The Bisbee Mines

I've mentioned that Bisbee is an old mining town. If that conjures up quaint images of independent frontiersmen sluicing for gold, forget it. Bisbee was the location of some gigantic open pit copper mines. They are still here - the pits, I mean. The mines have been closed since the mid-70s.

The pits and the tailings are beautiful in a way, horrifying in another way. Some Bisbee residents are hoping that the mines will be reopened, providing jobs and money. Personally, I hope not, but I think it is good to have such a visible reminder of the damage we can do and have done to our planet. It is also a history lesson. Bisbee was incorporated in 1902 and became a booming mining town, with a population greater than today. In 1917 its mines were supporting the WWI war effort. The mines continued to provide copper - a lot of copper - up until the last mine was finally closed in 1975.

Bisbee would have disappeared then, had the artists and hippies not discovered it shortly thereafter. Lucky for us.

Cars of Bisbee

You've seen some examples in previous posts, here's a couple more.

Okay, we said uncle

VanMan seems quite a bit smaller when the weather is too cold for sitting outside, even wearing long johns and layers of fleece plus windbreakers. Not that we were exactly homicidal, but we decided it might be important to take a break. So we are giving ourselves a nice Christmas present: a stay at The Gardens at Mile High Ranch, located all the way at the other end of Old Bisbee, maybe 2 miles from the RV park.

Our accommodation includes a tiny kitchen, a living room with an electric fireplace providing holiday ambience, and a separate bedroom, also with an electric fireplace, this one controlled with a remote and with optional crackling wood sounds.  Our room is decorated for the Brow (6th) Chakra, and I'm hoping to find out what that means before we leave here. www.gardensatmilehighranch.com/

We brought these decorations from home...it's starting to look a lot like Christmas!

Why we are here

We discovered Bisbee on our fall VanMan trip last year. We are a bit tired of Seattle's seemingly constant gray skies, but we decided we could be happy with our Hardrock Ranch commune (still recruiting members, see my summer blog www.hardrockranch.blogspot.com) if we could go south to the sun for a few months during the long dreary winters. 

Bisbee seemed perfect - we were looking for a "real" place, not a "retirement community." Bisbee is an old mining town, beautiful setting in the Mule Mountains, artsy, funky, good restaurants, cool old buildings, lots of history, tons of Arizona sunshine. We missed one detail, though: Bisbee's elevation is 5,000 feet - or 6,000, depending, I guess, on which street you're standing on. That makes it a mile high. That means it's COLD in the winter. Around 27 degrees this morning, for instance, so we're not going to be able to roll up our water hose for awhile yet. 

It isn't dreary, though, and we've worn our sunglasses every day (in Seattle, they would be in the back of the junk drawer for months). 

Bisbee is addictive. We find ourselves talking about selling out up north and being here full-time. Mark wants to buy old miner's cottages and restore them. Or old bordellos. We find ourselves hanging out here, in spite of the cold, and in spite of plans to continue on to visit friends and relatives in Houston, Waveland, Miami and Atlanta. We're house-hunting. We're spending Christmas huddled in our van. 

For today's art, note the twist on this arch:

And another cool gate:

That's right...we're still in Bisbee

Haven't come up with a good reason to leave. Here's another awesome little market we discovered. Homemade breads, salsa, cocktail sauce, sausage, and lots of other yummy stuff, including wholesome stuff, gluten-free options, nuts, grains, herbs, seeds and wine.

A view from up above that area (Mimosa is a ways up Brewery Gulch):

Now, we need some artwork for the day. Here's a mural on the side of the Jonquil Motel, painted by deceased but not forgotten local artist Rose Johnson who was tragically killed by bad alcohol in Bali:

Christmas cheer in Bisbee

Walls and fences of Bisbee

Gates of Bisbee

Today in Bisbee

We walked all around town today. Bisbee was built more or less in a canyon and there are houses perched on both sides. Lots of stairs...some houses have 70 steps from the street to the front door. Here's another Bisbee business, and more of the promised artwork.

Finally arrived in Bisbee

They like dogs at the Old Bisbee Brewery. Ruby liked the free popcorn.

Lots of good artwork in Bisbee. More later.

This is a car repair shop called Bisbee Bug:

Patagonia Lake

Tubac

Tubac originated in 1752 as a Spanish fort. Today it is a village filled with shops and all kinds of artisans. We looked at pottery, copper sculptures, unique metal furniture, and my favorite - a custom leather clothing designer. I resisted buying a fringed leather poncho, realizing that it might look a little out of place in Seattle.

Most interesting to us:  the ancient adobe buildings many of the shops are housed in.

Under the Tucson Sun

Downtown Tucson

Ajo

The girls relax in the desert

The Sonoran Desert

Yuma

After the wild burros, Yuma's biggest claim to fame is that it gets 350 days of sun each year. We found out, however, that "sun" does not necessarily equal "warm." A bit breezy and a bit chilly this week.

Another very large claim to fame is the Yuma Proving Ground, which we drove through every day to get to our campground. The YPG is one of the largest military installations in the world and encompasses over 1,300 square miles. The U.S. Army conducts tests on its weapons and uses the site as a training ground. We saw lots of tanks racing through the desert, and heard an occasional very large boom.

The next interesting thing about Yuma is a 3,500 acre BLM campground called the Imperial Dam Long Term Visitor Area. For $180, you can park there for 7 months. There is a central area for water and black/gray water dumping, but other than that you just park your RV out in the desert, maybe next to an ocotillo bush. Most of these hardy campers have multiple solar panels, wisely taking advantage of the nearly constant sunshine.

Solar panels. Our van was wired for solar panels when we bought it, and already had the controller installed. When we saw this place, we figured maybe their overhead was lower than most, and their expertise higher. So we did it - now we have a 135 watt Kyocera solar panel on the VanMan roof! Oh boy - no more trying to play backgammon by candlelight!

One final Yuma claim to fame:  Sam and Nancy. I worked with Nancy 25+ years ago in Homer, AK and have only seen her maybe once since then. Retirement agrees with Nancy - she looks great! She attributes her healthful glow to clean living, keeping busy and exercising - she teaches multiple sessions of water exercise class SIX days/week. Sam is lookin' good too - golf!