Papa and I left home at 7 a.m. today to drive down to the San Rafael Valley. We arrived at the overlook of the San Rafael Valley at 9 a.m. Even under heavy skies, it was beautiful! The San Rafael Valley is bounded by mountains on all sides, with the US/Mexico border running across it to the south, so that the most southern mountains are in Mexico. The source of the Santa Cruz River is in the San Rafael Valley, which we discovered while trying to drive across. The Santa Cruz River runs south into Mexico, then turns west, then north and flows past Tucson and into the Gila River near Casa Grande, or about 185 miles. After a big rain yesterday and well over 7" of rain over the past month, the water was too high, so we turned around at that point. The San Rafael Valley is known for its grassland and cattle ranches. It is beautiful! We'll go back on a clear day.
