Bisbee, Sierra Vista or Africa?

March 04, 2011

Bisbee, Sierra Vista or Africa?

If I wasn't in the photo myself.... I would have thought this photo was taken in Africa.

Sadly. I'm not in Africa. We were in Sierra Vista, Arizona visiting grandma. Mom's mom lives here with her "boyfriend". Her house sits on the edge of the desert prairie. Winds howl through the fields, coyotes and rattlesnakes undoubtedly lurk at night (shudder), and the Mexican border is a mere 8 miles away.

With all the illegal immigrant activity and attention Arizona has unfortunately garnered... we worry sometimes about sweet little gran.

She, however, is feisty as ever! She was ready to hit the town in lipstick, heels, "new" jeans, and a vest to match her pink lips. Bisbee here we come!

We stopped at the open Bisbee Copper Mine

I'm not sure I want to know the contents of this water. Although it's pretty, black water with an orange lining makes me wonder.

ominous clouds waiting to dump rain on us....but they held out!

If you've never been to Bisbee, I recommend you wash off your makeup, thrown on a tye-dye shirt, slip on your birkenstocks, grab your art supplies, your camera, and GO. Now.

Bisbee is one of my favorite funky art towns. Imagine switchback tiny roads lined with artist fashioned houses, bright paint, abstract sculptures, funky cafes and coffee houses, saloons, galleries, copper mines, and haunted hotels. Something for everyone here!

We didn't get too many pictures. We were on a strict timeline from the boyfriend at home cooking us a pork roast supper. We did a driving tour only of Bisbee this time.

This is the court house where my grandmother refused jury duty because she said "where in the world would I ever find parking?!" Why the judge and jury panel bought this excuse, I do not know.

Hola Mexico

This bridge was so beautiful, so we managed a quick Chinese fire drill type deal, ran around the car, took a quick picture, and tried to hop back in before traffic caught up to us.

We thought we pulled it off...until biker man came out of nowhere!

He stopped, looked over the top of his sunglasses and asked in his cool dude gravely voice if "we ladies needed any help".

We said no thank you.

He gave us a sly smile and roared off.

We got back to the house and grandma pulled out a little plastic baggie. She says "look at all my gold!"We laughed. And then realized she was showing us her wedding ring for the first time. It was beautiful....and to be honest, it was the first time I was sad thinking about her and my grandpa's divorce many years ago. I've never known them as a couple. She still talked about the ring with such love....