Intermission

That brings us to the end of our Bisbee trip last February.  

 

Bisbee exceeded our expectations and jumped into our top places to live someday in retirement.  Las Cruces fell off that list.  Much to our surprise, on the way home, we stopped at a different New Mexico city on the way home that we liked a lot.  We didn't spend enough time there to check it out fully, so we plan to fix that sometime in the next couple of years with a much longer visit.

I'm going to take a short blogging break before writing the post about the mystery city.  We have some family business to work on; Justin is making some life changes, which will require new housing, new caregivers, and a new city.  And we need to take time to enjoy Wisconsin's brief northern summer.  

Hasta Luego!

 

Bisbee Side Trip: Chiricahua National Monument

 From February 2022

This is another place that I've wanted to visit for a long time but never had.  Chiricahua National Monument is about a 90 minute drive northeast from Bisbee.  We started with the trails at the bottom near the entrance.  Most people seemed to be crowded around the visitors' center; the crowd quickly thinned out on the trails.

Immigrants arrived here in the late 1870's establishing ranches in this dry, unforgiving landscape.

 

Faraway Ranch

After hiking up to the Visitor's Center, where hordes of tourists milled about, we hiked back to the car and drove up to the top of the mountain.  These views were what the tourists had come to see, and it was impressive.

 

Getting up to the top of the mountain during the 1800's would not have been a trivial thing.  I wonder how many times the original settlers made it there.

Downtown Bisbee: Good coffee, Fine Food.

Downtown Bisbee has two coffee roasters, and the familiar fragrance of roasted coffee (burnt toast) was often in the air.  We were usually smelling Old Bisbee Coffee Roasters.  Their storefront was not open, appearing to only sell their coffee wholesale.  In the retail outlets, I wasn't able to figure out the roasting date, so their coffee wasn't an option for me.  Bisbee Coffee Company was open for business and stamped its roasted coffee with a roast date.

Since I rant out of my home roasted coffee in Bisbee.  I was grateful to buy a pound of one-day fresh roasted whole bean from the Bisbee Coffee Company, and it was very good.

We had two great meals in downtown Bisbee. The first was at Thuy's Noodle Shop. What a find!  Excellent pho and squash curry--something we were not expecting to find in a small town like Bisbee.  It may have not have been fine dining, but it was excellent food at reasonable prices.

 

Our second terrific meal was at a fine dining restaurant called Cafe Roka.  Only open on the weekends, the food was amazing.  We had the night's special:   clams with french bread to soak up the white wine and garlic sauce.  Some people were dressed up in suits.  But I also saw a cowboy in boots come in with a ten inch knife, flopping on his hip.

Bisbee: Side trip to Lowell

I've read about the Bisbee Breakfast Club on other blogger's posts, so we decided to give it a try.  I had low expectations, but breakfast and the service were pretty good.

 

The restaurant is in the Town of Lowell on historic Erie Street.  Lowell was annexed into Bisbee in the early 1900's.  It was worth
strolling around after breakfast.

 

Refreshing Morning

 

Dave's corn field

After last week's hot and humid weather, I was graced this morning with 58 degrees and a beautiful sky during the early morning walk.  The hardest-working-75-year-old-farmer that I know doesn't have the highest production corn field in the area, but it looks mighty pretty this morning. The bit of fog rising up is from a tributary of Spring Creek, which it meets in Lodi in another mile.

Bisbee: City of Stairs

Bisbee is built into the sides of the mountain, and many of the homes have challenging sets of stairs providing "access."  Rather than complain about it, Bisbee has embraced its stairs, creating an annual race called the Bisbee 1000.

The actual event is in mid-October, but that didn't stop us from walking the 4.5 mile course.  It' a great way to explore this small Arizona city of about 5000 people.  There are a total of nine numbered staircases.

There are all sorts of interesting things to look at along the way.

Unlike most of our walks/hikes, we took our time on this one but eventually finished all of the staircases.  I was proud of Callie for staying out of trouble with several loose dogs around.  There is only one picture at the very end reminding us of her presence.

Bisbee Side Trip: Madera Canyon

The drive to Madera Canyon was an exercise in how Google Maps can take you to unexpected places.  Everything was fine until the advice to turn on to Hwy 62, a dirt road with frequent signs warning of drug dealers and human trafficking.  The dirt road narrowed and then started climbing high up into the mountains.  The drop-off was concerning, and then we met a jeep where it was not possible for two vehicles to pass. The other driver expertly backed up into an atv side trail so we could get by in Julia's Subaru.

Once we came down out of the mountains, all was good.  Madera Canyon is a beautiful spot, and we arrived on a day when day fees were waived.

From the trailhead, we hiked along a small creek.

 

We then began climbing up Mount Wrightson.  The trail got steeper and steeper. We were on the Bog Spring Trail when Julia started worrying getting back down with balky knees.  Soon after, we hit snow and ice, making it easy to decide that was far enough. 

It was still worth celebrating the partial trip up.  We hiked 5.8 miles, ascending 1555 feet.

Bisbee: Whitewater Draw

 From February 2022

Sandhill cranes have made a comeback in Wisconsin and are quite common in the summer.  We have never seen where they winter, until our February trip.  In Albuquerque, we saw a couple of dozen cranes feeding along the side of an urban trail.  Near Bisbee, we saw where thousands of cranes come to winter at Whitewater Draw.  It's only about a half hour from town, so we went twice.  

 

Madison: Concert on the Square

Yesterday afternoon and evening, we went to Concerts on the Square on the grounds of Wisconsin's State Capitol.  It was a beautiful afternoon and evening.  The performers were the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the Wisconsin Dells Singers from the Ho Chunk tribe.  

In order to get good seats, it's common for some state employees to leave work and start setting up blankets on the grounds at 3 p.m, returning after the workday is over.

 

We squeezed in shortly before 5 p.m. for the 7 p.m. concert. By showtime, there is no space left on the grass, and tens of thousands of people are in attendance on all sides of the capitol.  Most people can't even see the performers but watch on big screens set up on the other three sides.

Both of us love the people watching.   We bring a picnic and stretch out on a large blanket.  There was a nice breeze to keep the air moving.

 

By the time the music starts, and after a glass or two of wine, I'm usually laying on my back, looking up at the trees.  I'm not a huge fan of chamber music, and I almost fell asleep in the middle of the crowd.

 

There is no sleeping, however, during the Ho-Chunk performance, which is energizing to me.

The Ho-Chunk is not a poor nation, operating two very successful casinos and other businesses in the area.   William Funmaker thanked us for coming out and encouraged everyone to visit a Ho-Chunk Casino soon.  I'll pass but really enjoyed the music. 

Bisbee: Off-grid Home on North Juniper Flats Road

 From February 2022

The electric company ends service at the bottom of Juniper Flats Road and Old Divide Road.  About two thirds of the way up the mountain, there are several off-grid homes.  The first one is owned by a rock band that apparently has/had concerts on the property.  Warning signs are on the side of the road, letting fans know that those who throw objects during performances will be ejected from the property and subject to arrest.

Around the next bend is a house powered by both wind and solar.  This house is on a fairly small footprint, but has amazing views.  It wasn't just a rich person's fourth home; it was occupied and lived in.

 

Bisbee: Hiking Cochise Stronghold

 From February 2022

On February 18th, we drove north and east from Bisbee for a little over an hour to the Coronado National Forest. The Stronghold Trail has been on my bucket list for a long time, and it did not disappoint.

The four mile dirt road in was heavily rutted.  There is a national forest campground at the trailhead, and I spent some time talking to a Scamp owner before the hike.  Even though it was a weekday, the campground was full.

It was a perfect day for hiking.

The terrain was rugged.  Cochise and his group of 1000, including 250 warriors, were obviously tougher than the day hikers who spend time here now trying to capture some of the spirituality of place.

Cochise was never conquered in battle and lived in the stronghold for about 15 years.  His body was secretly buried somewhere within.  Sounds a lot better to me than a gravestone or a monument.

This is a 9 mile out and back trail.  We just did the eastern half of it to the divide and then came back the way we came.

 

The last picture was where we spent some time.  I like to think that Cochise's people thought this particular spot was special too. 

Bisbee Side Trip: San Pedro River, a Winery and Tombstone

 From February 2022

One day, we explored to the west of Bisbee and checked things out.  First, we hiked some of the trails in San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area.

 

The landscapes here provide a stark contrast to the green of Wisconsin. We continued on to Sierra Vista, which didn't seem to have a defined downtown area.  We know people who have retired here, but decided that it wasn't our vibe.

After putting up with all of my brewery stops, it was only fair that I visit a winery for Julia.  Arizona has a bunch in the Elgin area.  We stopped at Flying Leap Vineyard.  Our early adult experience with vineyards was in northern California, where the wineries, tasting rooms and grapes were all in the same location.  That's not so around Elgin.  The tasting room employees told us that the grapes were mostly grown several hours away and that land was very difficult to buy for grapes in the Elgin area.  The fields that we did see were more like representations of their fields near Wilcox.  It was still a pleasant stop.  

 

In the afternoon, we drove east on Hwy 82 until we ran into Hwy 80 south.  We couldn't resist checking out Tombstone, although we knew it would be a tourist trap, which it was. 

Don't shoot; I'm not armed

 

Bisbee: Hiking Juniper Flats

Just outside of Bisbee, my hike up to the top of Juniper Flats started at the intersection of Old Divide Road and North Juniper Flats Road.  This isn't a trail.  It's a steep, winding gravel road up to the cell phone antennas on top of the mountain.  It's driveable, but it doesn't see much traffic.  

Looking down on Old Divide Road

 

Juniper Flats Road flattens out on top of the mountain.  And it's here that free camping is available to vans, truck campers, and a few brave drivers with Class C's or travel trailers. The gravel road is very, very steep. This is BLM land.  The views on top are incredible.  Most people camp at the fire rings between where the road flattens out and the first antenna tower.  It can get extremely windy up here.  I talked to a shaken older couple who spent a windy night in their truck camper.  One night was enough, they said.  

There is also some partying that happens up here from time to time by locals.  In researching the area, I found that someone had been murdered  only two months before my hike.

For the truly brave and/or stupid, a deeply rutted dirt road continues on for many miles.  There is evidence of jeep or ATV camps in the first mile beyond that I hiked.  Normally, however, I kept going up to the next steep ascent leading to the second  antenna tower, where there are views all the way to Mexico.  This was a go-to hike for me on half a dozen occasions.  

Bisbee: Queen Mine Tour

 From February 2022

Julia went on the Queen Mine Tour in Bisbee, while I hiked up the mountain (next post) on the gravel road behind Darlene's place.  

 

I've been on enough mine and cave tours for the duration of my lifetime, but Julia is a daughter of a geologist/rock guy.  She is always fascinated.

I finished my hike and drove down to Bisbee, meeting at the Old Bisbee Brewing Company.  Due to the pandemic, I usually take advantage of the outdoor spaces of brewpubs and restaurants.  However, I couldn't resist taking a picture of the tasting room here.  The tasting room and the brewing room are the same place.  Very unusual, but it's an old building without a lot of space.