Adjust Your Elevation

 Bisbee, Arizona has an elevation of about 5500 feet.  Oro Valley has an elevation of about 2620 feet. That doesn't seem like a big difference, but on a 100 degree day in late September, it was the difference between 100 degrees and 82 degrees.  

Most hot days, we are up early here in Oro Valley, taking our morning walk at sunrise, playing pickleball, and then back home by 10 a.m. when it starts getting warmish.  Then we are back outside in the early evening to take advantage of the cooling temperatures, although sunrise is as cool as it gets.

This week, we took a road trip in search of cooler temps in the higher elevations.  The first stop was Tombstone, which is the western equivalent of Wisconsin Dells, mostly a place where the locals extract dollars from the tourists.  

There are all sorts of creative methods to do this:  gunfights in corrals, tours of buildings previously housing bordellos or saloons, stagecoach rides, etc.  

The most interesting one that I saw was to rent a gun (a rig, they called it) to walk around town, armed.  If I recall correctly, that was a $50 extraction.  

We walked up and down the streets for thirty minutes or so while keeping our wallets intact. Then it was on to Bisbee, the planned destination to leave a few dollars behind.

Thuy's Noodle Shop

We were last in Bisbee several years ago. Our favorite Vietnamese “pho” shop was still here and just as good. Then it was a short walk downhill to the brewery where we had spent several afternoons on the patio, looking up at the mountains all around us and enjoying the Bisbee vibe. 

Old Bisbee Brewery

I had a double hopped IPA, not to be confused with the much stronger double IPA. Double hopped simply means introducing a second load of hops after the initial boil (dry hopped). It was malty and well balanced.  My favorite stout here is now seasonal, so it was not available.  That's a good excuse to return in the winter.  

Then there was time for walking around town in the early afternoon when temps were quite pleasant even in the sun.

An interesting truck camper

Bisbee is another place that I could live if granted several lifetimes. A quirkiness is present here  that I enjoy and haven’t experienced in many towns. There’s tourism here but the vibe is real with a dose of wishful thinking and escapism that many of us could use during these "interesting times."

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