Superbowl 2/5, Bisbee 2/6

Sunday, February 5, 2017

Anita and Kevin are up early and head to the Tucson Airport.  We are taking some of the rocks they found earlier with us and will deliver them to PA one of these days…

Tom and Sue go for walks in the morning while Beth and Greg do some catch-up on emails, computer, etc.    It is another beautiful day and we spend some time watching the birds at Tom & Sue’s feeder... 

House finch

Golden finch

..and enjoying Tom and Sue's lovely house.

Greg installed a hanging rod in Sue’s laundry room and we do a few odds and ends.  Tom and Sue go to a friend’s cookout/fish fry/Superbowl Party for a while, but we opt to stay here since it is the type of party where very little game watching is done.

We watch a little pre-game and then the Super Bowl, enjoying some of the commercials as well.  Atlanta jumps to a surprising 21-3 lead at half time, but the second half is an about face.  Chap and Mam arrive and I help fix a tasty Thai dinner of chicken curry and a scrumptious soup.   

Nice relaxing day.



Monday, February 6

Today's adventure will be a trip to the old mining town of Bisbee, about 60 miles southeast of Benson.  Tom will be playing golf again, so Greg, Sue and I take off about 8:30 AM.  Another beautiful day.

The heyday of the town was in the early 1900's when copper mining was the big attraction.  The mining was first done underground and then later moved to pit mining. In 1900 the population was about 9,000  and by 1910 it was up to 20,000 (with 53 liquor licenses), so it was a hopping town! The mining ended nearly 50 years ago and the town has become more of an artist colony/tourist attraction/old hippy hangout.

 After a coffee stop, we check out the Copper Queen Hotel, the oldest continuously operating hotel in Arizona.

Lots of interesting decor and as we look around, a friendly maid offers to show us the "John Wayne Room".  Apparently he filmed quite a few westerns at nearby Tombstone and stayed in this room.  Nothing fancy but several photos, posters and other of his items.

From here we walk up Brewery Gulch Street, which features a brewery as well as several shops.

The Brewery

 We sample some flavored olive oils and balsamic vinegars and continue up the street, climbing some stairs to a park.

The town is built on the sides of Tombstone Canyon.  This mining town was not a company-store, company-housing type operation, so many of the minors simply climbed up the canyon walls, blasted out a level spot and built homes.  It gives the town a terraced look and there are hundreds of stairs connecting levels.

 Every October there is a race that involves the stairs - the Bisbee 1000 and Sue vows that she will do it this year!

We wonder up various stairways till we are as high as we can go. Occasional artsy decorations are sprinkled throughout town.

We find some pretty stones along a trail way up here, as well as some interesting views.

 Some of the buildings are very nice and well maintained, others rather tumbledown.

We head back down to main street, which runs the length of the bottom of the canyon, and wonder through some shops.

A few of the buildings have giant flies on them.

 The story is that back in 1912 the town had a plague of flies.  They had contests to see who could catch the most flies, with the winner receiving $10.  A different take on pest control!

 We spend a little while in the Bisbee Historic Museum, which is a collection of items donated by locals.  One item of interest is a high school diploma from 1936 - all of the diplomas were solid copper!

Some beautiful wedding gowns, hats and other clothing including this dress from 1902.  Sue chats with one of the staff, a elderly but energetic man with a colorful history.

We make our way to the High Desert Market & Cafe for lunch.

 A group of women are enjoying the patio there, complete with an accordion and singing.  We are across the street from the courthouse and a statue known as IronMan which is a memorial to the miners.

  We try a few more stairways and come across these art cars, some blooming daffodils and violets!  What an interesting town!

From here we drive over to eyeball the Lavender Pit - which was operated in the 1950's till closing in 1974.  Though there is still some copper-bearing ore in the area it is of poor quality and is no longer cost effective to mine.

We head back to Benson, stopping for a few groceries.   We make a sausage/peppers/penne dinner which we all enjoy.  Spend our short evening talking.  All are early risers so no late owls here!

Feb 4 Gem Show and Kitt Observatory

Saturday, February 4

Chap & Mam head out to Tucson shortly after we get up.  Today’s agenda includes Anita, Kevin, Greg and I going to the gem show and then heading further west for a program at the Kitt Observatory about an hour southwest of Tucson, where Tom and Sue will meet us.

The show is crazy busy today as we stop at two of the dozens of venues. You could spend days if you wanted to see everything!

Mam and Chap

Kevin finds a good deal on a cutting machine which will be shipped to him.  I find some nice cultured pearls and a basket, while Anita finds some cute earrings.  We opt for lunch at an In-‘n’-Out which is packed but moves quickly.   We visit Chap and Mam for a bit and enjoy looking at all the jewelry, stones, fossils, etc. on display! Chap says the "hot" stone this year is purple garnet from Tanzania. 

The Kitt Peak National Observatory is visible from miles away and the road up the mountain is steep with many switchbacks.  At least it has guardrails (mostly). 

Nice views on the way up.

We finally arrive at the Visitor’s Center where we check in. 

There are quite a few displays, including this plasma globe.

 This night observation program includes a sandwich picnic dinner, which is served about 5:30  to the group of about 30.  We are given a walking tour of the area while we watch the sun set,

then we are divided into two groups.  We spend one hour with a 20"telescope, checking out venus, orion nebula, the Andromeda galaxy (2.3M light years away), a binary star, a globular cluster and finally the moon.  The moon is quite bright tonight which makes it more difficult to see some stars. There are no photos allowed after sunset.

The next hour is a brief introduction to Astronomy and explanation of how to use a star chart.  We then go outside and practice, finding quite a few constellations.  We also use binoculars to check out some stars. It is very cold, even with coat, hat and gloves!  We are at close to 7000’!

The staff have covered all the cars’ headlights

and as we leave we carefully follow a lead vehicle about a mile down the mountain before they remove the covers.  This is to prevent light interference for the many telescopes being used for research.  There are quite a few atop this mountain,  including the rare McMaster solar telescope which is largely underground,  one which was used by the astronauts before their moon landing mission and SARA which is totally remotely accessed. Very interesting evening!

Greg drives Tom & Sue’s car back to Benson and we arrive home around 11:30. 

Goodnight!