Bisbee, AZ: Miners and Cowboys and Soldiers, Oh My!!! (Part 1 of 2)

Spring Break, 2014:  The Lucky Charm was pointed to Southeastern Arizona to basically relive the 1860's-1900's through visits to Bisbee (mining history), Tombstone (western cowboy history), and Picacho Peak (Civil War re-enactment history).  Tally-Ho!!!!

View of town from the Lucky Charm

At its heyday around the turn of the century, Bisbee was not only by far the largest city in Arizona, but was in fact the largest city between St. Louis and the coast of California.  Now a small, quirky little mining-town-turned-artists-colony, it seems to inspire everyone we’ve ever met to say “OH YOU SIMPLY MUST VISIT BISBEE! So charming!  So magical!  You will fall in love with it!”  We had heard this from everyone, but weren't sure ... should we believe the hype?  Blindly follow the crowd?  Join the cult?  Would we drink the Bisbee Kool-Aid?  OH YES ... we would!!!

Philip, Brandon and Max in the first of many forced photo-ops.  They smile anyway.

We stayed at the Queen Mine RV Park, a charming semi-circle of spots perched high on a hilltop overlooking the town, which is in easy walking distance.  In the photo below, see the semi-circle of white RV's in the upper right at the top of the hill?  That's us, with a great view and 5 minute walk to downtown Bisbee!

It is apparently against the law to visit Bisbee and NOT do the Queen Mine Tour.  Although it is slightly corny, and nobody looks good in a yellow slicker, it was still fun and we learned a lot about the life of a miner in 1900, when most mining was done with teams of two basically hand-driving metal stakes of increasing diameter into the rock for hours on end, until the hole was big enough to insert dynamite.  

Mining is backbreaking, monotonous, soul-killing work and just as dangerous for the things the miners were breathing in (arsenic, lead, silica) as for the possibility of bodily injury, leading us to an "ah-hah moment" to understand someone would instead become a farmer. For this, the most experienced miners were paid the handsome sum of $0.38/hour, a very high pay rate for the time.  A better-paying career in Bisbee, however, was legalized prostitution, wherein most ‘ladies’ (a loose term) made $3.50-$4.00/hour.  

We enjoyed the town, a predictably quirky mix of shops, galleries, cafes and so forth, with one excellent fine-dining option, “Café Roka", that frequently makes national lists of top restaurants. 

Cafe Roka's homemade gnocchi with summer squash, roasted corn and basil pesto cream sauce

A little farmers-market yielded fresh homemade tortillas that made me swoon! 

(That guy in the picture makes me swoon, too.)

The teens were good sports about climbing aboard the obnoxiously-painted lavender jeeps (perhaps a blatant ripoff of the Sedona pink jeeps, but so-painted because the big pit mine in Bisbee is named the Lavender Mine after Harrison Lavender, a Phelps-Dodge Mining Company executive) and the historical information on the tour was excellent – highly recommended.

Max wants a Jeep like this for his first car so he can squire his friends around.

We really enjoyed the fun Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum, smack-dab in the middle of town, which was super-cute, very informative and just the right size, i.e. in and out in less than an hour.  

Let it be known ... Philip is not actually a queen!

Because Bisbee is literally carved into every available sheer facing mountain in the area, there are narrow staircases of varying lengths leading everywhere throughout the city ... miles and miles and miles of staircases!

Every October, Bisbee hosts the “Bisbee 1000 Great Stair Climb” where 2,700 people descend upon this little town to do a 3.8 km run (or walk, or shuffle, or whatever) that along the way includes 9 separate staircases of 75-200 steps each.  They call it the Bisbee 1000 but the actual total is like 1,032 steps -- and let me tell you, those last 32 are a real bummer!  If you're really crazy, you could also partake of the Bisbee Ice Man Competition, designed to honor the history of men delivering blocks of ice by hand before the advent of refrigeration, in which entrants race up staircases carrying a ten-pound block of ice with antique ice tongs!

One afternoon while hubby was working (poor guy), I followed the route of the Stair Climb, and although it was tiring, it was fun to discover the many unique, strange, fun, charming artistic touches seen below, that I otherwise would have missed.  

Detail of wall above

Patio gate - you are greeted by your pooch every single time!

  

Master gardener at work

Welcome home!

Before the trip our friend John bet us a bottle of rum that we couldn't find this bathtub in which he had previously been photographed in Bisbee.  Pay up, Johnny Boy, you lose!!! >>>insert evil laugh here<<< We may have skipped feeding the children and engaging in personal hygiene in order to run around amongst the ruins of hundreds of abandoned shacks and home sites throughout Bisbee, like crazy people on a wild goose chase, but we did it!!!

We are not big shoppers but did fall in love with  local artist Robin Davis's painting of Frank Boardman Eadon (1860-1958), known by all as "Pistol Pete," who was an American author, cowboy, scout, Indian fighter, and Deputy US Marshal, but whom was best known for being adopted as the official mascot for Oklahoma State University!  Do you see the pistols painted into his shirt?

Bisbee was wonderful but the real joy was spending time with our "little" boy.  Next stop ... Tombstone AZ and the site of the famous battle at the OK Corral!  Wagons ho!!!

Patagonia/Sonoita, AZ: "The Birds and The Bees" (well, really just Birds)

A rare long weekend without any commitments beckoned us to Patagonia Lake State Park in Southern Arizona, about 12 miles north of the Mexican border town of Nogales.  This is a beautiful, remote region with hilly grassland topography and scenery like nothing else in Arizona!

The 250-acre Patagonia Lake and accompanying recreational opportunities are popular with many Tucsonites, but neither Philip nor I had ever been.  In fact, most Phoenicians to whom we talked about this area said, “Patagonia?  Isn’t that in South America?” or something similar.  We were eager to explore!  The Lucky Charm was loaded and off we went!

Lake Patagonia State Park has campgrounds (both drive-in and boat-in), day use picnic areas, a marina, visitor center, small store, and boat rentals, as well as this charming footbridge ... much higher than it looks in the photo, to allow sailboats to access the lake from the marina.

Because of its lush riparian habitat, Patagonia Lake is well-known as a “birder’s paradise,” with literally hundreds of rare and hard-to-find species making their homes there.  We took a Twilight Discovery Boat Tour with the Visitors Center and did really learn a LOT about the history of the area, and well, a LOT about birds (the names of which we did learn, but have since forgotten, whoops!).  And the chorus of birds singing all day long throughout the campground is soooo enjoyable!

This was the first RV trip where we had towed a "adventuremobile," our Jeep Wrangler, which enabled us to fully experience the area.  The nearby towns of Sonoita and Elgin are part of the Arizona Wine Trail, a consortium of local wineries that have tasting rooms just like those in Sonoma or Napa, so we picked three that looked interesting and spent a wonderful Sunday afternoon visiting them!  

Arizona Hops & Vines

Where they are known for wacky parties and events like the Drag Queen Races, and charming farm animals.

Wilhelm Family Vineyards 

A beautiful setting where we fell in LOVE with their "Fiesta Citrus Sangria" ---- amazing!

Flying Leap Vineyards

By the third winery, we don't really remember specifics ... but it was fun!

We were SHOCKED at how many other people were doing the same thing ("Touring wine country?  In ARIZONA?") and also by how DELICIOUS the wines were (again, "Delicious wine? In ARIZONA?")  But it was really fun and really good!!

In the town of Patagonia, we had heard good things about Velvet Elvis Pizza Company, so named for the painting on the wall which made its way from Xenia, Ohio to little Patagonia, Arizona in 1998.  Highly recommend!

We also enjoyed hiking in the Sonoita Creek State Natural Area amongst gorgeous mesquite trees, which offered a little shade during Sprinkles' and Bella's frequent rest stops.  

We only saw one other hiker and one group of 3 horseback riders during 4+ hours, although they had us very curious because both had just seen a group of coatimundi, which are raccoon-like creatures with bushy tails which stand straight up!  We couldn't decide whether we really WANTED to see them, or really DIDN'T, because Sprinkles probably looked like a good coatimundi snack!!!  The Sonoita Creek was running (surprisingly, because of the current Southwest drought) and the perfect place for a picnic!

As a side note for all you (crazy) athletes out there, the Lake Patagonia area has the perfect training ground for triathletes, including a lake for swimming, flat looping roads for running, and hilly, mostly-traffic-free roads for biking!  In fact, we saw multiple young healthy whippersnappers doing exactly that!  Philip rode his bike 50 miles one day and declared it to be one of the most challenging-yet-exhilaring rides he had ever done!  (I, on the other hand, found 50 pages of my book to be preferable to 50 miles on a bike.  But that's just me.)

Our little hideaway in the trees!

Back at camp, we loved our site nestled in the mesquite trees .... took the doggies on many full-moonlit night walks ... and of course enjoyed spectacular Arizona sunsets.  Lake Patagonia State Park was beautiful and all you Arizonans need to visit it at least once in your lifetime!  We loved it!

Playa Del Rey, CA: New Year's California Airsoft Adventure!

What do you get when you combine these boys .....

with this beach .................?

Why, it's our "California Airsoft Adventure" 

trip in the Lucky Charm!

--------------------------------------

If you've seen our 14-year-old son Max lately, you were possibly wondering if you had somehow teleported to Afghanistan.  That is because for many years now, Max has been into all things military, "airsofting" (a fantastically violent team sport similar to paintball but using small plastic pellets), and the historical recreation of military uniforms.  Let's just say his bedroom looks like a army storage bunker in a war zone! Therefore, it came as no surprise that Max and his friend Joey wanted to take a military-related vacation in the Lucky Charm.  January 1-5, 2014, we did just that, with "SC Village" being our primary destination.

Our first overnight was at the Glen Ivy RV Park in Corona, California.  This stop was picked specifically for its proximity to SC Village, but "proximity" was about all the Glen Ivy had going for it!  Even though it looks nice in this photo, it was not exactly as advertised on their website ..... witness the marijuana smoke smell drifting out of many of the units, barefoot children running rampant throughout the park, and the "Poison Ivy Bar" which was like every 1970's dive bar cliche you could possibly envision! 

But the really interesting part of Glen Ivy was the, um, ah, well, "clientele."  I was really wishing I had brought along one of my more creative Christmas gifts from daughter Sarah .... "REAL LIFE BINGO CARDS" which she handmade and which could have gotten a lot of use in Glen Ivy!  We saw all of these, multiple times!!!

After a good night's sleep, however, we headed off to "SC Village Airsoft Park," which is 100+ acres of 25 different fields where players participate in professionally-run airsoft and paintball games.  The boys were there from start to finish and had the best time!

Here is a picture of their team for the day!

Next, it was off to greater Los Angeles and Dockweiler Beach RV Park, L.A. County's only R.V. campground right on the beach!  You literally step over a short wall and you are on the sand!

We biked, walked, skateboarded, and Joey even went swimming in the freezing-cold ocean!  What???!

That sidewalk right there in front of us is the 22-mile Marvin Braude Bike Trail, 

which takes you right to Redondo Beach Pier, Venice Beach, Santa Monica beaches 

and Marina del Rey!  It was fantastic!

See those red recliner chairs?  Picture me there, sipping my margarita, reading my novel, 

and engaging in world-class people-watching!  There may have also been a catnap or two!

We were amazed and delighted when we heard a commotion from outside the RV and a bulldog was skateboarding through the parking lot, back and forth and back and forth, barking excitedly the whole time.  He knew how to turn the board, accelerate, stop, get on, get off, and literally required zero human interaction to skateboard all by himself for more than half an hour!  It was hysterical!

   

Daughter Kelsey was in L.A. visiting her friend Tyler, and our friend Ken Ross was in L.A. 

apartment-hunting for an upcoming move, so they joined us for dinner, 

hanging out around the firepit, and a harmonica concert by the world-famous Philip Miller!

Our last stop before heading home was the Evike Airsoft Superstore in Alhambra, California, where they have the world's largest inventory of airsoft-related equipment.  It was basically a huge showroom and the boys disappeared into "airsoft heaven" for many hours, trying to figure out how to spend their saved-up allowances and Christmas money!

The drive home was uneventful and this is what the cockpit looked like:

(1) Philip watching football playoffs via Dish Network on his Ipad wedged against the windshield.

(2) Tessa driving the RV -- encouraged by Philip simply because he wanted to watch football playoffs.

(3) Bella standing between us for the entire 6 hours, no matter how much we encouraged her to lie down. 

(5) RV-specific GPS unit guiding us safely home in a sexy voice the boys named "Roberta."

(Not shown ...)  Sprinkles and the boys sleeping and snacking their way home in the back of the RV. 

Alas, all good things must come to an end, and our California Airsoft Adventure was no exception.  

Back to home, back to school, back to work, back to reality.  We loved this trip and would do it 

again in a heartbeat!  And ......... another addition to our "States Visited" map! 

See you again soon, California!