In November 2009, Bill and Gretchen Shirley were on their way to an anniversary getaway at a Tucson resort.
“But, before we go to the hotel, I want to show you something,” Gretchen Shirley recalls telling her husband.
That something was a 90-acre ranch, bordering Saguaro National Park with direct, gated access.
The couple had been looking for property to open a bed-and-breakfast operation.
“There was peace about this property — almost like we were called to it,” Gretchen Shirley said. “There were other properties where we could do what we wanted to do, but not like this.”
They closed on Rincon Creek Ranch, 14545 E. Rincon Creek Ranch Road, in April 2010. The property has Sonoran desert, a riparian creek and 15 acres of pasture.
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While researching the inner workings of a bed-and-breakfast, the Shirleys visited other sites around the country.
“We realized there were a lot of restrictions on people’s diets and you could tell the cook spent so much time on these restricted diets,” Gretchen Shirley said. “I wouldn’t be able to accommodate every gluten-free or vegetarian guest.”
Instead, they added seven casitas to the property with full kitchens — so guests could cook for themselves — and an event hall for weddings or parties.
“We decided to keep the ranch house as our retreat and abandon the B&B idea,” said Bill Shirley, whose background was in bridge engineering so he knew what needed to be done.
One of seven casitas on 90 acres at Rincon Creek Ranch with views of the Rincon Mountains and Saguaro National Park. Many guests come to clear their heads, the owners say.
The couple rezoned the property from residential to small, minor resort use and Gretchen Shirley was in charge of decorating.
“He wanted every casita to be the same color,” she said with aghast.
“She nixed that right away,” Bill Shirley laughed.
Tucson contractor Robin Hartman broke ground on the expansion in April 2013 and Rincon Creek Ranch opened for guests in October 2014, complete with journals in the casitas where guests could write, if they chose.
“I would read guest reviews and start to tear up,” Bill Shirley said. “They wouldn’t just write, ‘Nice place’, they wrote essays.”
Gretchen Shirley said people came for different reasons.
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