Exploring Arizona

Our first stop this morning was a trip back in time at Tubac Presidio State Historic Park.  It preserves the site of Arizona's oldest Spanish presidio, or fort.

The excavation of the original adobe foundation of the presidio
has been enclosed so that it can still be viewed

The museum also displays artifacts from human settlement of the Santa Cruz River Valley, from the Pima culture in the 1500s through Spanish colonization, Mexican Republic, and Territorial Arizona in the late 1800s.

Arizona's first printing press - still operational

1885 Schoolhouse

"School is boring"

Tubac Presidio's other point of significance is that Juan Bautista de Anza's expedition to California originated here in October 1775. By March 1776, they reached Northern California, where they established the Presidio of San Francisco and Mission San Francisco de Asis -- which would become the future city of San Francisco.

Just down the road from Tubac is Tumacácori National Historical Park, which protects the ruins of three Spanish mission communities.

The remains of San José de Tumacácori

Since we were here on a Sunday, we were also able to see volunteers demonstrating tortilla making and take part in tortilla eating. Yummy!

To get to our final destination for the day, we headed south on I-19 towards Nogales and the international border. The distances and exits are marked in kilometers for the entire stretch of highway south of Tucson, so we got our mental exercise converting back to miles! Unfortunately there isn't a direct route to Coronado National Memorial, so it took us nearly 2 hours to get there.

Coronado "commemorates and interprets the significance of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado's 1540-1542 expedition and the resulting cultural influences of 16th century Spanish colonial exploration in the Americas." While this unit does not actually preserve anything actually related to the expedition, the location was chosen because of its panoramic views of the US-Mexico border and the San Pedro River Valley, believed to be the route likely taken by Coronado.

Looking west from Montezuma Pass

Facing east - the dark line running from ~11 to 4 o'clock is the international border

While watching the movie in the visitor center, we learned that Coronado's expedition to find cities of gold eventually took him as far as Kansas. But in reality, he was tricked into going that direction by Pueblo Indians hoping the Spaniards, who had worn out their welcome, would become lost on the plains and eventually die. In frustration, he executed "The Turk", the native guide who led them there. Epic fail!

By far, the family's favorite activity today was exploring Coronado Cave. No guided tour, bring your own flashlight!

Getting inside can be a little treacherous

Spelunking fun!