Wickenburg

Our trip this weekend takes us to the western end of the Valley first to visit the Thrasher Spot and then to the northwest towards Wickenburg. The road towards the Thrasher Spot passes through fields and past farmhouses and we even stop a bit as we notice a few trees full of birds, mostly mourning doves in one and great blue herons in another.

The Thrasher Spot is a bit of a weird place, if you are not a birdwatcher you would likely not know about it or even care about stopping in this place. However for birders it is a “mecca” especially for thrashers as up to 5 species can be seen here where the Sonoran desert species meet the LeConte’s thrasher at its easternmost expansion point. Prior to today we have seen three of the thrasher species here (Curve-billed, Bendire and Sage) but not our boogeythrasher – the LeConte’s. As always we are convinced in the beginning that today is the day but the desert is quiet and even a bit spooky as we find an animal skeleton and we get a bit discouraged but decide to persist.

And then we see something moving and start following it and it jumps on top of a bush – we look at it and cannot believe it, it is a LeConte’s thrasher. Happily we take a lot of photos as the thrasher moves around between the bushes and quite satisfied retreat to the car for the next stop in our trip.

With the search for the thrasher taking more than expected we arrive in Wickenburg a bit later than we wanted but we assume that the Desert Caballeros Western Museum is relatively small so two hours should be enough. Also our entry is free as we have a library pass so what do we have to lose?

The first surprise is that the museum systems are down and they are not sure what to do with the library pass but in the end someone takes it and then they explain what we can see, we are surprised that it is larger than expected with two levels in one building and more exhibits in another building.

We start with the paintings, there are a few famous Western painters including a temporary Bill Anton exhibit and we enjoy the variety and especially the landscape paintings.

There are also sections dedicated more to the history of Arizona including a few panels dedicated to Bolo ties which are claimed to have been invented in Wickenburg. There is also a section dedicated to winning western boots, we had no idea there is a competition for them, and of course guns.

At the bottom level there is a reconstructed main street of Wickenburg of how it would have looked at the beginning of the 20th century. It also has a lot of information about the history of the town, we had no idea it was such an important junction before I-10 was built. It also has what is now all the rage, a talking hologram, and we enjoy listening to part of his story before continuing on.

Next we visit the history area, the Garcia Little Red Schoolhouse is quite impressive. But at this point we are quite hungry as it is well past lunch time and we decide to find something open to eat which is more difficult than you would expect on a Sunday afternoon. We finally decide on a BBQ house, Hassayampa BBQ, which is very good and not that popular which is good as there is no outdoor seating.