June 1: SW Road Trip Day 23: Tombstone

I hope it is not boring that most of our days seem to start out “we awoke refreshed and ready to face another fine day.” In Tubac, this was certainly the case. The weather was cool with an overcast cover. It was with some regret that we left the Secret Garden, a very nice place to stay.

We packed the car and headed over to take the walking tour of the Presidio. We arrived shortly after 9:00 AM, the opening time. This site, as with yesterday's mission, with which it is closely associated, was another on-again, off-again site. It would be well used for decades, then abandoned, then reestablished.

The Presidio was first built in 1753 in response to a Pima Indian uprising at the Mission of Tumacacori. It was first garrisoned by Spanish troops. In 1821, it was part of the newly independent Mexico. After the Gadsden purchase in 1853, it became part of the United States and was garrisoned by US Troops. At the start of the American Civil War, it was abandoned as the troops were recalled east. With the routing of the railroad through Tucson, the area never regained its importance.

The site did become the first Arizona State Historical Park. There are interesting exhibits of 100-year old kitchen tools, farm equipment, etc. The University of Arizona even collaborated on an archeological dig at the site and there is a very nice display showing the research and some artifacts. For Hunter’s benefit, here are some pictures from the Presidio’s “Shop”:

Woodworking Tools

Wood Splitter for Making Boards

After spending an hour or so on the tour, we headed east for our next destinations: Tombstone and Bisbee. The country is quite rural, mostly ranch or unspoiled/unchanged land.

Southern Arizona

We continued on a very pleasant drive, opting to take the scenic route through Tombstone rather than the “fast” route through Sierra Vista. We stopped in Tombstone for lunch at one of the many tourist restaurants. Tombstone is a rather run-down town. Since the Courthouse was moved to Bisbee in 1929, the major industry has been tourism, and that only got established in the last few decades.

Tombstone Courthouse

There are 4 or 5 reenactments of the Gunfight at the OK Corral, which is held at the historic site of the OK Corral, every day. There are other gunfight reenactments in several other locations. This is a place where the myth of the American West is kept alive. There are also a few tourist traps touting the various ghosts claimed to be in residence. Lunch was good, but there wasn’t much else here to keep our interest, so we headed on down the road to Bisbee.

We checked into the Bisbee Grand Hotel and settled into our very nice room.

The Gray Room at the Bisbee Grand Hotel

This town is quite charming. It is quite walkable, but there are a lot of hills. Since the town is at the elevation of 5,400 feet, it had the most comfortable temperature we have experienced since Prescott, many days ago. The town grew because of the rich mineral deposits at various locations around the town. The most valuable mineral, in terms of worth of the ore extracted, was copper. We take a very nice walk all around the downtown, and stumble onto:

Iron Man

It’s a little complicated: Originally, the statue was copper plated, but the plating turned green and the locals didn’t like the look. They painted him this copper color, but it isn’t copper, so his new name became Iron Man. I don't completely get the logic, either.

We continue our walk, including strolling along “Brewery Avenue”. There are many small dwellings here that were originally miner’s lodgings from the late 19^th century and some continuing through the last mine closure in 1975.

Entrance to the Copper Queen Hotel

We head back to our room to rest before dinner, which we take at The Table. We share an order of bacon-wrapped dates. Amy had a salad with Chicken, Goat Cheese and Cranberries. I had a Reuben Sandwich. Also, during dinner, we watched the Golden State Warriors outplay the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Dinner was delicious. We were too stuffed for dessert, so we walked back to our hotel. We had nightcaps at the bar and watched the end of the Basketball game while we listened to a local country/western band playing in the room next to the bar.

All in all, a very pleasant day. We are now officially half way through our trip!