Arizona, New Mexico & the Grand Canyon Trips (Lonely Planet, 1st Edition) - Aaron Anderson [66]
The next morning, have breakfast at B Line, a hip café set in the heart of the 4th Ave row of cool restaurants and funky shops. It has strong coffee and tasty breakfast burritos to eat there or to go. Burrito in hand, say “vaya con dios” to Tucson for now and head 53 miles towards Benson, gateway to Kartchner Caverns State Park, a wonderland of spires, stalagmites, soda straws and other ethereal formations five million years in the making.
About 72 miles east of Benson, Chiricahua National Monument is a gathering of impossibly balanced rocks on top of stone spires sculpted by eons of rain and wind. The remoteness made Chiricahua a favorite hiding place of Apache warrior Cochise and his men. Today it’s a hiker’s paradise and a redoubt for birds and wildlife. The closest place to spend the night under a roof is at one of the motel chains in Willcox. Or pitch a tent at the Bonita Campground (sites $12), near the visitors center.
A cool town populated by aging hippies, Bisbee is perched on a hill 70 miles to the southwest. It looks like San Francisco or parts of Vancouver. Get oriented at the Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum to see old photos of Bisbee in its heyday and learn about the copper boom that turned it from a backwater to a full-fledged city. Armed with mining-smarts from the museum, an afternoon with Queen Mine Tours is much more fun. You’ll put on a miner’s outfit and a lantern before taking a small train straight into the chilly hillside.
Check into the Copper Queen Hotel for a side of luxury with your copper vittles. A comfy place that has all the modern amenities – and a 2nd-floor pool, of all things – the Copper Queen opened in 1902 to accommodate the newly minted (by copper) class and the already wealthy high rollers in town to check on their business interests. The restaurant has great food – the ribs and steaks are divine – and both indoor and outdoor seating. The downstairs bar is a good place to grab a drink, as is the nearby Stock Exchange Saloon, where the chart that tracked changing stock prices during the copper boom days still stands.
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ASK A LOCAL
“Every time I’m in Tucson I try to visit the Center for Creative Photography (www.creativephotography.org), home of the archives of Richard Avedon and Ansel Adams, and a lot of other famous photographers. They have the single best archive of photography in the world. It’s a Tucson gem and people rarely know about it because it’s on the University of Arizona campus; but they have changing exhibits and anyone can visit.”
Jeff Ficker, former Tucson resident
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The man who first searched for mining riches in what’s now Tombstone was told that the only thing he’d find in this dusty corner of the world was his grave: so he named his first silver mine as an insult to nay-sayers. Tombstone’s historic downtown, 25 miles north of Bisbee on Hwy 80, has a main thoroughfare that looks just like the dusty, boarded-sidewalk town center in many a Western film. Be sure not to miss the OK Corral, where the most famous gunfight in American history went down – it would be hard to overlook once the shooting starts. A fun place to grab a beverage or a signature “overstuffed Reuben” sandwich in a relatively authentic Wild West place is Big Nose Kate’s. Started by Doc Holliday’s girlfriend – yes, she had a prominent proboscis – the place sports neat historical photographs and live tunes in the afternoon.
After a half-day of Tombstone, head 50 miles west, mainly on Hwy 82, to Patagonia. This is the home of Arizona’s young and growing wine industry. Weekends are the best time to stop by because that’s when the majority of the wineries are open for tastings, but Arizona Vineyards, about 5 miles south of Patagonia, is open daily. The tasting room is as dark and dank as Dracula’s den and filled with wacky flea-market furnishings and burning incense.
Only 20 miles southwest of Patagonia, it’s easy enough to stroll across