Bisbee and Douglas Arizona
November 14, 2006
We woke to a calm cool day. Looking down to the lake we observed it to be clear and blue reflecting the trees so that up was the same as down. There was no sound. The birds must have left early; we never heard them go. We enjoyed breakfast, did some clean up and readied to depart. We had already overstayed our visit by a day. Whitewater Draw State Wildlife Area has 3-nights free parking.
Up in the sky, far up beyond the clouds we spotted fireworks, swishing stars, no they were Sandhill cranes coming in. As they turned and the sun caught them they looked like white specks moving. Watching we could see them soar, drop, and fly. We could hear them call to one another, to the ones already on the ground. The grounded Sandhill cranes were calling too, maybe yell, “stop here, here we are.”
The winds picked up. The lake was brown; the winds pushing up little waves against the shore. We walked to the near spit and observed the Sandhill cranes roosted there. We could see the gray birds standing on their tall legs. Their long necks either stretched drinking or curled ready for sleep or relaxed watching as more and more came to join them. A Redtail Hawk flutters just above the grass looking for a meal. The bright red summer tananger sat on a bush near the lake and flutter just above the water from time to time catching bugs. The coots moved slowly in the water. More sandhill cranes came in.
We walked back to the roadtrek; the winds blowing large sand filled swirl our way. We drove out. We got over to AZ80 and headed for Bisbee up through the hills and back into a canyon. Bisbee, founded in 1180, is a tourist town of old world charm with art galleries, shops, historic hotels and historical places. The town was started in 1887 and was a mining town for copper. Hard to imagine that this was the largest city between St. Louis and San Francisco. We stopped and looked into the Lavender Pit, a gigantic, but inactive open pit copper mine. You can take mine tours of the Queen Mine for just $12 and go searching deep into the mine for remaining veins of copper, gold, turquoise, silver, lead, and zinc. We got a wifi hit and did our computer stuff. They had no propane so we headed east over to Douglas following AZ80 along mountainside of the valley floor.
Douglas is on the Mexican border. We found the propane dealer and not only got our tank filled, but we got a quick connect to extend the hose so we can fill the tank now without taking off the entire back tray. So $100 and we are now set with propane and a better feeling about using it since fill ups will be easier. The well architect, HC Trost, designed the five-story Gadsden Hotel; it was built in 1907, burned in 1927 and was rebuilt the next year. It is called the last of the grand hotels with an Italian marble staircase, pillars embellished with gold leaf and a 42-foot Tiffany stained glass mural.
Pizza Hut was dinner and will probably be breakfast too! We drove over to Walmart and settled in watching Willow.
We woke to a calm cool day. Looking down to the lake we observed it to be clear and blue reflecting the trees so that up was the same as down. There was no sound. The birds must have left early; we never heard them go. We enjoyed breakfast, did some clean up and readied to depart. We had already overstayed our visit by a day. Whitewater Draw State Wildlife Area has 3-nights free parking.Up in the sky, far up beyond the clouds we spotted fireworks, swishing stars, no they were Sandhill cranes coming in. As they turned and the sun caught them they looked like white specks moving. Watching we could see them soar, drop, and fly. We could hear them call to one another, to the ones already on the ground. The grounded Sandhill cranes were calling too, maybe yell, “stop here, here we are.”
The winds picked up. The lake was brown; the winds pushing up little waves against the shore. We walked to the near spit and observed the Sandhill cranes roosted there. We could see the gray birds standing on their tall legs. Their long necks either stretched drinking or curled ready for sleep or relaxed watching as more and more came to join them. A Redtail Hawk flutters just above the grass looking for a meal. The bright red summer tananger sat on a bush near the lake and flutter just above the water from time to time catching bugs. The coots moved slowly in the water. More sandhill cranes came in.
We walked back to the roadtrek; the winds blowing large sand filled swirl our way. We drove out. We got over to AZ80 and headed for Bisbee up through the hills and back into a canyon. Bisbee, founded in 1180, is a tourist town of old world charm with art galleries, shops, historic hotels and historical places. The town was started in 1887 and was a mining town for copper. Hard to imagine that this was the largest city between St. Louis and San Francisco. We stopped and looked into the Lavender Pit, a gigantic, but inactive open pit copper mine. You can take mine tours of the Queen Mine for just $12 and go searching deep into the mine for remaining veins of copper, gold, turquoise, silver, lead, and zinc. We got a wifi hit and did our computer stuff. They had no propane so we headed east over to Douglas following AZ80 along mountainside of the valley floor.
Douglas is on the Mexican border. We found the propane dealer and not only got our tank filled, but we got a quick connect to extend the hose so we can fill the tank now without taking off the entire back tray. So $100 and we are now set with propane and a better feeling about using it since fill ups will be easier. The well architect, HC Trost, designed the five-story Gadsden Hotel; it was built in 1907, burned in 1927 and was rebuilt the next year. It is called the last of the grand hotels with an Italian marble staircase, pillars embellished with gold leaf and a 42-foot Tiffany stained glass mural.Pizza Hut was dinner and will probably be breakfast too! We drove over to Walmart and settled in watching Willow.
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