Embracing our Bohemian Spirit

Many of you have heard us speak about the funky little town of Bisbee, Arizona and may have read our post 2 years ago. Our first visit was such a surprising and amazing experience we were concerned we might be disappointed on our return. We were not! In fact we are even more captivated to the point we took so many pictures we couldn’t decide which ones to share with you. So we have added a Bisbee Page that will provide a more detailed snapshot of this quirky little bohemian town in southern Arizona, about 11 miles from the Mexican border.

The best way to explore any town is by walking and so we did. Laid out as a pedestrian town in the early 1990’s, paths led to homes built on the hill side; later wooden stairs were added. As part of FDR’s New Deal project in the 1930’s, the wooden stairs were replaced with concrete. To navigate this artsy maze of stairs we downloaded the popular Bisbee1000 Stair Climb map and followed the blue arrows. We did half of the route one day and the other half another day. These are just a few of the colorful houses and street art; more can be seen by clicking here.

Garden Gate

A concrete wall

Located down Hwy. 80,

 about 1 1/2 miles from our RV park is the Lowell neighborhood. There is a sidewalk that allowed us to walk along the highway and past the now defunct Queen Mine open pit.

Once a thriving community it is now somewhat of a ghost town. It felt like folks just up and left in the 50’s, leaving behind automobiles and buildings.

Across the highway we strolled into the Shady Dell Vintage RV Park. Here we found a collection of RVs from the 1940’s and 1950’s. Refurbished, they now serve as guests houses and are available for rent. We were in luck that we just happened to be there the day before their season began and was able to get a tour that included the interiors.

More photos here.

With the recommendations of our friend, Keith, we hiked up to see the shrine cross that overlooks the city.

As Keith told us it was a “heart thumper” but worth the hike.

Trail Marker

Made it!

View of Bisbee from the top

Keith was correct!

The Wanderer was parked at Queen Mine RV Park overlooking Old Bisbee on one side and the Queen Copper Mine open pit.

Note the Prayer Flags!

From the park it is a short walk into town. On our previous visit we became acquainted with Bruce who lives 6 months in Bisbee and 6 months in Minnesota; we were happy to see he is still here as he is a wealth of information, especially on the live music venues. (Travel tip; we have found talking with locals and reading other travel blogs provide us with more interesting information on places to visit, things to do and places to eat than the tourist information centers.) We caught up with Bruce shortly after we arrived and took his suggestion to check out Johnny Bencomo playing at the Copper Queen Hotel that evening.

A classic tenor, he sang mostly western ballads and folk songs, including a couple about Kentucky. We had a chance for a short conversation and learned he was a cowboy until his body couldn’t take it any longer and now he puts his heart and soul into his music. He is one of the best folk musicians we have heard.

On Wednesday evening we made our way to The Grand Hotel to hear what Bruce described as a “jug band.” The Whiskey Lickers are an 8 piece mountain music band consisting of 2 guitars, 2 banjos, 2 fiddles, a mandolin and a wash board. They were just fun!

You may recall that on our previous visit we met creative luthier and musician, Keith Edwards aka The BluesWizard. We stopped by his studio to say “hello” and to check out his current projects. Keith uses unique items to create string instruments; he demonstrated a banjo using a hubcap from vintage V8 Ford.

Keith is quite pleased with the way his business, Lunatic Fringe Luthiery has blossomed since moving to Bisbee two years ago. We stopped by Ana’s Seasonal Kitchen Sunday morning to catch a performance.

You can learn more about Keith on his Facebook page and YouTube channel. He showed us his latest project involving a skateboard but ask us to not show a photo as he will be doing a big launch in the next few weeks.

On our previous visit our friend, Bruce, invited us to a jam session of local musicians in the back room of a woodworking shop. As we were walking one day we passed the shop; the door was open so we stopped to inquire if he still hosted the jam session. Yep, on the first Monday of every month, it is a pot luck and we were welcomed.

Steve’s shop has Captain drooling; large space, organized and appointed with very nice tools. Another large room in the back of the shop is where the musicians gather and the food spread was laid out. With a quick count, we determined there were about 75 people of all ages. Probably about 25 musicians playing guitar, banjo, fiddle, piano, drums, harmonica, stand up string bass, mandolin, melodica (aka a blow organ or key harmonica) and those are just the ones we remember. We so wanted to take photos, but declined as we didn’t want to be rude. As was the last time, this was a highlight of our visit. 

Sunday we attended service at the beautiful Covenant Presbyterian Church. It was a very small but friendly congregation of about 15 heads with gray hair. We wonder what will be the future of the church.

It has been a pleasantly sunny week here in Bisbee with highs in the low 70s, lows in the upper 30s. It is quite windy at times, but we will take the wind over the freezing temperatures, ice and snow at home. 

Sorry this is such a lengthy post but truly you cannot describe Bisbee with a few words and photos. We are leaving today with plans to return again next year.

This week we will be in a couple of state parks and have no idea if we will have cell phone and internet access. Our aging laptop is limping but hopefully will stay usable until we return home. If not, we will be blogging with an iPad app which is not exactly user friendly. 

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