We chose the little mining town of Bisbee, AZ and set off around 2pm (because it's a little cooler this time of the day).
Bisbee, population 6,500, was once the second largest town west of the Mississippi River. Only San Francisco was larger! Silver and Copper mines fueled the town's growth. There are still remnants of those old mining days all over town, including
The Copper Queen Hotel(guests have included "Black Jack" Pershing and a young Teddy Roosevelt!), and St. Elmo's Bar, both in continuous operation for over a century!
What impressed all of us, though, is Bisbee's location in this rugged, green and beautiful canyon, only 25 driving minutes (and only 2 air miles) north of the border of Mexico, but feeling much farther, higher and very sheltered.
The mostly Victorian style homes are all tucked up into the hills as if they have grown there like rocks. Everywhere there are steps leading every which way beckoning you to explore.
Bisbee gave me such a warm feeling reminding me of the little mountain village in California where my Aunt used to live and where I spent many summers hiking and exploring.
Funny thing about that, too. The vehicles reminded me of California surf-style. Lots of vintage VW bugs and Westfalia camper vans. Fun!
We spent the entire afternoon enjoying Bisbee and we found 2 letterboxes hidden in this amazing little town. There was just so much to see.
The second letterbox, happened to be the most perfect stamp considering that we had just visited the KillerBee Guy's shop and purchased 4 jars of Killer Bee Honey and Mustards! Click here for more info Killer Bee Guy/Honey.
And as we were stamping in, one of the theater thespians walked by on their way up the hill to the hillside park and stage, and invited us to attend that night's last performance of "Alladin"!
Of course, we couldn't resist, so we grabbed some food at the Bisbee Grill and headed out of town to find our third letterbox(more on that experience in my next entry). Afterwards we drove back to Bisbee and the little park to enjoy the lovely theater performance, which was made even more magical as the sky grew dark and the canyon hills sparkled with white christmas lights all around us and the big Bisbee letter "B" glowed above us. As we watched the play under the stars, the little bats flew above us swooping for insects. A Magical evening!
And on the way home, we stopped into the Bisbee gas station and were excited to fill up the tank at $2.93 a gallon! Whooohooo!
Our first letterbox was placed on top of the 6,030 ft. Mule Pass, above this impressive tunnel. The terrific hand-carved stamp could not have been more appropriate! hehe
A view of Bisbee and the Lavender Pit mine in the far distance.(Click photo to see larger)
I was very impressed with the historic architecture in Bisbee. Driving and walking around was like looking at jars of candy. A feast of beautiful, quaint buildings everywhere we looked! This is the historic Bisbee Inn. Even more pretty at night when it's lit up with sparkling lights.
All over the town are unique and beautiful art murals. We stopped and appreciated every one we saw. There are some wonderfully talented folks living in Bisbee.(Click picture for a larger view)
There's an energetic on-going campaign going on to save the town's stairs, to raise money to repair and improve and build new stairs. The Bisbee 1000 Stairclimb each October challenges participants to climb 1,000 steps on staircases on the town's hillsides.
There are literally stairs everywhere you look in Bisbee. Most homes have more than a hundred steps to go up just to get to their front door!
The vision of all these stairs reminds me of one of my favorite Dr Seuss books. Cool stuff!(Click below for a larger view)
The fascinating Bisbee Mining Museum. Tours of the famous Copper Queen Mine are offered across the street.
Jax, Jem and Jenna had a blast playing on the mining cars and machines. Here's Jeremiah peeking out.
We played in the mining equipment for about an hour. Fun!
We took a self-tour up the unique and fun Brewery Gulch. This is where miners who toiled in the underground mines for as little as $3.50 a day at the turn of the century spent their earnings in 50 saloons that lined Brewery Gulch. Jax and Jem were most impressed with the open mine shaft below this sign (click for a larger view)
On Brewery Rd, we discovered this fascinating car covered in everything from Legos, plastic letters, toy cars, army men, Transformers, Light Bright pegs, beads, and so so much more!(click pic for a close-up view)
Everywhere we looked there was amazing art to see and appreciate!(click to see a bigger picture)
Before we even arrived in Bisbee, I knew I wanted to find the Killer Bee store and Killer Bee Guy. Imagine my thrill, when we walked up and got to meet the Killer Bee Guy himself! He had just stopped by to check on his store, and we were very lucky! Killer Bee Guy
After we tasted all the different flavors of honey and mustards, we bought 4 jars and posed outside the 4 1/2 ft wide sliver of a honey store.
The very impressive Phelps Dodge Lavender Mining Pit. (Can you guess why they call it "Lavender"? Phelps Dodge halted mining in this pit in 1975. Phelps Dodge moved into open pit mining in 1954, with the Lavender Pit that eventually consumed Sacramento Hill and reached a depth of 1,000 feet.
The company also shut down the 1,500 miles of underground mines in 1975, though the company continues to produce about 1 million pounds of copper a year from existing rockpiles.(Click the photo for a larger, even more impressive view)
In the center of town sits this handsome scuplture called "Iron Man" dedicated to the strong, virile men who worked hard in the mines helping to create the town of Bisbee.
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