The Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch in Gilbert AZ

Vermillion Flycatcher

The Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch is a 110-acre wetland and wildlife sanctuary in Gilbert, Arizona made solely by utilization of recycled effluent water. Seventy acres are part of  the seven water recharge basins which are filled on a rotating basis with most of this water allowed to percolate back into the aquifer for future use.

Coopers Hawk

With over 4.5 miles of trails in this preserve and nearly 300 species of birds which have been identified there, it has become our favorite hiking and birding site. We visit this park at least once a week during our winter stay in the greater Phoenix area.

Spotted Ground Squirrel

You never know what you will see at the preserve. Since we are close to Mexico it is not uncommon to see species of birds known to Mexico who wander across the border to this park.This year we were lucky to see a Streak-backed Oriole. The bird is a rare stray into the desert Southwest and has been historically spotted  in Arizona and southern California.

Lesser Goldfinch

With the preserve being close to the cool little incorporated town of Gilbert AZ we often finish up the day with a visit to the entertainment district in its downtown area. There is a big selection of fun happy hours to choose from.

Verdin

Our favorite still is Joyride Taco House. Their 3-5 happy hour offers $6 32oz beers as well as $6 margaritas and house wines (until 6pm). Even better a basket of hot chips and salsa is served to everyone for free. Finishing the evening with 2 or 3 of the street tacos at $2.50 apiece makes for not only an inexpensive dinner but a great night out on the town. Joyride is always an energetic, happy place to be.

Starting a New Year in a Familiar Place…

We certainly enjoyed our brief stay in Tucson Arizona but it became time to go. If Tucson wasn't a little bit cooler in the winter than Mesa I could see us staying there for the season. However those extra 5° of temperature on the cold side keeps us away.

We arrived in Mesa earlier than expected and as a result we had to go to a different site. Someone was in the one we had reserved starting January 1st. Since we arrived December 22nd we picked a site across the street from the one we had reserved.

It was a bit tricky getting in since it was beside a park model but we made it in just fine. The office gave us the option to stay there instead of moving. However, after setting up we quickly decided that we would probably move over to our other spot on January 1st since this was too close to the park model on our driver's side.

It didn't take us long to get settled into our Mesa routine for the winter months. We started taking our strolls and hiking in some of our favorite places as well as visiting our favorite happy hour spots.

Sharon and I also began visiting the gym every morning to get in a good workout. Evenings we attend the live music provided by the park now 6 days a week.

On January 1st we moved over to our reserved site right after the people there moved on to Yuma Arizona. We are happy to start the new year and look forward to having fun in our winter destination