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Southeast Arizona Winery Events Open To Everyone

Southeast Arizona winery events are held at a variety of locations but always showcase the vintners product.

Southeast Arizona winery events are numerous. There are in excess of 20 wineries located in this part of Arizona. Many of the wineries have wine clubs with varying membership levels. These clubs give the members free wine tastings, discounts and sometimes offer special member only events. The stipulation for being a member is that you purchase a certain amount of wine during the year. Other wineries only ask for email addresses. This allows the wineries to send out newsletters or invitations to special events. There are many opportunities for the wine aficionado to take advantage of and attend a winery event.

Attendees to the Carlson Creek Southern Arizona Winery Event were greeted by L to R Robert Carlson, Rod Kass, chef and owner of Cafe Roka, and a member of the Mexican Consulate.

One example is when Angie and I were invited to a Southeast Arizona winery event that was hosted by Carlson Creek Vintners.  We didn’t want to miss this event. It was being held at one of our favorite restaurants in Cochise County, Café Roka. Chef Rod has a wonderful restaurant in Bisbee and we send our guests there on a regular basis. Robert from Carlson Creek was providing the wine for the dinner and worked with Chef Rod to pair one of his wines with each course. I have been to other events similar to this and thought that the venue and the winery would be a good fit.

Since we had no guests at the b and b that night, we made plans to attend. Bisbee is a fun place to visit. You can do a little antique shopping but the dining is also wonderful. Bisbee is home to some really great restaurants. We went early to wander through some of our favorite shops. When we finally arrived at Café Roka, we were given a special menu. To view the menu click on this link. We were shown to the bar and received a glass of wine to accompany the first course. We then looked around and chose a table.

You can sit by yourselves, however I have always had more fun at a table with other people that you don’t know. You all have the same interests, wine and food, so why not enjoy talking about it with strangers. Who knows, they may become future guests. The table we chose was actually very interesting. We were sitting with people from Tucson who enjoy Café Roka and the wines here in Southeast Arizona. There was also a couple from Bisbee, the Warren area, but the surprise was that Robert’s parents were also seated at the table. During the dinner, they shared some anecdotes on things Robert was talking about.

The one course of Gordita with Roasted Pork over chili colorado with queso fresco went well with the Merlot.

The grilled duck breast with pomegranate and calabacitas con queso cotija was excellent.

The menu had 8 courses and each dish had a different wine that really complemented the dish. After nearly two hours we finished up a wonderful evening and a great event. We felt that the price we paid was an excellent value. The wines were excellent, the food was fabulous. In addition, the conversation was captivating. So when you visit the tasting rooms here in our little corner of Arizona, sign up for the newsletters and get on the mailing lists. You just might have the chance to participate in one of the Southeast Arizona winery events.

Mike and Angie are owners of Down By The River B and B located in St. David, Arizona.

Cafe Roka is in the heart of downtown Bisbee and is a location for Southern Arizona winery events.

” The Thing ” is not from Arizona originally but is from California

The Thing billboards are along both sides of Interstate 10 for hundreds of miles.

” The Thing ” has been advertized on billboards from the 1950s. When I was growing up in Southern California, we would take shopping trips to San Bernardino. On the way home we would see signs that informed us that “ The Thing ” was only so many miles away and that we just had to see it. Of course my parents would not consider driving the extra distance just so that they could spend some money and satisfy our curiosity. We were always told not today we have to get home. After a while we quit seeing the billboards for “The Thing”.

The entrance to the thing is through a door that takes you to three buildings.

Not until I moved to Arizona and started traveling south toward Tucson did I see another billboard advertizing “ The Thing ”. My curiosity was raised but I thought well that was in California not Arizona. Later I found out that the exhibit was moved to Arizona after Interstate 10 was put in. I guess moving to Arizona added to the mystique of “ The Thing ”.

After starting the B and B in St. David, we would make trips to Willcox, Chiricahua National Monument and Ft. Bowie. We would pass milepost 322 and say “One of these days we need to stop to see what this is”. We recently had a guest who told us about their visit to exit 322, on the pretense of buying a Baskin Robbins ice cream. They told us about what they had seen and that it only had cost $1. After a lifetime of wonderment, I decided that we needed to make a trip and see what “The Thing” really was.

The trip along the interstate as you drive through Texas Canyon is scenic. The rock formations in Texas Canyon are awesome and you can read about it in a previous blog by clicking here. Along the way you will see numerous billboards touting what there is to do at “ The Thing ” exhibit. Don’t miss it! Just after leaving Texas Canyon you approach exit 322. We took the turn into the complex of buildings and got out of the car. Walking inside the main souvenir shop, we spotted a door that had a sign – “The Thing” – enter here.

Old vehicles are found in the first building including this old truck.

We paid our $1 and were told to follow the yellow footprints through the 3 buildings. The first building is an exhibit of old cars and a covered wagon. The second building holds many display cases with some antiques in them and wood carvings. The wood carvings are caricatures of animals mainly from someone’s vivid imagination but still it was interesting to look at them. There was also a bar scene that had a sign that stated “Wood carving out of solid wood. ” As compared to what else?” I asked myself. Some of the signs are hilarious to read and I am sure my English teacher from high school would have had a coronary from the grammar.

The Second building held many display cases and wood carvings of interesting shapes.

This surrey is reported to have been in Lincolns Inauguration in 1861.

The last building had old furniture, some wagons and surrey purported to have been in the Lincoln Inauguration Parade. I will leave that up to your opinion of fact. It also contained a masonry block box with a Plexiglas window on top. In the box was “ The Thing ”. Well you may have heard from other sources that this appears to be a mummy. It may well be and I do have a picture of it. I am sure that you can find a picture of it on the internet but I figure you need to stop and spend a buck to see it yourself. The advantage is that you can also get a Dairy Queen Blizzard or some other type of ice cream while you’re there. Maybe even a T-Shirt.

In building 3 you finally get to see ” The Thing ” enclosed in a masonry box with a Plexiglas top.

Cochise County October Events

Cochise County October events provide something for the entire family in all parts of the county. Events are held in Willcox,Tombstone and Benson. The Tombstone and Benson events here in Southeastern Arizona during October have been detailed in my last two blogs. Willcox offers more events that help to fill up the October calendar. There are two events that take place in Willcox. One is Rex Allen Days and the other is the Willcox Wine Country Festival.

Rex Allen Days – Great Family Fun

The Rex Allen Museum also houses the Cowboy Hall of Fame.

This year Willcox will celebrate the 63 rd Annual Rex Allen Days from October 2 through October 5. This Cochise County October event starts off with the Cowboy Hall of Fame Awards on October 2. This Hall of Fame is directed toward the real cattlemen and women that spent their lives working the ranches and raising cattle herds in Cochise County. The Museum tells the story of these men and women, their accomplishments and hard work in the cattle industry.

On the October 3rd, the celebration starts off with a parade. There are many activities including two days of rodeo events, a carnival, a tractor pull and in the evening there is entertainment for everyone to enjoy. The Rodeo is the weekend before the rodeo in Benson so if you do both you may see some of the same riders. The Rex Allen museum is open during this time and a visit there will give you a background history of who Rex Allen was. You can find more information on the Rex Allen Museum from a previous blog.

The Willcox Wine Country Festival – a Cochise County October Event Tradition

Last year we had a blog about the Willcox Wine Country Festival and how we went there to find some wines that we would have in our Wine Challenge at the River. The Challenge was fun and an Arizona Wine actually won the competition. This year The wine festival in Willcox is being held on October 18 and 19. This is the same weekend as Helldorado Days in Tombstone so it is a chance for people to do two Cochise County October events on the same weekend.

The festival is held at Railroad Park in downtown Willcox across the street from the Rex Allen Museum. For a fee of $15, you get a commemorative glass and 6 tickets to use for wine tasting. Angie and I usually will share a tasting so that we can have 12 different wines using our tickets. Additional tickets are available and generally wine club members of a winery at the event get the tastings free.  This year there will be an offering of over 70 different wines from several Arizona wineries that grow their grapes in the Willcox area.   At this festival there is a special Movie Screening and introduction by Sam Pillsbury at Willcox Historic Theater across from the park.

For more information on the wine festival, click on this link. When you look for lodging for these events check us out at Down By The River to see how we are centrally located to all the Cochise County October Events. Hope to see you soon.