Honestly, I did not know that our travel to Bisbee coincided with its annual Pirate Weekend. It was created about 10 years ago to boost tourist trade and based on what we saw….it’s working!
(That’s Mr. Happy-You-Are-Bothering-People-and-Taking-Pictures in the background.)
Brisbee got its start as a copper mining town. We had breakfast at the Brisbee Breakfast Club — which is actually in Lowell — and learned from our waitress that the environmental impact of the mine has been devastating. Homes dotted the area across from the street the restaurant is on and the remaining buildings (including the one we were eating at) will be completely evacuated because the area is so unstable. Not surprisingly, the tourist information at the mine pit viewing area does not mention that impact.
The soon-to-be-no-more town of Lowell is fascinating. It’s main street is crowded with old cars. The abundance of them we surmised was because old cars last longer in the dry, hot climate of southern Arizona. There are some other relics there too….like a pay phone and a space rocket!
I got a kick out of Brisbee Breakfast Club’s slogan….
Bisbee was nearly the complete opposite of Sedona. Mostly old, VERY quirky, definitely not groomed and polished the way Sedona is. Recent rainstorms caused severe flooding in town — in fact, one store owner told us that you couldn’t cross the main street safely because the water was so deep and swift. The flooding isn’t new and the streets show it! The big “B” on the mountainside as you approach Bisbee was a bit washed out too!
Restaurants compared very favorably to Sedona (which were fabulous.) I don’t usually take pictures of food but these pictures tell a story. In the world where “bread and butter for the table” comes with a price instead of automatically, even though this restaurant charged for the bread, three dips (all delicious) were included. And, to our surprise, dinner included a sorbet palate cleanser between courses.
The hotel was great too! Compare this variation on closet space with the hooks at the renovated hotel in L.A.
There was one small downside…..the stairs! The hotel has a single door on the main street and then a VERY steep stairway up to the actual hotel. The entrance at the year is a bit more user-friendly….but not much!
And political awareness in southern Arizona isn’t anything new!
One last memory of trip to Brisbee. On our way we got a phone call (and a message from our car!) from the Toyota dealer in South Carolina. Our car was due for its 10,000 mile check-up. Since we were 3000+ miles away from our dealer we asked if the service could wait….the answer was that our warranty might be in jeopardy:-(. Very fortunately we were in Tuscon when we got that call and very, very fortunately a dealer there could do the service at 2:30. We were just 10 minutes away. The service was handled expeditiously and we were on our way only an hour or so behind schedule (and we really didn’t have one!)
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