Oceanfront Arizona

Despite the offbeat name, or maybe because of it, the Hacienda Corona just off I-19 was a splendid place to spend my birthday. Just a few miles north of Nogales, and thus the international border, it is the "main" hilltop house on the sprawling still mostly intact Guevavi Ranch, which dates to the Spanish exploration in the 19th Century, when it was founded as the first cattle ranch in present-day Arizona by Juan Anza, who led the famous overland expedition north into California, eventually founding San Francisco. Anza left behind his mother and family at the ranch, so as to spare them the harrowing journey ahead.

Surprisingly it feels less like a desert than than the Phoenix Valley, or even Tucson. It is higher in altitude. The ground climbs as one goes toward the border. It feels like the Texas Hill Country to me. The best par was feeling like one was miles from anywhere. The Interstate---and the freeway-exist community of Rio Rico---is just a few miles away, but it is hidden by a line of low mountains, and even beside the freeway, one has the feeling of being disconnected from the rest of the country somehow. South of Tucson it is like its own state.

One has the feeling of being near the ocean somehow, the way one does in the dry hills of Central California. And of course you are near the ocean here. The Sea of Cortez---the Gulf of California--is close by. Actually it to the west of that location. The north of the sea is farther north than the ranch. Tucson is actually closer to the sea.

The Mexican State of Sonora, which is comparable in area to New Mexico and Arizona, is just across the border. J and I both are in favor of admitting Sonora to the Union as the 51st state, on the condition that they cede a small portion of their territory to Arizona, so as to give Arizona a coast.

We can't say enough good things about our host, a Connecticut-born man who wound up "marrying into" property when it was run by his in-laws, who have passed away, leaving him with his hands full keeping the place going. They survive mostly on pool parties and weddings, but these take huge toll on the property.

He is a former bar manager, so we took him up on his offer of a bottle of wine, which he opened for us in the small dining nook with shelves full of their random collection, and a framed single 45 record from his late father-in-law, who was briefly a musician, with a contract in LA, but gave it up to have family.

We were the only guests and stayed in the best room in the house, that had been furnished by his late mother-in-law, who hand made the throw pillows. There was a screen door directly out onto the shaded portico which surrounds the house.  The sunsets were spectacular.