One of the features of Sierra Vista is from the military influence there. There are lots of ethnic restaurants, including four German ones, according to the article. One was a bakery closed on Saturday, one was a deli with only about fifteen items for sale, one had been freshly remade as Sophia's Italian Eatery, and the fourth was this charming place. This was our lunch spot. The waitress had a faint German accent and was sweet and kind as Kevin ordered our lunch in his high school German. I think she was secretly delighted with his successful attempt. I had some excellent bean soup with a frankfurter (a really long, very mild and non-salty hot dog), some seedy mustard, and a fresh hard roll.
After lunch we drove just north of town to a site where the Clovis people lived 13,000 years ago. There was no toll booth, no docent, just a really nice trail loop with interpretive signs along the way. The whole walk was about a mile, I think. Here we are going across a wash to the other side where most of the trail was:
This is a Joshua Tree. Years ago when I was at BYU I took an LDS literature class and one of the books I read was called something like Under the Giant Joshua Tree. It doesn't appear to be in print any longer, but it was a story of a third wife and her difficult life in polygamy in the southwest sometime in the 19th century. I always thought a Joshua tree was something like a Banyan tree, don't ask me why. Just last week one of my students asked me if we had Joshua trees in my city and I quickly looked it up online and saw that a Joshua is nothing like a tree, but is one of the millions of cacti we have around here. I was really surprised to see that what I'd had in my mind for so many years was completely wrong. So here is one that was on the interpretive trail:
I'm not sure what this is going to be. I'd assume a bridge, but we couldn't really see any purpose for it. Kevin and dh were able to run back and forth on it, the nimble-footed guys they are, jumping back and forth between the two logs when their balance started to shift. C went across too, but I was satisfied just watching.
The last part of the tour was going on post at Ft. Huachuca to the military intelligence museum and the fort history museums. I think it is the oldest US military base still in use. The buildings were well air conditioned and the displays were even interesting to the junior set.On the way home dh noticed we were being tailed by a highway patrol cruiser. When we pulled through at the mandatory border patrol check (Sierra Vista is 16 miles north of the border with Mexico), they didn't just wave us through, but told us to go park in a certain slot and wait for them. The agent stuck his head into the vehicle and looked around. Then we found out they are having a big problem with older Chevrolet Suburbans with dark windows . . . stuffed with illegal immigrants! When dh went to Phoenix several days ago he was followed by a Border Patrol truck, then given the evil eye through the driver's side window, then the Border Patrol sped off and came back around at a freeway crossing and headed back the other direction. Dh figured the agent could see he looked nothing like a "coyote" and left him alone. That was his theory about what happened, anyway, and after what happened yesterday, he was certainly right. So one more interesting bit to add to our adventures in the SW United States.
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