Living Richly in Retirement: A place you just can’t “visit”, you have to experience it.

What draws us to return year after year to this quirky, little bohemian town is the colorful little houses scattered over the hill side, the unconventional residents, random art throughout the town, numerous music venues with varied genres and finding the unexpected.

Returning after a four year hiatus, we were sad to learn our self-described hippie friend, Bruce, had passed away. Bruce was the first person we met on our inaugural visit. He introduced us to the music venues throughout the town.

Through Bruce, we met Keith (aka The Blues Wizard,) whom we learned has recently moved to Mississippi.

Also, no longer in Bisbee is the blonde, blue eyed Jesus.

We found music choices were limited to only a couple of venues during the weekend. The Stock Exchange closed after the owner had died and The Copper Queen was doing a private event. But The Grand continues to have music Thursday thru Saturday.

We miss the folk style we enjoyed on previous visits.

The vibe in Bisbee has also changed as it is becoming quite the tourist attraction, with which many of the residents are not pleased. Overheard in a conversation (ABN is prone to eavesdrop on occasion) affordable rent is hard to come by as houses are increasingly turning to more lucrative short term rentals aka AirBnB and VRBO.

Meeting up with friends, Steve and Adele from Colorado, we revisited some of our favorite hangouts. Like The Grand

and the Bisbee Coffee Company where ABN overheard a conversation about capitalism (the speakers were not in favor.)

And, of course, the “hike to the cross.” ABN, knowing the hike was above her current level of fitness, decided to wander around town as Captain led our friends. Well, it should be said “he attempted to lead.” His 10+ year-old boots had blowouts before they reached the cross.

Steve and Adele continued without him.

Taking the recommendation from “new friends” we met at The Grand, passing the Lavender Copper Mine,

we walked over to the Lowell Community

for brunch at The Breakfast Club.

Seen in Lowell

Returning to Old Bisbee we took a brief tour of Shady Dell.

Should we consider a spot in our outdoor space for The Wanderer when it is time for her retirement?

The Bisbee locals seem to think The Hitching Post over in the Warren district is a great venue for music.

Have you ever seen a chicken in a bar? Neither had we. It seemed to be quite at home and the two dogs paid no attention.

Being so close to the Mexican Border, it seemed reasonable to check out “the wall” in Naco.

Nothing much to see here.

It’s not all fun as we travel about. We do have to take a bit of time for chores, like laundry. How convenient to find a laundry next to a Brewery. The Electric Brewery hosts a craft group every Tuesday. While Captain did the laundry, ABN slow stitched and visited with the locals. Perfect! (for ABN.)

To truly experience Bisbee, one has to walk; and walk we did. Starting out with no plan or destination, we just wandered. At times we found ourselves above the town

and at other times we found no street, just steps.

ABN’s FitBit recorded close to 25 miles over the week. Keep in mind, in these miles were many stairs and hills.

Walking around Bisbee, this is what we found. (We tried to not duplicate photos from previous trips. If you want to see more photos of Bisbee, click on the links below.)