Camping: Kartchner Caverns

 
Camping, caverns, and wine tasting? Yes, please. Kartchner Caverns has it all.

This is another good cool weather camping spot not too far from home.

The sites themselves I think are nice, plus the stars out at night are amazing. The park is a designated International Dark Sky Park. This is defined as “a public land possessing an exceptional or distinguished quality of starry nights and a nocturnal environment that is specifically protected for its scientific, natural, educational, cultural heritage, and/or public enjoyment.” Pretty cool.

This area can be hot in the summer; we visited in October and ended up being pretty hot then too. All campsites here have electric and water hookups, so we ran our a/c for just a tad bit. 

But if it's not the middle of the day, we were able to enjoy the outdoors too.




The Caverns
The camping sites are within a short walk of the caverns. You should make reservations ahead of time, and pay attention to the age restrictions if you have kids. They are a must do if you're in the area!

We weren't allowed to take pics inside the caverns, so check out some of the awesome cavern pics on their website and Google. They're really cool!

Wineries
One day, we checked out wineries in the area. A very cool little tour and a fun way to spend time, if you ask me. 

There are actually a number of wineries in the area. We made sure to visit the ones that allowed dogs, since we had ours with us.

Our first stop was Arizona Hops and Vines. 

Next was Autumn Sage Vineyards, which was the largest and nicest one we visited.

They had a large pond and trees in the back, which provided some great shade.


Next up was Deep Sky Vineyard.

We enjoyed a little premade snack we brought here out back on their nice patio.

Our dog Wilson seemed to enjoy it too.



Our last stop was Copper Hop Ranch Farm & Microbrewery.

They had a lot of cool looking chickens.


We switched to beer at this spot; they grew their own hop vines there!


Then it was back to camp!



As the kids get older, it's harder to get them away from their friends and devices. Camping has always been a nice break for us. I hope it lasts!

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