We left Hereford, knowing we weren’t too welcome in New Mexico. Outsiders are required to quarantine or move on out. This would be a perfect opportunity to take advantage of our Harvest Host membership. We called Tularosa Vineyards in Tularosa, New Mexico (just north of Alamogordo) and explained that we were from out of state and they extended a warm welcome for us to come and stay for the night. Since no one else was there we were allowed to visit the winery, sample a few wines, buy a couple of bottles for future enjoyment and then excuse ourselves to Coach. We were the only guests there that evening, we had a beautiful parking spot under the New Mexico stars!! In the morning we moved on, made a quick stop in Hatch, New Mexico! Home of Hatch Green Chiles! We had heard of Sparky’s, masked up, ordered two Green Chile Cheeseburgers and ate outside at a picnic table! A quick walk down the street to purchase 10 pounds of frozen roasted Hatch green peppers and a bag of chili seasoning mix and we were on our way! Hatch, New Mexico is definitely a cute little town, overflowing with everything chile pepper, edible and not! We took a few great pictures.
It was just after noon at this point and our next Harvest Host location was in eastern Arizona, in the Willcox Valley. We had been to a winery in that area last year (Pillsbury Winery) and were looking forward to trying another one. We arrived midafternoon at Birds and Barrels Vineyard about one mile from the Pillsbury Winery.
Chad and Monica were great hosts, once again we were alone for the evening, and enjoyed tasting several wines and purchased a Syrah for the holidays with John and Bill. The Willcox valley is Arizona’s major grape growing area, a very agricultural area, due to the mild climate! As were leaving this morning, three big rigs pulled in and we headed west to our next Harvest Host, The Windmill Winery, outside of Florence, Arizona.
The Windmill Winery and Wedding Venue appears to be a lovely place. I say appears to be because we entered through the Harvest Host area and got all parked and set up. As it is also a wedding venue we were instructed to follow the signs to the wine tasting room to check in and not wander due to two weddings going on. Joanette forgot her mask, so Keith checked us in and we foregoed the opportunity to taste their wines. But we did get some pictures on the walk back to the Harvest Host area.
We hope to do some wandering around The Windmill Winery in the morning, we’ll see! Tomorrow we leave here, headed for White Tank Mountain Regional Park northwest of Phoenix for two days of rest, and hopefully to finish up the last seven miles of our American Cancer Society fundraiser (35 miles in October for which we have raised $300.00 in donations!)
Joiners Journey 