Left Cochise Stronghold.  Did laundry in Benson, Arizona, dumped our trash, refilled our propane tanks, and went on to Tombstone.  It was hot, dry and dusty.  The “western themed” Main Street was dirt, no pavement.  I understand that sometimes they have staged gunfights there.  Lots of touristy shops and bars and ice cream parlors.  We got there early afternoon and looked for a motel that was walking distance to the western Main Street.  Didn’t see anyplace we wanted to stay and weren’t thrilled with the tourist attractions, so we decided to drive on south to Bisbee.

Bisbee is an old copper mining town from the 1880s located in a mountain canyon at about 5500 feet elevation.  Only about 25 miles southeast of Tombstone, but night and day difference in physical environment.  The town is very hilly with narrow, winding streets and a quirky sense of humor in its signage and wall murals.  For example, a plain white brick wall had a set of outside metal stairs going up.  Someone had painted potted cactus plants on every step of the stairs, painted a picket fence at the bottom, and painted a dog house complete with sleeping dog and a trash can under the porch.  Pretty amusing.  I also saw a front yard fence that was made from old metal ironing boards, standing on end and painted a rainbow of colors. The whole town has an historic feel because the major buildings are of stone and brick and are all of a particular architectural era.  The homes surrounding the downtown are of brightly painted wood, perched on improbable mountain ledges and jammed very close together with endless flights of steps climbing from the street to the houses.  Retaining walls are often very colorful and artistically painted.  The town seems to have a fascination with ghosts as well.  You can sign up for a “haunted” tour of various landmarks, and our hotel had a book of “haunted stories” that you could peruse.  The hotel even had a sign in our room suggesting that you might be having conversations in the hotel with entities other than live persons.  (Yikes!).

Our hotel was called the Bisbee Inn, but it was also called the La More Hotel.  (That name was painted big on the side of the building and looked old.  Originally  it was a “sporting house” and I think that perhaps someone was trying to name the place “L’Amore” but didn’t know how to spell it).  The rooms were pretty small, but all I really cared about was a private bath with shower.  Some of the accommodations had a shared bath.  On the first floor there was a series of common rooms for guests to share (kitchen, dining area, parlor, and a TV room which was really for watching DVDs projected onto a wall screen).  The included photo is a spectacular display of oriental lanterns hung between the parlor and the dining area.  Weird fact about this place—no hotel staff on the premises after 6 pm—just the guests.  They had a punch code at the front door for coming in after 6.  With all the hints about hauntings, it made the place a little spooky.  The photo at the bottom of this post is of a picture hanging in our bedroom.  This photo of sisters holding hands brought to mind those twins holding hands in “The Shining”.  And then, lo and behold, I walked into the bathroom and saw that exact photo of the twin sisters from “The Shining” hanging on the wall. (Yikes again!)

We walked to a Mexican restaurant that had a nice outdoor patio (the weather in Bisbee was lovely) and it was nice to sit out there.  The food was only Ho-hum, though.  We asked a local about where to go for breakfast and that was excellent.  So it evened out in the end.  Liked Bisbee a lot.  We were allowed to refill our 3 5-gallons water jugs at the hotel, and then we were on our way after a night in “civilization”.