Nov 9/17 Weather warm/sunny high of 84/ low 49.
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| tunnel just before you get into Bisbee |
About 50 miles south of Benson is a "quirky" little town called Bisbee. In 1880 it was founded as a copper, gold and silver mining town. The population swelled with miners and spin off work such as bars and brothels and even opium dens. Understandably when the men were down in the mines all day with just a mule and their pick axe....... coming back up to daylight there would be a bit of pent of energy.
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| Bisbee |
The town burnt down just about every two years and kept being rebuilt till the current town you see is from 1910. When wood structures adjoining each other were no longer allowed. The houses and buildings of the town are built on the side of the mountain and all the mining was within a block of downtown.
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| main street in Bisbee |
Old Bisbee is a walkable and compact town since it was built before the automobile and layered on the hills. After the collapse of the Copper Queen Mine - like many ghost mining towns Bisbee became a destination in the 1960s for artists and persons of the counter culture.
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| cool ride |
Oddly AARP magazine voted it runner up for the Quirkiest Town in the USA. The downtown is plentiful of antique stores, cafes, restaurants, thrift shops and funky small little stores. You never know what you will find. We spent time at the museum to feel the history of the town and then set out on foot for a couple of hours. Window shopping, snooping in the thrift shops, and then stopping for a homemade lunch at a small cafe. If you have been to Jerome, you will understand the feel of Bisbee. The towns are the same but different. Both cool and unique; and definitely artsy and funky. And as the retirement magazine voted "quirky" in a good way.
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| graffiti on Brewery Row |
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| the fly has a big history here - when the town was thriving with over crowding and no sewers |
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