Quirky, artsy, quaint, funky, eclectic mile high mountain town – in a word, they all describe Bisbee.

April 4, 2014: Bisbee, Arizona – Queen of the Copper Camps.

Our destination today is Bisbee, sitting a mile high in the Mule Mountains in the southeastern corner of Arizona just 5 miles from the Mexican border.

In the late 1800s Bisbee was known for its minerals – mostly copper, but also gold, silver, lead, zinc, and turquoise.  Eight billion pounds of copper were mined from the area.  By 1910 the town was in its heyday touting the largest copper mine in America.  In the 1970s the mines closed and peopled moved out, leaving Bisbee nearly a ghost town.   

Today, a new community of entrepreneurs and artists have taken up residency creating the quaint, artsy mountain town filled with antique shops, art galleries, cafés and restaurants.   Many specialty shops abound such as the Killer Bee Guy who not only sells his “killer” honey butters and mustards in his Bisbee shop, but also kills or corrals killer bees throughout the county.  We first met up with him at our RV resort in Benson where he was removing a swarm of killer bees that had built their home at an RV site across the street from us.

The Queen Mine Tour is the most popular attraction in Bisbee.  You can also take in a game at the Warren Ballpark, the oldest ballpark in the US, and watch the Cooper Kings Baseball Team.  Or a round of golf at Arizona’s oldest continuously –operated course, the Turquoise Valley Golf Course, may be your style.  As for us, we’re taking a walk about town in search of food, fun, and funk.

Stairs, stairs, and more stairs!

We come across many old stairways weaving themselves in between buildings and up hillsides to homes hanging precariously above.  The stairways used to be mule paths, worn into the very essence of the town during the copper mining days. Then, during the Great Depression the stairways were built in place of the dirt paths.  

 Bisbee 1000 Great Stair Climb.

The annual Bisbee 1000 Great Stair Climb is run every fall and features nine staircases connected by winding roads that runners/stair climbers race up, around, down, and through.

Art is in the eye of the beholder.

A huge fly made from ... junk!  Art?

Oh yes – and we find our “funk fix” for the day!

Wandering down Main Street, we poke our heads into a little shop to a treasure trove of new and used items.  The gentleman working here says the owner has spent 25 years collecting “stuff” – all kinds of “stuff” that she drags back to her shop.  Hats, boots, clothes, knick-knacks of every kind, books, CDs, a collection of S&P shakers, jewelry, furniture, antiques.  This is one of those places you can take several laps through and see something new each time.  It is marvelously funky!  Jack tries on a fine riding hat and I buy a set of very stylish “red hot pepper” S&P shakers.   

Jack in his riding hat with a bit of "funk" in the background.

Welcome to the Café Cornucopia.

A peek in the café window tells us all we need to know – the food looks scrumptious.  We step inside and peruse the menu on the blackboard.  Homemade everything!

With our order up, we sit back and enjoy our delectable sandwiches, salad, and homemade bread.  What a great lunch!  If only we had room for one of these fantastic desserts.

A walk up Brewery Gulch.

We wind our way back down Main Street and turn onto Brewery Gulch.  Back in the glory days Brewery Gulch was lined with nearly 100 saloons and nearly as many brothels.  Today, life is a little more docile.  You can still have a beer in any number of drinking establishments in the gulch, and find some other interesting shops along the way.       

One of the breweries with an outdoor patio.

Graffiti "art" on a wall along Brewery Gulch.

Doorways of Brewery Gulch.

Metal doors with ore pick handles.  A courtyard lies beyond the doors.

Stunning red doors in a row!

Bisbee Bicycle Company: Purveyors of Fine Wheeled Conveyances.

As we meander up Brewery Gulch, this bike catches our eye.  I drag Jack across the street for a closer look.  It’s the ultimate fat tire bike.

Surly: The very fattest, fat tire bike I've ever seen.

As we admire the bike, the shop owner moseys out to visit.  He tells us it was originally designed for riding on soft, sandy beaches, but it performs equally as well in snow.  He says it also makes for a fun ride up and down the stairways of Bisbee.  Yes, the stairs!  I think I’ll leave that adventure for the young and dumb.

What have we here?  Electric bikes!

The Surly does its marketing magic – we are lured into the shop for a look at his array of bikes.  Wow!  Electric bikes!  He gives us the lowdown on his merchandise and convinces Jack to take one out for a spin up the hill.    

Jack takes off up the hill with no effort.

A few minutes later he comes streaking back down the hill.  Before he even pulls to a stop he says, “You’ve got to ride this thing.  It’s really fun.”

I climb on and speed away – yes, speed away – UP the hill.  He’s right!  It is very, very fun.  Space permitting in the back of the Jeep, I think we would have driven away with two of these “fine wheeled conveyances”.  Today, we are bikeless but considering our future options for a couple of these splendid machines.      

Getting a head start on the 2016 Campaign.

After a considerable amount of time at the bike shop, we continue up Brewery Gulch.  A Hillary supporter is getting a jump on the 2016 Campaign.  It’s never too early to start drumming up interest for your candidate.  I get the car, but I don’t understand the little blue dressing table next to the car.  Maybe just a final glance in the mirror before heading out for a big Hillary rally.   

Food, fun, and funk!

We have barely scratched the surface in this marvelous little town, but it’s getting late so we call it a day.  We will definitely come back to Bisbee, but it will require a few days stay to enjoy all that it has to offer.   With our goal of “Food” (Café Cornucopia), “Fun” (Bisbee Bicycle Company) and “Funk” (the funky junk shop) accomplished we hop in the Jeep and drive back up through Mule Pass Tunnel.  At the fork in the road on the west side of the Mule Mountains we keep right on SH80 and drive toward home.  In a few days we’ll be leaving Arizona behind, moving eastward into New Mexico.  We’re looking forward to new adventures and, hopefully, continued warm weather.  Until next time – be safe.