Around Bisbee, Arizona

Bisbee is always such a nice surprise. After driving through the desert, you follow the road up over some mountains and there--you are in a place quite different than what you have been seeing. There's a canyon, and beautiful trees, and little houses perched on the sides of hills and reachable by lots and lots of stairs. There are pots of bright flowers everywhere.

The people look a little quirky, their clothes seem a little brighter and more artistic, and the shops are brightly painted without and full of lovely handcrafted things within. 

It's a nice place to walk your dog. There are doggy pickup bags stationed here and there, and thoughtful storekeepers put bowls of fresh water outside their doors.

 You get the sense that the people of Bisbee have a sense of humor that makes them ready to smile. 

The signs on the little cars read: Easy Financing and No Haggling

Road Trip: Bisbee, Arizona, Part 2

After the mining industry left town, Bisbee became an artists' colony. Houses were cheap, the scenery was beautiful, ditto the weather. Eventually, the baby boomers came and added gourmet restaurants and updated the little houses, driving property prices up. There are bed and breakfasts to stay in, restaurants ranging from funky to elegant, and lots and lots of art.

For instance, in the little park near the elegant 1902 Copper Queen Hotel, the rest room doors look like this:

You will see "art cars" parked around town:

And you mustn't miss the copper-clad 1930's Iron Man statue up in Tombstone Canyon, with his hammer and spike. It's tricky to get him from the right angle, as you will see.

Road Trip: Bisbee, Arizona

If you are looking for funk, go to Bisbee. If you want to find a nice little town full of old-time hippies and other individualists, all nestled in some beautiful hills in the southeastern part of Arizona, take the trip and bring your walking shoes. If you are offended by public nudity (on roller skates!), rampant tattoos and body piercings, and other sights that might make you stop in your tracks, perhaps you should just go ahead and book your trip to Branson instead.

Bisbee is perched on fold after fold of hilly terrain. The little miner's houses there were going for a song at one time a couple of decades ago when the mining industry left, and that is how the old hippies ended up there. They couldn't have been too old, or too arthritic, because getting to those houses involves many, many stairs going up and down the hillsides.

See that healthy woman way at the bottom of all those flights of stairs? She is young, she is spry, she has powerful lungs, and she is strong because she lives in Bisbee. She is probably on her way to her job in an art gallery because naturally art is very big in this colony of artists. Come back tomorrow and we'll look at a few examples of public art in Bisbee, and you will experience what will hopefully be your first and last example of questionable taste on The Zees Go West.