The Breakfast
Club
An Affiliate of The
>The Knife & Fork
Breakfast Club Visits
10 Nov 07
by Warren McIlvoy
The November Breakfast Club event
was going to a somewhat familiar place just north of the border and just to the
north of the City of Nogales, Arizona. At least that is where we parked
our aircraft. Where we ended-up was quite a different story. Rio Rico is
a retirement area that is south of Green Valley and north of
Our trip to the south out of
After crossing I-19, the scenery is dominated by countless small ridges and
washes that fan-out from Mt Wrightson that
towers to just short of 9500'. It is just to the south of this impressive land
mass that the Nogales Airport is located. Traffic was using runway 21
and, as luck would have it, I was following a student on his first solo. The
down-wind portion of the approach has you flying over rising terrain and can be
a bit intimidating for first timers. After landing and finding an open parking
space well to the south of the terminal building, we secured our aircraft and
soon we were part of the crowd that had gathered on the ramp.
One of our members, Allen Wallace (a.ka BC-39),
had arranged with the Esplendor Resort for van transportation to the
resort. The round trip was about 30-miles so a $5.00 per person fare was
certainly not unreasonable. The only down-side of this arrangement was that it
took about an hour between van arrivals so the last group was well behind the
early departures. The route from the airport to the Esplendor was over
hilly, winding and twisting county roads and I could easily see why the trip of
only 15-miles would take so long.
We exited the van on one side of a large, circular driveway and I immediately
knew that we had arrived at a very special place. The portico sheltered a pair
of large wooden doors that lead to the main lobby. The reception desk was to
our left and a stone fireplace enhanced the wall directly in front of us. The
entry to the dinning room, the San Cayetano
Restaurant, was to our right. The first wave of Breakfast Club folks
was seated at a long wooden table the resembled something out of a
While I was waiting for my meal selection, I spotted a couple of our members
enjoying the great weather from the adjacent patio. From this vantage point,
one could survey the surrounding community for some distance.
After breakfast, I had an opportunity to roam about the resort property to get
a feeling of the ambiance of the place. I did not go as far as viewing any of
the rooms but I did visit an elevated terrace that is most likely used for
large gatherings or maybe private parties. The large swimming pool was a little
further from the main office area and, as expected, was totally unoccupied. As
expected, the entire property is covered by lush vegetation and creative
landscaping. By this time the majority of the Breakfast Club folks
had departed for the return trip to the airport so that left about nine of us
for the second trip.
I visited the web site for the Esplendor and copied this:
"Set among rolling
mountains, overlooking the lush green
The room rates in the off-season, like now, are fairly reasonable considering
the ambiance of the place. A room at this time runs about $130.00 a night but
if you use an AMEX card, you can get a free (?) upgrade with a bottle of wine
as a kicker. The "in season" would add about $100 to that room
rate. I wouldn't mind spending a two-night/three-day weekend (definitely
in the off season) here and, with a rental car, exploring the area and
maybe visiting the border for some shopping.
Our return trip at 6500' was a little bumpy while we flew over the ridges and
valleys until we got north of
The
What's Next?
Our December Breakfast Club event
will see us returning to Parker,
I want to wish all of our Breakfast Club
folks a very Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year.
Click the Rico Rico/Esplendor link to view photos of this fly-in event.