Southeast Arizona

Monday - by staying in Benson, our goal was to see new places in Arizona.  This morning we headed south on Hwy 80 to Bisbee.  We read about the Queen Mine Tours, so went there for their 11:00 tour. While we waited for the tour to start, we read about the history of the mine and watched a video on the mining process for the copper.  The tour guides were two men that had worked in the mine when it closed in 1975.  They outfitted us in a yellow slicker jacket, hard hat, belt and light.  We boarded the little mine train and chugged down into the mine. (The Queen Mine being an underground mine versus the Santa Rita open pit mine we saw in New Mexico.) We had three stops inside the mine, where they showed us where the miners worked, the tools and machines they used, and stories about the miners. At the final stop, we stood near a piece of machinery that only a few could first identify - the bathroom cart!  The guide wanted someone to sit on it while he told us about it, so I hopped up on it.  So everyone has a picture of me on the two holder cart.  It was a great tour as we learned a lot about the mining history of southeast Arizona.  It has been one of the most productive mining areas of our nation for many years with copper, silver, gold, and zinc all mined in the area.
We drove into the town of Bisbee and walked around looking at the old architecture of the buildings and the eclectic little shops and eating places.  We had lunch at the Old Bisbee Brewing Company, they had a great chili brat and fresh popcorn.  We drove back to Benson and picked up groceries and then home to the park.  We rode our bikes around the park in the early evening and watched the sunset again.

The Queen Bee Mine tour train

Heading into the mine

A rail bike and wagon

One the the drills used

The"facilities" when working in the mine

Demonstrating model

Queen Bee Mine - Bisbee

Tuesday - we did computer work in the morning and then headed to Tombstone, "the town too tough to die".  It is very touristy, but a historical place as well.  We paid the small fee to see the historical Cochise County Courthouse museum, an 1882 Victorian structure, it was very interesting.  They had the court room where the trials were held and the hanging gallows out in the yard.  We walked through some of the shops and went in to the famous Bird Cage Theatre.  It was named for the fourteen bird cage crib compartments that were suspended from the ceiling overhanging the gambling casino and dance hall. It was in these compartments the ladies of the evening entertained their guests.  They have ghost tours at night, saying it is the most haunted building in America.  We did not take the tour, just looked around in the gift shop.  Then home and supper.

Tombstone Historical Courthouse

Hanging gallows

Tombstone court room

Wednesday - Packed up, moved today to Arizona City to stay with our friend, Curtis Coleman, founder of RVillage.com, a fast-growing social media network for RV owners and enthusiasts. We were delighted to find that Curtis lives in a beautiful spot on a private lake, with plenty of room for us to park the RV.  We enjoyed visiting and catching up with him and enjoyed the beautiful views and especially the sunsets there. He even treated us to some of his original guitar music on the patio! Curtis was a member of the New Christy Minstrels and spent many years as a band member for Carole King. He has tremendous musical talent!

First Arizona City sunset

A flock of geese at sunset

No clouds this night

Thursday - we went for a hike nearby in the Casa Grande Mountain Park.  We hiked the two miles up the Radio Tower trail and then back down on the Bolt Trail.  The views were great, we could see Picacho Peak to the south and the town of Casa Grande to the north.  It was a good workout for us and a beautiful, warm day.  We stopped and picked up a few groceries for supper and then went back to Curtis's.  The sunset was even more beautiful this night. We made a crockpot pork loin supper to share with him and watched the Kansas City Chiefs game.  They lost to the Raiders! :(

Radio Tower trail

Picacho Peak in the distance

Desert views

Coming down a ridgeline on Bolt Trail

Our parking spot at Curtis's

Amazing sunset!

Colors changing every minute

Gary and Curtis

Friday - said our goodbyes to Curtis and headed south for Tucson.  We were not able to check into our RV park there until Monday, so we parked the RV for the weekend on Lisa & Jeff's cul-de-sac. A nice spot off the busy streets.  We had not told Deb, Joe & Dan that we were arriving that day, so when Lisa and Jeff went to Deb and Joe's for supper that night, we went along and surprised them. (Luckily Deb had plenty of good supper to share - I took a pasta salad along in case we needed to stretch the meal). We had a great visit, Deb's Mom was there visiting from South Dakota - it was good to see her.

Saturday - Lisa and Deb prepared a wonderful brunch for all of us.  Late morning, Gary and I went for a long walk for exercise and then spent the afternoon watching college football with Lisa and Jeff. That night we all went to Nonna Maria's in Oracle for pizza.  (If you are in the area, it is the best.)

Sunday - After mass, we went over and visited Dan, then to Deb and Joe's to watch the football games.  I went out for a good long walk and then we were all at Deb and Joe's for supper.  Joe made his delicious marinated, grilled beef roast.  Yumm.  The nights are cool in the desert - we needed to wear jackets and pants in the evening.