January 28 - February 2, 2015 (Benson, AZ)

 Thursday

Our plan today was to drive down to Bisbee and tour the Queen Mine.  Bisbee is south of Tombstone, so part of the drive was a repeat of yesterday.  The landscape around Tombstone is pretty boring, not really what Rich and I pictured but the closer we got to Bisbee the prettier it was.  Bisbee is an old mining town perched in the mountains at 5,538 feet elevation.  

View of Bisbee from the highway

This picture doesn't really do it justice, it really was a picturesque little town.  We found the Queen Mine tour and got our tickets purchased.  

The tours last approximately 1 hour and the mine is a cool 47 degrees year round.  So they advise you to dress warmly which we did.  Finally it was our turn to get our "mining gear" on.

Do we look like miners?

This is the little car that we rode into the mine, the same cars that the actual miners would ride

In we go....

going along the tunnel, the walls were very close and we were told to make sure to keep our hands and feet on the car.

Our first stop at about 750 feet into the mine.  We went up the stairs to a big cavern with lots of mining tunnels leading off the cavern.

Tour guide explaining mining technique, it sure was dark up there.

On the cars and ready to go to our next stop 1500 feet into the mine.

Bicycle the shift boss would ride on tracks to come down into the mine and check on the miners.

What the miners used to go to the bathroom.  Many practical jokes were played on new miners with this portable bathroom........

Tour guide explaining the blasting pattern techniques, you can see the wire hanging out of the blasting holes on the wall. 

This is the mountain where the Queen Mine is located and we were 1500 feet into this mountain on our tour.

We loved our tour of the Queen Mine, it was very informative and very cool to be able to experience the mine as a miner did, though I think we had a little more light with our modern headlamps.  The gift shop had an amazing collection of rocks and I love picking up rocks and bringing them home, so of course I had to purchase a souvenir.  Normally I don't buy rocks but today was an exception.

We really enjoyed Bisbee and wished we would have had more time to explore the town but we had to get back home to let Gracie out.  If we are ever in the area, we will definitely come back to Bisbee.  We enjoyed Bisbee much more than Tombstone.

Friday

Today it was pouring cats and dogs....it reminded us of the rain they get in Oregon.  I guess it's a good day to go and tour the Kartchner Caverns.  This cave was discovered in 1974 and for 12 years remained a secret until the explorers could get help making it a state park.  We took the Rotunda/Throne Room tour which is a 1.5 hour tour.  Before you start the tour, you go through several air lock chambers before you get to the actual cave.  This cave has an average temp of 72 degrees year round and because it is a "living" cave it was very humid and damp.  We got to see the "Kubla Khan", the largest column formation in Arizona.  It was very impressive.  They did not allow any photographs in the cave so if you are interested you can Google Kartchner Caverns for more information.  It was a good way to spend a couple of rainy hours.

Saturday

Today was another rainy day and it was also Rich's birthday.  We had a very relaxing and laid back day.  We went to the Safeway and got a Starbucks coffee, ran a few errands and then just lazed around the 5er until it was time for dinner.  We walked down the street to Pablo's steak house and had a nice dinner.  Rich had a rib eye steak and I had some ribs.  The food was good and we left full.  Of course, we had to stop at Safeway and pick up some ice cream and cake....what's a birthday without ice cream and cake?  

Sunday

It wasn't rainy today, but it sure was drippy outside.  We drove a couple miles out of town to attend the New Life Family Worship Center.  Boy these people were friendly.  I can't tell you how many people including the pastor and his wife that came by and said hi.  We really enjoyed this church service.  Some services just really touch you and for some reason this one really touched me today.  A good way to spend the morning for sure.

The rest of the day we just enjoyed lazing around the 5er.

Monday

Today was a day for paperwork.  Even when traveling you have occasional paperwork that needs to be done....It's our last day in the park as tomorrow we move on.  The sun was out shining so it dried out our chairs and rugs so we won't have to put them away wet tomorrow.  It was good to see the sun again.  

We really enjoyed our time in the Benson area and even got used to hearing the trains so they didn't bother us as much.  We did more sight seeing in this area than we normally do, but we also had our down days which we really enjoy too.  Tomorrow we are going to try another State Park, so stay tuned......