Bisbee Day 3

Abandoned trailer home in the desert of Arizona

Damn it, where was my wake-up call? The front desk out here is worthless. If it weren’t for the view, I’d check us out. I know this was rustic and cheap, but the website said nothing of the dysfunctional generator, broken windows, and half a door. Oh well, I try to remind myself that the pioneers didn’t have blogs to whine about trying to fix a broken wheel in the rain one hundred sixty years ago while marauding hordes of bandits circled the wagon trains stealing their animals. After collecting up some dead grass, starting a fire, and making breakfast, I was off for a day of adventure.

Signs along a dirt road in southern Arizona

But first, I’ll have to find my way out of here. Don’t go squawking on about how a GPS would come in handy right about now; I have a built-in GPS called “sense of direction,” and I’ll do fine – like I always do. Heck, I even have fresh tire tracks to follow; how difficult can this be? It’s not like I’m the first guy out on the Great Plains breaking trail on my way to discover gold in California. I’m just looking to find a little fun today out here in the resort city called Bisbee. By the way, how many others hate these signs that tell us to “Watch for Animals”? I watch and see nothing. I drive through anywhere else where there are no signs and knock off rabbits, javelinas, and other assorted four-legged creatures; I flatten snakes and lizards, even had birds crash into my windshield, but I swear if the sign says “Wildlife Ahead,” I’ll never see it.

In the forest at Chiricahua National Monument in southeast Arizona

The travel guide in our room said we’d find a spa out here with aroma and massage therapy. Haha, funny guys, what am I supposed to do, smell the forest and roll around on the rocks? If I don’t find something fun to do soon, this day is gonna be one giant waste of time that I could have better spent watching the rerun of season 3, episode 6 of Dancing With The Stars, which I swear was one of the greatest moments in television history I have ever witnessed, next to Richard Hatch winning season 1 of Survivor.

Big blue sky with clouds over a mountainy desert landscape in southern Arizona

I can only assume I took a wrong turn down the wrong dirt road that took me into that forest. Back out on the highway, endless vistas and desert stretch as far as the eye can see, which probably also correlates to the curvature of the earth and how far the horizon is from our vision before it dips below the curve, but it seems far away anyhow. The scattered fluffy clouds interrupt sunlight’s journey to earth, casting shadows where sunlight would otherwise burn brightly, like off on the mountains in front of me. This suits me fine as months from now, I’ll beg for respite from the orb of scorchidness.

Sunset looking towards Sierra Vista in southern Arizona

Unable to find thrills, a beach, the spa, or any other meaningful entertainment besides all this looking at the desert, I pulled into a now-defunct drive-in theater. It is so closed that nothing, not an inkling of detail, remains to identify this patch of land as a former drive-in theater. Only this panoramic screen stands as a testament to this old 1950s icon. I pulled up to watch a showing of the 1988 B-movie classic “A Sunset to Die For” starring Sage Peterson, Star McBride, and Deedra Bright Sun in her first role onscreen.

Clouds tops illuminated by the glow of sunset in southern Arizona

Then, just before the sun finally set on this day, up in the sky, curls of fluff atop the clouds began to crest and roll for the celestial surfers who must have been just out of sight waiting for the sun to finish its disappearance so they could come out and catch a wave. So that was my day, Caroline spent hers back in Bisbee playing fiber artist for another day – yawn.

Bisbee Day 2

Caroline Wise at the Bisbee Fiber Guild taking a workshop in cotton dyeing

We are here in Bisbee, Arizona, for Caroline, who is attending a two-and-a-half-day workshop on cotton dyeing. The class is led by Joan Ruane and is being held at the Bisbee Fiber Guild. Joan is a renowned expert in this field, and it shows by how far some of the students traveled to be here. Today, they spent time dyeing the fiber and learning how to card the cotton to make punis. Tomorrow, they will begin spinning the cotton to make yarn.

Uneven old stairs running between streets on the steep hillsides of the old mining town of Bisbee, Arizona

As for me, I spent the first half of the day walking the steep streets of this historic old mining town. Between the houses are these often uneven stairways. It doesn’t take long to walk the better part of the entire main area around downtown; what takes time is stopping to appreciate the nooks and crannies, the decay and beauty, and the view from the hillsides to imagine what this place looked like in its heyday.

Art peeks out between streets on the steep hillsides of the old mining town of Bisbee, Arizona

A walk around town offers visitors plenty of opportunities to stumble upon art; just don’t stumble so much that you fall on the rusty hand of Barbie.

Bisbee Day 1

Room inside the Silver King Hotel in Bisbee, Arizona

Drove down to Bisbee, Arizona, this evening. It was dark during the night. We arrived, and it was still dark. So, there wasn’t a thing to photograph on the way down from Phoenix. I may have preferred posting an image of some spectacular landscape, but as I said, it was dark outside under the starry sky. Instead, I offer you our room for the next three nights. We checked in late at the Silver King Hotel, right across from a rowdy bar with some of the worst karaoke singers we were ever forced to listen to late into the night. But the room was nice, and the toilet wasn’t too far down the hallway – that’s what you get when you are being cheap. The next morning, we had our first meal of the day at the Bisbee Breakfast Club, affectionately known as the BBC – great breakfast.