(Courtesy photo)

Arizona’s Salsa Trail® is all about terrific Mexican food and down-home friendliness. Sprinkled through the small Southern Arizona communities of Safford, Pima, Thatcher, Solomon, Clifton, Duncan, Willcox, and York are a dozen Mexican restaurants, a family owned tortilla factory and a lady who grows chilies who have all joined together to make up the Salsa Trail®.

The scenic Old West Highway connects the communities and businesses which are within a 40 mile radius of Safford – about and hour and a half east and slightly north of Tucson.

In addition to good food and friendly folks, tourists are beginning to discover the natural beauty and tucked away attractions that dot the map along the Salsa Trail®. There are over 4 million acres of National Forest and protected Wilderness lands, pristine high desert beauty, the lush Gila Valley, and towering pines on Mount Graham. Graham County is filled with so many things to do throughout it’s little communities, and has some of the most beautiful scenic terrain in the entire Southwest. It’s no wonder first time visitors frequently come back for more.

For more information, visit: http://www.salsatrail.com/.

A section of railroad being built in Eastern Arizona, circa 1900. (Courtesy photo)

Enjoy reading up on some Eastern Arizona history by visiting the Eastern Arizona Museum and Historical Society located in the town of Pima. The building the museum is located in is, in itself a historical piece, as it used to be the Bank of Pima, the oldest structure in Pima. The building was constructed in 1882 of tufa stone from the limestone quarry at Bear Springs Flat and was originally used as a community conference area. Of the trio of historical buildings used for the museum is the Old Rexall Drug Store, built around 1900 and moved to the old Royal Confectionery building in 1928. When you step inside the museum, it’s as though everything inside the building had been frozen in time from the early 1900s, with original fixtures, tools, and various items that had long since been left behind by their owners.

Museum collections include:

American Indian Artifacts

Arizona History books

Barbed wire collections

Guns and knives

Hand tools

Handwork

Individual and family histories

Photographs

Quilts

School Annuals and Artifacts

Vintage clothing, shoes, jewelry and grooming items

Wood carvings – an extensive collection by local Don McFate

For museum operating hours and more information about the museum, please visit: http://easternarizonamuseum.com/.