While we were down in the Southern Arizona area we wanted to check out the old west towns of Bisbee and Tombstone. Bisbee was a mining town founded in 1880. Today all the mines are closed and the town is now an artist community and tourist spot. The town is built on the hillsides of the area and there are staircases everywhere. They even have a staircase race here every year called the Bisbee 1000. It is a 4.5 mile race featuring 9 different staircases and over 1000 steps. We spent the morning walking around the town and then had some beers for lunch at the Old Bisbee Brewing company. While enjoying our beers we chatted with the assistant brewer who was hanging out at the bar and was super friendly. The beers were good and this is definitely a place to check out if you are in the area.
After Bisbee, we stopped off in the legendary old west town of Tombstone. I love old west towns and the movie Tombstone is one of my favorites. However, I was very disappointed in the town. It seems commercialism has killed the town that was too tough to die. It was interesting walking down the main drag, but every storefront was hawking something. There were 4 or 5 places doing gunfights that you can pay to see. There was the Birdcage Theater you could pay to tour and all sorts of other business trying to get money from the many tourists in town. Very disappointing, but it was still cool to at least be in the area and its history.
Good post – keep on truck’n