This is the entry into the facility. The inn portion has been here since the 1930’s and seems quite nice though we did not get into any of the rooms nor accommodations. There is a swimming pool at the Inn and it is available for use by those of us staying in the RV Park. There are about 85 sites in the RV Park with a few more currently being added. The RV Park has been here a little over 20 years.
This is the old water tank. It served the needs of the establishment for many years and has been replaced by a larger storage facility that sits on the ground. This tank is still used for some of the irrigation on the landscaping and certainly provides visual appeal.
They have their own well here and the water is rather good. There are many locations in Arizona where you don't want to drink the water, it has a terrible taste and way too many minerals and other substances. In those locations you buy drinking water.
This building is the office and clubhouse. There is a great kitchen, a large laundry facility, reading library and all the other accoutrements you would find in such a dwelling.
We don’t usually take pictures of dumpsters, however, the one on the right side presented some notoriety. It is for recycle and only recycle. You can put all sorts of stuff in there, glass, cardboard, plastics of various types, newspaper, cans etc. etc. In our travels around Arizona and for that matter in many RV parks recycling has been very limited to non-existent. It was refreshing to see this approach. It is a great dumpster and we like to recycle when we can.
This image gives you an idea of some of the landscaping. Since the park has been here for quite a while the cactus and trees are fairly large. The staff does an excellent job in keeping the grounds looking really great.
Here beside one of the RVs is a very nice Lemon Tree. There are several lemon trees scattered around the park. The winters, as you can imagine, are not very cold but the flip side is the summers are very, very hot. We are not far from Phoenix and it gets beastly hot here in the summer.
This shows part of one of the RV sites. Not all sites are this large or this nicely landscaped but several of them are. Many people come here year after year and have the same site, many of those folks make personal improvements to their sites. The sites vary in size from fairly small to rather large, as is this one.
As we mentioned, much of the park has very nice, natural landscaping. Here we see some, what look like, dead Flamingos lying on the ground. Perhaps the heat caused their demise. No the pink colored prickly cactus you see in the background was not dyed or painted to match the color of the flamingos, that is the natural color of that species of prickly pear.
Here we are looking at the courtyard for the Inn. It is a tranquil and well done setting with the rooms around the perimeter of the open area. Again we see lots of nice, refreshing landscaping.
Here is our site. It is fairly large for a commercial RV park. Many of the places in southern Arizona have the RVs packed in really close to each other, much closer together than you see here; we call them sardine parks because that’s how close they get spaced together. Each site here has a concrete patio and table and in our case we have room for our two Westies enclosure and our truck. For our taste, it is a very nice site.
This view is looking down the road from in front of our site. There are several sites that are not occupied, as of yet. In the next few weeks the park will fill up. The snowbird season gets into high swing starting in mid December and continues through March.
For example; there is a high end RV Park not far from here where you can stay from September through January for about $1200, total. Starting in January it is $1,150 a month. It is a fancy place with lots of activities and things to do. You can see the premium they charge for the snowbird months.
For comparison, here at Rancho Sonora it is $450 a month for a site but we were told that rate may go up.
The folks that are living in this RV are from North Dakota in a town 10 miles south of the Canadian Border. They come down here for 5 months every year and have been coming here for 22 years. They leave their trailer parked here, pay a storage fee, and drive their car back and forth to North Dakota. The trailer originally had colorful decals but the blistering Arizona sun caused them to come off. The sun raises quite a havoc with the RVs here in Arizona.
When you leave your RV here over summer many people recommend that you leave buckets of water set around inside the RV to help maintain some humidity. People who live here year round will go into you RV periodically and refill the buckets.
The plant in the center between the two Saguaro is an Ocotillo and is located along the access road near the entrance to the park. It is a plant and not a true cactus. It is a large shrub with long cane-like unbranched spiny stems. The stems don't have leaves in normal dry conditions, here it is being watered and looks lush and green. In the desert area when it rains the Ocotillo develops leaves and beautiful flowers that attract hummingbirds.
We hope you enjoyed a brief tour around Rancho Sonora Inn and RV Park. It is a great place to stay, wonderful landscaping, many large sites, and excellent people to meet and chat with. It is not far from shopping in case you need anything and close to great hiking trails and wonderful eateries.
Please let us know if you have any questions or comments.
All the best – George & Deanna
Thank you. Nice to see where you have been.
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