Nevada/Arizona Vacation: Tombstone, Bisbee and the Shady Dell

I had my alarm set for 7:30 but I got up earlier than that because Mom and Lisa were in the living room talking.  I used the restroom and saw that my face had started to peel after Monday's sun burn.  I got ready, took some time to organize my suitcase and then joined them in the living room for a while.  They were mostly talking about work and how much it's changed since Lisa retired. Tony came out to the living room shortly after.  Around 8:30-9:00, we got up off the couch to figure out what we were going to have for breakfast.

We decided upon sausage, yogurt, bagels, a yummy Danish thing from Trader Joe's and strawberries.  It was a delicious spread of food.  We helped them clean up afterwards and loaded the dishwasher. We chatted for a little bit and then Mom and I got ready and packed up stuff we would need for about a night.  Lisa and Tony decided they didn't want to come with us on our overnight trip to Tombstone and Bisbee.  We tossed our stuff inside the rental car, set the Nuvi for Tombstone and told Lisa and Tony, we would see them the next afternoon sometime.  They told us to have a great time!

We got onto I-10 and headed southeast, and the semi-trucks still sucked.  You had to be pretty careful down in Arizona, the semi-trucks are pretty lawless.  The night before I checked to see how long it would take us to get to Tombstone from their house and it was about an hour.  We saw that we needed some gas, so we got off at the exit before Benson, headed to the Love's for some gas and ice for our cooler.  Mom went inside to grab the ice while I pumped the gas.  We got back onto I-10 and got off at the next exit to Benson.  Mom said she remembered coming through here with Dad the last time they were here.  She said there was a really good ice cream place they stopped at.  

We followed historic Hwy 80 through town and south towards Tombstone. From Benson it was about a half hour drive to Tombstone.  We got to where Hwy 82 meets up with Hwy 80 and there, we had to stop for a "border" crossing.  Hwy 82 connects Nogales, Mexico with Hwy 80 so there are border patrol agents set up there to check suspicious cargo if needed.  We were a bunch of white females in a white VW rental car, so he just waved us along.  We saw the signs for Tombstone, and I got excited.  I was finally there!

We took a main road and turned so we could find either some free or some cheap public parking.  I can imagine this place gets hit up daily by tourists and it gets busy quickly.  We did manage to find a place to park.  We didn't mind paying the $4 for all day parking. We got out, grabbed what we needed and shoved the rest of it into my backpack. We started walking around to all the various locations.  I had Mom take the lead because she's been here before.  I grabbed one of the waypoints nearby.  There were two different Adventure Labs with five waypoints each.  I spent some time doing those as we walked around town.  

We got onto the main street, which was dirt and blocked off from traffic (except for the horses and carts) and found out we got there at the perfect time.  They have their Old Kinderhook Corral shootouts, and we were there to do the 1:00 p.m. show.  We went into the building and paid $10 each to see the show, admission to the museum and a free newspaper from the Tombstone Epitaph.  We had about 15 minutes to wait, so we wandered around the building and once the gate opened, we found a place to sit in the bleachers.  It filled up quickly.

The cast came out, introduced themselves and went right into the reenactment of the OK Corral Gunfight.  On October 27, 1881, a gunfight had taken place in a vacant lot behind the OK Corral.  Wyatt, Virgil, and Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday had confronted the Clantons and McLaurys.  Three men had been killed and three wounded in the 30 second gunfight at the OK Corral.  Was it within their jurisdiction as or was it murder?  That was up to you to decide as you watched the events unfold. 

I thought it was very entertaining and loved the reenactment.  Afterwards, Mom and I walked along the main drag through town.  We went into many shops, finished up the two Adventure Labs, grabbed a geocache at the south end of town, Welcome to Tombstone (GC94T7Y) and finished off our visit going into the Tombstone Epitaph to browse and get our free copy of the paper from October 1881. 

Obviously, it was an updated version of the paper from over 100 years ago.  I thought the way they did newspapers back then was pretty interesting.  It took a lot of time and patience to get printed news out to everyone.

We walked back to the rental car and drove out to the Boot Hill Cemetery.  When we arrived, we saw that it cost money to go inside.  We decided not to do it but grabbed the cache, Boot Hill (GC9HZD2) and the final waypoint I needed to finish the second Adventure Lab.  

From there, I wanted to go pick up Linear Overlook (GC7K0HZ) because it had a ton of favorite points.  Plus, the description said it gave a great view of Tombstone down below. We drove up and found a place to park off the road.  Mom stayed inside the car while I got out.  This property collects tons of stuff!  I found the ammo can and wrote our names on it.  I was sad there was nothing good inside to trade.  I asked Mom if she was ready to head to Bisbee and she said yes!

Bisbee was another half hour southeast from Tombstone.  It was literally11 miles from the Mexican border.  It is a mining town built into the craggy hills of southern Arizona.  It boasts the most unique physical fitness challenge in the US called the Bisbee 1000.  It is a 5k run through the city that traverses 1,034 stairs the third weekend in October.  Bisbee is also home to the Copper Queen Mine. 

We entered town through a tunnel and really had no idea where we were supposed to go so, we flipped around and made our way to the visitor's center for some more information.  We went inside and asked the lady at the desk for suggestions on where to eat, park and things to do.  She gave us a few maps, lists of restaurants and some opportunities to shop.  She talked about the mine, which is shared with the visitor's center, and gave us some more random info as it came up.  We thanked her and signed the guest book, which was a wooden mule we signed with paint markers.

Mom asked if we wanted to do the mine tour the next day and I said yes, let's do it!  She stood in line and grabbed a spot for two at 10:30. It was $14 per person.  We got back in the rental car and parked near the convention center so we could get some dinner and walk around.  I wanted to do a virtual cache at the Queen Creek Library called Copper Queen Library Balcony (GC9P59Q).  We were very lucky it was still open when we walked up the stairs.  We got our necessary pictures and information off of the plaques.  

We agreed that we should get some dinner and chose one of the restaurants inside of the convention center.  Bisbee's Table was your typical bar scene that also served food.  We chose this place because it had a variety of food and I wanted to try a beer that they carried from the local brewery in town.  When the waitress came by for our drink orders, I was disappointed.  She said that they haven't gotten the new beer keg deliveries yet.  Bummer, I will have to go over to the brewery the next day to get one.  I ordered a strawberry lemonade like Mom did.  We both got the cheeseburger and fries since nothing else on the menu struck our fancy.  We ate and I charged my phone.  

We decided to find out more about these staircases scattered around town.  We found staircase 3 and walked up 181 stairs.  

In the middle of it, Doug called to let us know what he's been up to.  He said that he was going to go visit with Spencer over the weekend and that he couldn't come get us at the airport.  I told him that it was fine because Ben was already going to do it.  He made a note of that, talked to Mom for a couple minutes and hung up.  Meanwhile, I saw there was a cache up at the top, Castle Rock (GC66QYV).  It took me a few minutes to locate it because the coords jumped all over the place. 

We walked up two of the other staircases, staircase 8 (127 stairs) and staircase 9 (98 stairs) nearby while we explored the town for a little bit.  It was starting to get dark, so we walked back towards or rental car.  I typed in the address to our accommodations at the Shady Dell for the evening and headed south out of town towards Lowell.  We stopped by the Lavendar Pit Copper Mine overlook before driving down the hill.  I saw there were two geocaches and we get to learn about a copper pit!

We found the Pit of Despair (GC8ZM8Z) hidden inside of a fence cap and I took pictures of the informational signs that talked about the pit itself.  I figured I could do the earthcache, Bisbee Blue: Copper and Turquoise (GC552TB), at home with the information from the signs. 

I got what I needed, got back into the rental car and continued down the hill to the Shady Dell.  It was located in a really weird area around a roundabout as we were warned because people get lost and miss the turn.  We made the correct turn and pulled into the gravel parking lot.

Since we were there during the non-peak season and non-business hours, there wasn't a person to check us in.  Mom walked up to the building and grabbed our instructions taped on the door. We grabbed both wagons and filled them up with our stuff and walked to our trailer for the night, the 1950 Alma (#12).  The Shady Dell is a Vintage Trailer Court founded in 1927.  It was created as a place to provider trailer and camping spaces for weary travelers along the famous Hwy 80, which stretched from Savannah, Georgia to San Diego, California.  Like its more famous Route 66 to the north, Hwy 80 was a center of travel, exploration and family getaways in the early portions of the 20th century.  Today, the trailer court is a nice mix of practicality and vintage fun-seeking for traveling.

The place was pretty cool.  We unlocked our trailer and went inside.  It was hot so we opened the vents and windows and turned on the A/C while we got settled in.  Our trailer was big enough for a bathroom and a shower, so we didn't have to leave the trailer to use the facilities in another building. 

I used the restroom and took the wagons back to the gate so others could use them.  We finished getting settled in, ate some Fritos and another one of my oranges while Mom and I watched a little bit of hockey on our phones.  I wrote in my journal, chatted with Ben, got cleaned up in our tiny shower and then got ready for bed.  I went to bed just after 11 p.m.  The bed was surprisingly comfortable. 

Some notes on the day:

We walked 11,250 steps which is a little over five miles and drove 70 miles in the rental car.

We found seventeen geocaches, of those seventeen, one was a virtual, one was an earthcache, seven were traditionals and ten were waypoints from two Adventure Labs.

This was the furthest south I've driven in a car without actually driving into Mexico.

It was great visiting Tombstone and I got to check another bucket item off of my list.

My sunburn was starting to peel, and it got super annoying.

Next Adventure:  Nevada/Arizona Vacation:  Queen Mine Tour, Brewery, Leaving Bisbee, Lisa and Tony's House, Saguaro Corners for Dinner, Hanging Out