(March 15-17, 2018)

O Bisbee! We came to Bisbee for one reason (which you’ll learn about later) and left reluctantly for many reasons. This town is wonderful! It is set in the mountains, so it is cooler than the desert areas. There are so many stairs and original buildings from when this was a mining town. Sometimes, we felt like we were in Europe, but the cacti would remind us of where we were. This town has character and characters!

We parked at Queen Mine RV Park, which was pricey at $35/night, but you couldn’t beat the location (or the wifi)! We were walking distance to everything. We were lucky to be able to stay for 2 nights, because this is a very busy park. We had to move sites the second day.

Here is the Queen Mine that the park overlooks:

There were 2 Airstreams in the park, and this sweet Vistabule:

At the visitor’s center, you can get walking tour guides focusing on architecture for 3 different neighborhoods: Main Street, Brewery Gulch, and School Hill.

The Bisbee Restoration Museum is set in a classic department store.  All the artifacts were donated by local residents.  Included in the collection are several copper high school diplomas.  Yes, copper!  This was a copper mining town after all.

What’s with the flies?

Back in August 1912, there was a fly-swatting contest. The winner, Richard Phillips, received $10. The extermination was to combat the typhoid fever epidemic.

As you can see, Bisbee is a very artsy town.  Shops and homes are decorated.  It’s hard to take it all in in two days.

Some of the sidewalks remind me of Saskatoon. In Saskatoon, you will also find these glass brick sidewalks. The glass allows light to enter the shop basements. This was where the “bargain basements” were located in Bisbee.

Even though we only spent 2 days in Bisbee, we found ourselves at the Old Bisbee Brewing Company on both days. Imagine that! On the first day, Paul ordered the sampler, and from it, I chose my drink – Salut! It isn’t a beer. It’s created using champagne yeasts with peach and elderberry flower extracts. Because of the elderberry flower flavor, it reminded me of European lemonades. Mmmm! After my first Salut!, I couldn’t stop thinking about it, so we made our way back the next day. Paul was more than willing to go with me. On the day we left, I wondered if they’d be open in the morning so I could get another.  Next year.  Salut!

In the next post, you’ll see why we really came to Bisbee.

Usually, when I refer to nose art, it is the work by Poppy and Daisy.  Daisy used to do some lovely nose art on our windows.  Poppy has taken over now.  However, today, I’m referring to the nose art on airplanes.  In Tucson, we visited the Pima Air & Space Museum.  Dogs are allowed in the museum, but we left the girls in the Chinook.  Poppy had to work on her art.

The Pima museum is the 3rd largest airplane museum in the US.  I took pictures of what I found interesting or beautiful, though these are not be the stars of their collection.

Here’s a Jeep for Daisy.

I guess this Jeep is for Poppy

More rivets than an Airstream

This wedding dress was made from a parachute

I love the elegant wings on this plane:

Built in Fort Erie, near my hometown of Port Colborne:

While we were in Tucson, we dry-camped at Casino Del Sol.  The parking lot was very clean.  They had large garbage bins for the campers and there was no limit on length of stay.  An actual campground is in the works.  It was pretty bright at night, so we had to block the windows, but otherwise, it was quieter than Mexico!

Needless to say, we didn’t cross into Mexico with the “Party Bus.” Since we were so far south, we headed to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. This is a must-see stop for anyone interested in desert landscapes. It is massive (1,338 km²), and you really need a tow-behind vehicle to explore the scenic roads, so we just did some of the hiking trails.

We camped in the park at Twin Peaks Campground. Once again, this is dry-camping only, but the campsites are well spaced, level, and clean.  Actually, this is a very beautiful campground.  The showers are solar heated, so they weren’t attractive at this time of year.  I’m glad we have a wet-bath in our Chinook.

Organ Pipe Cactus

While we were camping, we met Ray from Love Your RV, and his little sidekick, Angie the Beagle. He was producing many YouTube videos during his stay. We have since watched some of them, and they are spectacular.

Our first stop was the Kris Eggle Visitor Center. It was named after a ranger who was killed by a Mexican drug smuggler in 2002. Most of the park was closed after that until 2014. Today, there are armed border patrol officers everywhere, which was strange to see in a national park.

The visitor center has a ranger program, so we stayed for a brief lecture and also studied the exhibits.

Saguaro

Chainfruit Cholla

The weather was turning, so we decided to stay for the rain and hoped to see this “green desert” turn green.

Chainfruit Cholla

Palo Verde

Dead cacti are also beautiful.  We learned that termites are essential for breaking down deadfall.  Otherwise, the desert would preserve and retain it all.

Dead cholla

Dead saguaro

In the meantime, Ted and Dona and the Party Bus made it to Puerto Peñasco. Ted went to an insurance company there and got us a more reasonable quote ($94 US for one month). However, we would have to cross the border and buy it on the Mexican side. Next stop, Mexico!