet elevation between the Santa Rita Mountains and the Patagonia Mountains in the riparian corridor of Sonoita Creek, Patagonia is spectacularly rich in both natural and human assets. The distinguishing vision of our community is to protect and build sustainably upon these assets and our town character.
Patagonia is a really neat place with a lot of arts and crafts influence. One restaurant that has been there for some time is the "Velvet Elvis". The name always seemed strange to us but the food is wonderful. Yes they do have a Velvet Elvis painting hanging on the wall inside.
They have fabulous pizza. This was grilled eggplant smothered with cheese. The crust is homemade whole wheat and had a wonderful flavor. We did bring most of it home for lunches on later days.
Book box for books. Open the door and borrow one. In various locations around the country they have book boxes, free lending libraries as it were. This artistically crafted book library is along the main highway that runs through Patagonia. Nicely done.
This is the Butterfly Garden in the town square or rather rectangle. It is a long rectangle of open space that separates the highway from most of the small businesses. This butterfly garden was created and maintained by local volunteers.
Here is another view into the butterfly garden. It is not a large space but it has various flowers and butterfly attractants.
Even in winter there are butterflies. These images were taken in late December though it was a nice warm day. Here is a Cabbage White Butterfly that was flitting around.
This plaque was on one of the posts in the butterfly garden. There are various plaques in the garden, such as this one, some with information and others with a drawing of a butterfly species and some data pertaining to that butterfly. I imagine that in the spring there are a lot of butterflies here.
There is a fanciful, functional bench in the garden.It is really well done with what appears to be hand made, colorful, ceramic tiles on the seat. The tiles on the post contain information about various butterfly species.
Here is a closer look at some of the tiles that are on the seat.
Here is a Monarch Butterfly. These are the long distance migrators. Monarch butterflies are the only insect that migrates to a warmer climate that is 2,500 miles away each year. There is a lot of fascinating information about them that can be found here -
Monarch Butterflies
Neat post sign in the middle of the butterfly garden
This Painted Lady Butterfly was in the garden. Even for the middle of winter there was quite a variety of butterflies.
Here is the back of the restroom building that is not far from and can be seen from the butterfly garden. It is also located in the center town open space.
Our good friend Tom Scribner really likes chocolate chip cookies as in really likes chocolate chip cookies. He is a connoisseur of this type of cookie and consumes them every chance he gets. These are a wonderful example of the chocolate chip cookie and were in a little restaurant in Patagonia called The Gathering Place. They have wonderful baked goods, excellent sandwiches, and yes ice cream.
Shifting gears a bit, and leaving Patagonia, we are always looking for different places to stay in our RV as we travel around. This advertisement caught our eye. It was touted as peace and quiet and the friendliest of people but it was also marketed for shotgun sports. Something just doesn't seem right.
One on going problem in RV parks and just places in general is that certain dog owners do not feel it is their responsibility to pick up after their dog. This sign was near an RV park in Tombstone and was catchy in it's message.
This sign was on the tip jar at an ice cream parlor in Tombstone. The lady who works there is very knowledgeable about the real history of Tombstone as opposed to the marketing hype. It has been fascinating and educational chatting with her and yes the ice cream is wonderful, they even have excellent huckleberry ice cream which really surprised us. And yes we did leave a tip.
That concludes our brief blog post. Let us know if you have any questions or comments. Take care and have a wonderful new year.
George & Deanna
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