The following sign was on a hiking trail. Are chupacabras real? Should we have been frightened?
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Whew - 77 days, 8,500 miles!
As our Winter Trip of 2011-2012 ends, I will leave you with two puzzles. The first: what does this tattoo parlor slogan mean? "Devastating" the weak. Do they mean "decorating" those who are too weak to run? Or what? Why is the apostrophe in the wrong word? Or is it?
Monday, January 30, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Heading north
A delay in the closing of our house purchase means that we might as well head north and take care of business there. Mail, bills, taxes, garden clean-up, house reduction, friends to catch up with...no shortage of things to do. Ohhhh, it was hard to leave Bisbee.
Home in 5 days (1,800 miles at 360 miles a day). One more shot of a Bisbee vehicle taken as we stopped for breakfast on our way out of town:
Our first Bisbee party
This was a going away party for Sally...she was clearly well-known and well-loved in Bisbee and will be missed. It was very gracious of her to introduce us to many of her friends and neighbors - a huge benefit of buying a house directly from its owner.
We hadn't been here before, although it's right on Brewery Gulch and we've walked by it a thousand times. It surely deserves its tagline "Arizona's Smallest Bar" with a bar large enough for only three stools, but it also has a lovely outdoor deck.
This is Sally on the right, with her friend Deb who owns a gallery in town:
Below, the guy in the back wearing the hat is Grant, who owns Optimo Hatworks (optimohatworks.com). Very cool hats and we will probably need one to protect our Seattle skin from the Bisbee sun. The guy on the right is Bob, who lives part-time in Bisbee and part-time in Sequim. Small world.
There were lots of other people there, some we had met previously and many new faces. We are going to love it here.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
The Bisbee "B"
We are hanging around, killing time, waiting for January 31 to arrive. Why? That's the day we will own our own tiny piece of this special little town. In the meantime, we're trying to keep busy. We got library cards! We browsed every antique store. We officially decided Poco is our favorite restaurant, even though it is vegan and we are not; it's totally yummy.
We climbed to the top of the hill with the Bisbee "B". Here's the the view from on top:
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Arizona "firsts"
Yesterday we explored southeast Arizona's wine country (who knew?) and visited Arizona's first winery, Sonoita Vineyards, established in 1983. According to the Arizona Wine Grower's Association, the Sonoita appellation is similar in climate and soil to Ribera Del Duero in Spain, Southern France and Paso Robles.
Willcox, Arizona, up on Interstate 10, claims to have Arizona's first store.
We came upon this Cowboy Church on our way back from the Sonoita-Elgin wine outing. This was a personal first for me; in doing some follow-up research, I learned that there are cowboy churches in several western states. They have short sermons, don't pass a collection plate and baptisms often take place in a stock tank.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Ramsey Canyon, Huachuca Mountains
Continuing our exploration of the surrounding countryside, we drove 30 miles east of Bisbee to Ramsey Canyon which is famous for wildlife viewing, and hummingbirds in particular. In fact, fourteen species of hummers can be found here. Unfortunately, record-breaking low temperatures in this area last winter caused many of the over-wintering hummingbirds to die, so the population is temporarily down and we didn't spot any. We did see some other birds (oh help us Dave), a white-tailed deer, a squirrel and three lizards.
Starting at an elevation of 5,500 ft, we hiked up Ramsey Peak to an overlook at 6,200 ft (the peak is actually 8,725 ft but that was enough - the air is thin) which provided us with a good view of Sierra Vista below. 
Is that a fern in Arizona??:
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Birding in southeastern Arizona
While we are not serious birders, we like to watch and identify at least the birds that come through our own backyard. We will have quite a few new species to learn about here in southeastern Arizona, which seems to be a hotspot for birders. A few days ago, we drove about 10 miles west from Bisbee to the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation area. While the San Pedro River wasn't quite up to our expectations for a "river" (Mark calls it the Pee-dro), this area is home to 100 species of breeding birds and 250 species of migrant or wintering birds. That makes it an important wildlife habitat, wouldn't you say?
We saw some different birds but needed our friend Dave, who is a renowned Alaskan scientist and ornithologist, to help us identify them. Dave knows all birds and can identify them at a distant glance or by sound alone. Here you can see the trees growing near the river and the beautiful Huachuca mountains in the background:
On a second bird outing, we went east from Bisbee about 20 miles to the Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area. Here, over 30,000 sandhill cranes are spending the winter months. We saw these same guys a few years ago in the spring in Othello, Washington, on their way down. It's quite a sight, although my point-and-shoot camera couldn't capture them. You can see why they like this nice marshy draw, a total surprise to us in the middle of the desert.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
A hike along the Continental Divide
We were surprised to find the Continental Divide here in the Mule Mountains, but that's what it said on a big concrete pillar that has been here since 1918. From the top of the ridge, we're looking southeast at Old Bisbee in the canyon below.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Where exactly is Bisbee anyway?
It's 90 miles southeast of the Tucson airport and 10 miles from the Mexican border town of Naco. Bisbee is in the middle of the Mule Mountains and, as previously mentioned is a "mile-high" city with an elevation of around 5,300 feet.
According to Wikipedia (sadly, a common source of my blog-facts), the Mule Mountains were once heavily forested with Rocky Mountain Douglas Fir and other conifers. Along with the mining operations came the need for fuel for the smelters and housing for the miners. ALL the trees were cut down, and now we see mostly manzanita, juniper, a few scrub pines, etc. Another reminder that we can so easily damage our planet.
We took Ruby for a hike just south of town.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
The Bisbee Coaster Race
The Bisbee Coaster Race is the oldest (since 1914), longest (a mile and a half), and probably the fastest gravity-powered race in the world. It's for kids - 16 and under - and the coasters can't weigh more than 350 pounds.
It started out as a kid's race. In 1914, the driver could be no more than 14. However, in some years, adults were allowed to race and one year the winning adult coaster weighed 1,000 pounds. There were some accidents and more than one death. There is more emphasis on safety these days; there are practice runs, safety checks, brake requirements, spectator safety guidelines, and a big insurance policy.
It takes place Fourth of July weekend.
Some of the oldies from a coaster boneyard next to Tombstone Canyon Road:
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Now we've done it
Remember how I said we were house-hunting? Well, I guess we were serious. We made an offer on a place on Wood Canyon Road and without too much back-and-forth it was accepted and now we're going to have to decorate my Toyota with macaroni or something so that we will fit in and not be called selfish yuppie scum.
Just to give more perspective on the town, here's Castle Rock and the Bisbee "B" seen from the middle of town.
And here's one from west of town, looking back toward Bisbee.
Wood Canyon is a quiet street on the far west end of Old Bisbee, about two miles from the brewpub...a nice walk. Here's the front of our future Bisbee abode:
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Friday, January 6, 2012
The Copper Queen Library, Bisbee
This library was established in 1882 and claims to be Arizona's oldest public library. The post office is on the bottom floor of the building, the library the top two.
Here we are sitting on the library's deck, in the January sunshine, reading the local newspapers. We grabbed an espresso on the way up, at the Bisbee Coffee Co., which you can just see across the street.
Quartzsite, AZ
If you're a rockhound, you've probably heard of Quartzsite. Since the 60's, they've been known for their huge gem and mineral shows. All winter, Quartzsite is basically one huge show. In addition to the rocks: RV's, classic cars, crafts, and swap meets (aka giant yard sales with hundreds, if not thousands, of vendors). Must be seen to be believed.
And there's more. Thanks to a tip from loyal reader Matt H., we stopped by a local bookstore. Mark was looking for something to read by Edward Abbey and was directed to a lovely first edition for $250 (but passed, being a reader but not a collector). There were many very unusual items including an extensive collection of old magazines of the west, as well as the usual paperback mysteries. A surprising find in Quarzsite.
The owner of the store is a guy named Paul Winer. He's pretty famous and you may even have seen him on Leno. He's an accomplished pianist and cartoonist. And he's a nudist, often wearing only a knitted covering on his privates, held up by string. He's happy to pose for photos! Fortunately, or unfortunately, he was fully dressed and heading out when we arrived. He was preparing for a "show" that night at one of the local RV parks. Not sure which of his talents he was going to be showing, and we didn't follow up.
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