Apricity West

Fair warning, my friends: This was a busy week so there are lots of pictures here, hopefully informative and enjoyable. Pour your beverage of choice, get comfortable and enjoy the journey...

 

January 29, 2021, Friday

 

Finally a calmer, warmer, sunnier day! Walked around the campground and noticed a sign that offered Free Coffee and Donuts at the Clubhouse on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Uh oh!

 

Look who got a new haircut and shaved off the beard... 

Went to Terri and Jim’s to make dinner for them after they get out of working from home - wok stir fried shrimp and veggies on white rice with Jim’s Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup (Trader Joe’s) Fudge Sundae dessert!! 

 

Tried to register for the vaccine in Arizona, but "no events scheduled" in our area on this site. Terri got her first shot last week as she works in the courthouse as a JA (judge’s assistant). Jim has to wait to be “of age”... 

 

January 30, 2021, Saturday

 

Pima County Air Museum in the afternoon. 

Mothballing is the deactivation and preservation of equipment. Notice the covering over every crevice in the planes - windows, bolts, seams, etc. 

Women's uniforms

Notice the drones hanging from above.

Love the backdrop in this picture.

Airplane Boneyard  

An aerial view from the internet is the best way to view the Boneyard which was created in 1946; this is the final resting place for more than 4,000 abandoned military airplanes which covers 2,600 acres. Categories are "long-term storage", "parts reclamation", "flying hold" (short term hold), "excess of DoD needs" means the planes are sold off in parts or as a whole. It was truly amazing to see - can you imagine keeping inventory of these planes and parts? Or having to move one through the lanes that are left wide enough for that?

Cocktails, Bleu cheese burgers on the grill and green beans in the wok. 🥰

 

January 31, 2021, Sunday

 

Saguaro National Park

Great coffee mug!

Gates Pass

The view from Gates Pass

which began in 1883 as one man’s search for a shortcut. Thomas Gates (local pioneer, saloon keeper, and rancher) wanted a quicker route to his carbonate mine in Avra Valley. While exploring these mountains, he found this natural canyon, marked by “bubbling springs, streams, and lush growth.” Gates paid $1000 to clear and grade the winding road over this pass, which now bears his name. Three years after he built this road, he was appointed superintendent of Yuma Territorial Prison. Gates made it one of the best run prisons in the country. 

Jim took a walk after a 

delicious desert picnic from Beyond Bread surrounded by stately saguaros of all sizes. 

 

The small shelters with stone picnic tables and seats were built with dead saguaro bones, hollowed out and filled with cement for support; roofs lined with smaller bones were beautiful. 

Crossing a bridge over a dry wash.

 

Signal Hill Trail 

Hohokam Indian tribe petroglyphs - prehistoric rock carvings from several hundred to 7,000 year of age. 

 

Grilled Chicken Hoisin with broccoli a la Terri and Jim for dinner. 

 

February 1, 2021, Monday

Chillax day...

 

February 2, 2021, Tuesday 

 

One thing I have noticed in this area is that location measurements are often referred to in “feet above sea level”. The reason for this is to determine temperatures as much as elevation. As we climbed the mountain to Bisbee at 5300 feet, you could feel the temp change. It was 78 degrees in Tucson and 68 in Bisbee. 

 

The ride was miles of dried desert landscape speckled with sage brush. Occasionally you'd spot a house perched in solitude high on a hill. Why?, I asked. We guessed maybe 2nd homes? Or the view? Or generations old to escape from civilization or Indians? We ran out of reasonable reasons.  

 

The 5 C’s of Arizona economy are copper, cattle, cotton, citrus, climate. You can see the red copper in the soil.

Civilization after miles of barreness. 

We had a reservation for a one hour golf cart tour and because we were early, we drove past the town to see the Lavender copper pit - a huge hole in the ground where man and machines had moved the earth in search of copper. It was dedicated to Harrison Lavender who conceived and carried out a plan for making "the unprofitable low grade copper bearing rock of the area into commercial copper producing ore".

Lavender Pit copper mine. Open-pit mining at Bisbee began in 1917 and ended in 1974. The pit is 4,000 feet wide, 5,000 feet long, and 850 feet deep at its maximum.   

Treasures of the Queen of the Copper Camps are Bisbee Blue Turquoise, Malachite, Azurite

BISBEE BACKGROUND
The discovery of ore in the Mule mountains in 1877 began what was to become one of the world’s largest copper producing centers. By 1905 over twenty development companies were exploring the district and the population swelled to the largest in the state. Immigrants from all parts of Europe and the Americas came to work in the mines and discover a new way of life. 
Mining came to a halt in 1975, bringing artists, craftsmen and other new arrivals who along with long time residents established a unique, vibrant community. 
Now all who live here help Bisbee retain the title QUEEN OF THE COPPER CAMPS

 

One of these new arrivals was the mother of Shal, our golf cart guide, such a bright, knowledgeable, entertaining young man in his late 20’s. She came as a hippy and still thrives in Bisbee.

The Bisbee Tour Company Cafe.

Our 1st stop in town - during the boom this was a livery, dead body depository, a place to eat, drink, sleep. They would open all doors to ventilate the stench...

The town was ripe with brothels, but OK Street was where ladies could walk alone without being approached. 

 

These "stalls" were originally holding cells for those arrested. Law men were days away by horseback in Tombstone, so cells were necessary.

Adobes with no windows or chimneys were crowded with miners and their families. They were so poorly constructed that many would collapse over time. 

As we walked Main Street for a place to eat lunch, we could see that snow lingered in the hills and even in the shady side of streets. We decided on Cafe Cornucopia and enjoyed the soup if the day -  Sweet potato chicken peanut soup plus cilantro!! Delicious!

 

 

On the 3rd weekend of October, 1500 people converge for "Bisbee's 1000" (steps), with a walk some distance to each set of stairs. The town decided to allow 2000 people in 2021 because 2020 was canceled. Where do people sleep? There are 500 places to sleep - hotels, air b and b, bed and breakfast, etc.

 

Bisbee High school (now county offices) is in the Guiness Book of World Records for having 4 levels all with exterior entrances. 

 

 

The smallest bar in Arizona is squeezed between the bricks. 

B mountain - Shal told us that these lettered mountains were originally to help airplanes know where they were. 

Bisbee has many secrets, mysteries and ghosts. In 2017 a documentary, Bisbee 17 on Amazon, was released to finally reveal the unspoken (and unspeakable) truths that occurred a century ago. Grandchildren of the perpetrators play the roles and try to grapple with the truth and how it came to be. I highly recommend watching it... 

 

The layers of rocks and soil were countless and evident in the roads and parks that were built over time. The emergency exit from the gold mine is pictured on the side of the mountain. We did NOT do that tour!

 

February 3, 2021, Wednesday

 

Donuts for breakfast again. Rich got an appointment for his vaccine nearby for Friday. Well, he actually got 2 by accident because he requested it so many times. I was rejected because I am too young, so I am hoping they will give me his extra one while there. Makes sense - right? 

 

February 4, 2021, Thursday

Worked on this blog all day!

Bonus: 

Sunrise pic taken by Jim.

Sunset pic taken by Monda.

Until next week...