Saturday we headed into Silver City. On the way we passed some active strip mines, and as the day was windy, the dust from the mines really caused havoc with the areas air quality. The town of Silver City was interesting. After silver was discovered, there were thousands of miners in the town. After a major fire, the founding fathers decided that the town should be "built to last" and as a result passed an ordinance that all buildings after 1880 must be of masonry construction. Much larger than we expected, in fact we were able to buy some CLR septic, a product we have been unable to find since we left Canada. After our stop at Ace hardware we picked up a downtown walking guide. We stopped at the Big Ditch, named after the Panama Canal, which was Main Street before a flood wiped out all but one building on Main Street.
We arrived back at the trailer in time to watch the last half of the first women's world curling game, and have another soak in a geothermal pool.
Sunday morning we watched women’s world curing before going to The City of Rocks State Park, about 3 miles from the hot springs. The rock formations in the park are the result of a volcanic eruption 33 million years ago, and many years of erosion. We followed an interpretive trail which had stops along the way on a scale representing the relative positions of the planets of the solar system, and some nearby galaxies with signs describing each celestial object. It is a really interesting park and we enjoyed hiking amongst the rock formations.
After lunch we went for another soak in the hot pools.
Monday morning was time to move on to Benson Az. We enjoyed the drive through the mountains, It was a beautiful day with a bright blue sky. We crossed into Arizona, which is on Mountain Time, but doesn’t move the clock ahead for daylight savings time, so we arrived at Pato Blanco Lakes RV Park an hour earlier than expected. We got set up, watched the last few ends of curling and then walked around the park. This park had a St Paddy’s day potluck Monday night at 5:30, for which they provided corn beef, cabbage, potatoes and carrots. We picked up some shamrock cookies to contribute for dessert. We met many of our neighbours, overate and generally had a very good time. This park is one of our favourites so far.
Tuesday we explored Colossal Cave State Park. We went on a tour of the cave. Unlike most limestone caves which are carved out by sulphuric acid dripping down through the limestone, this one was initially formed from sulphuric acid rising in a pool from the bottom. Well worth the visit and the guide was most informative.
After the tour of the cave we went on an interpretive trail called the Path of the Ancestors, and learned all sorts of things about the natives who lived in the area thousands of years ago. This is one of the "bedrock mortars" which they used to grind grain.
While driving to a picnic site for lunch a roadrunner raced across the road in front of us. As usual he was too fast for us to get a picture. After lunch we did a scenic drive south to Sonoita, across to Whetstone and then back to Benson. While driving back toward Benson, we had to stop once again for a border patrol check-point.
After our swim Wednesday morning we headed south to Bisbee, near the Mexican border. Once known as “the Queen of the Copper Camps”, this Old West mining camp proved to be one of the richest mineral sites in the world, producing nearly three million ounces of gold and more than eight billion pounds of copper, as well as silver, lead and zinc. In the early 1900s, Bisbee was the largest city between St. Louis and San Francisco, with a population of over 20,000 people and was one of the most cultured cities in the Southwest. Despite its culture, however, the rough edges of the mining camps could be found in notorious Brewery Gulch, with its saloons and shady ladies. Brewery Gulch, which in its heyday boasted upwards of 47 saloons and was considered the "liveliest spot between El Paso and San Francisco". Bisbee offered other recreational pursuits in that it was home to the state’s first community library, an opera house, the state’s oldest ball fields and the state’s first golf course. When the mines shut down in the 1970's it almost became a ghost town. However, the hippy generation found Bisbee an ideal, attractive, and inexpensive location to settle and pursue their artistic endeavors. Does this story sound like Canmore? The small town's legacy has long been preserved not only in its architecture and mining landscape, but is world-renowned for its diverse minerals and wealth of copper.
One of the highlights in town are the stained glass scenes in St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church.
Our next stop was Tombstone. The name of the town has an interesting origin. When prospector Ed Schieffelin said he was going to go prospecting in Apache territory, someone told him the only thing he would find out there would be his tombstone. When he discovered silver, he named his mine Tombstone. Tombstone conjures up images of the OK Corral gunfight, dusty streets, whiskey and Faro games, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and a plethora of old western movie scenes. But what many folks don't realize is that Tombstone AZ is a real town with real inhabitants who have lived here throughout its history and still do today. That is part of the reason Tombstone has been called "The Town Too Tough to Die".
On our way back to Benson we again were stopped at a border patrol checkpoint. When will they ever stop? Not really a problem, as we usually only have to stop for a few of seconds while they take a quick look through the windows.
Thursday was moving day. We headed for Florence AZ, just out of Phoenix. After getting set up we did a walk around the park. Now that we are in Arizona we are encountering many more Alberta snowbirds.
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