We arrived at the Butterfield RV Resort in Benson, AZ at 1:30 yesterday afternoon under clear blue, sunny skies and a temperature of 75F – although it seemed much warmer than that. Now this place is more like what I would call a resort – especially in comparison to the Shangri-La in Yuma. It’s a beautiful park with trees at each site and level, paved, full-service pull-thrus. The best part is it’s only $25 a night compared to the $33 we paid for the night in Yuma.
Our site at the Butterfield RV Resort in Benson, AZ – an excellent park
I had made reservations here a few days ago, and when we checked in everything was all ready and just waiting for my signature. There is a Safeway right next to the park so Paulette walked over there to pick up a few groceries. We are pretty convenient to most of the stores and shops in Benson as well, so that’s nice too.
This is the pool and spa area – it got pretty busy here in late afternoon
After we got unhitched and all setup, including the dog fence area for Molly and Rylie, we just put out a couple of lawn chairs and relaxed for a bit. After about an hour of that, Paulette and I walked over to the pool for a swim – it’s a very nice pool and the water temperature was just right. The park also includes many of the amenities often found at similar type RV resorts – a large clubhouse, library, computer lab, free cable TV and nice, clean washrooms and showers.
Now here’s something you don’t see at too many RV Parks – an observatory!
One thing you don’t find at too many RV parks though is an Observatory and Telescope – Butterfield, incredibly, has its own! The telescope is a Meade LX-200 GPS 16 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain model. I’m sure all of that lingo is perfectly clear to Al of the Bayfield Bunch, who is an avid astronomy buff, but it’s Greek to me.
This is the big telescope we got to use to see the stars and planets
An astronomer conducts a 1 hour session each night for park residents. I went to the show last night and it was spectacular. We got to look through the telescope at stars and planets like I’ve never seen them before including Mars, Saturn, Polaris, Orion, Sirius and many others – it was quite a show!
Paulette and the muttzo’s at one of the rest stops near Gila Bend, AZ
To get to Benson by 1:30 yesterday, we left the RV Park in Yuma at 8:30am. It was another beautiful day, which was only surpassed by the overwhelming beauty of the desert. Paulette and I were both surprised by how “green” the desert landscape seemed. Lots of sagebrush, cactus and wild grass provided a terrific contrast to the normally brown sand and gravel of the desert.
We were surprised at all of the greenery in the desert
We took our time and stopped at a few rest stops along I-8 between Yuma and Casa Grande. It was great knowing we only had a short drive today so there was absolutely no reason to hurry, and that gave us lots of time to stop and smell the ‘cactus’! There were thousands of wild desert flowers too, the shoulders and ditches along the highway were full of wildflowers.
Paulette took this shot of the wildflowers out the truck window
Just past Casa Grande, we turned onto I-10 and headed southeast towards Tucson. The last time we were in Tucson, a year ago, the construction job on I-10 going through the city was in full force making the going slow and tiring. Yesterday, we zipped right thru the city at freeway speed without ever having to slow down!
I really like this tree and don’t know what it is. Any ideas?
Tuesday morning we head off for the short drive down to the town of Bisbee, AZ. We are looking forward to that as we have heard so much about Bisbee.
Have a great Thursday, and thanks again for visiting!
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