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I am so excited to be heading down to Southern Arizona for a return birthday celebration to one of my favorite Arizona towns. Pilot partner and I were met with some interesting adventures and unexpected mis-adventures in the old Queen of the Copper Camps, Bisbee AZ. I love visiting this old Arizona mining town for wonderful food, interesting turn of the century architecture, the old mine itself, amazing public art murals, galleries and history. The adventures I expected, and it was the mis-adventures we did not expect, that spiced up our journey.
As we are flying down on a breezy September morning, I peer down from 10,500 feet into the deep holes marking the quintessential Arizona open pit mines and their supporting towns. Far below us I spy the deeply terraced holes of the mines, some still operational, at Superior, Hayden, Mammoth, San Manuel and Tombstone. It is so interesting to me that our flight follows the course of the San Pedro River, one of the last wild rivers in the country and one that flows North from Mexico. It seems the Southern Arizona mining camps follow the lush green of the river’s riparian areas nestled in the shadows of the mineral rich foothills. Gazing down into the mines and their little towns hugging the steep hillsides, I felt anticipation building for the experience of exploring Bisbee again.
Little did I know that the first mis-adventure was as close as the airport on the horizon. Bisbee is tucked into the crack of Tombstone Canyon that cuts through the Mule Mountains. Our route took us directly over the Mules at 7,500 feet with a sharp descent down to the runway. This was our first time landing at Bisbee’s little paved runway south of town close to the border wall with Mexico. I am a nervous flyer so when the landing was bit rough, I felt my stomach lurch and my heart rate go up. Partner successfully landed the plane discovering that we had blown our left tire. Oh gosh. Flat tire at an unmanned airport. Over the course of the next 3 hours this misadventure turned into an adventure with the kind assistance of the great folks at Copper City Aviation, Cheryl and Eric Swisher. Eric and Cheryl were such a help, changing the tire and getting our plane off the active runway. I enjoyed hearing the stories of all the people that they have trained to solo fly and land in their fleet of Jubilee Light Sport CTLS planes. The successful student pilots from all over the world decorated their tee shirts with maps, caricatures and stories about their adventures and mis-adventures flying into Bisbee that hang in Cheryl and Eric’s office at the tiny airport.
They were also turn out to be our connection to cruise around in the biggest vintage Buick Oldsmobile I have ever had the pleasure of motoring in. She was a real gas guzzling queen of the road. We dubbed her “Beulah” and happily took the ol’ girl for a ride around the vintage town. She gave us a few more mis-adventures with some no starts, wiggly battery cables, a gas cap hidden behind the license plate, and a turning radius of a mile. Everywhere we went, the old girl was recognized as the airport car. I think people cleared the streets when they saw us coming. I forgave her all her quirks, except maybe the lack of a start in the rainstorm on Thursday night on our way to Café Roka for dinner. We got to have the adventure of running down Tombstone Canyon in the rain to make it to dinner and then back home in the rain again.
Café Roka is always a highlight of a trip to Bisbee for me. My special birthday table was reserved at the top of the stairs in the grand old brick building built during the hey-day of this mining town. The turn of the century restored building has a soaring two-story open entrance with a balcony seating area at the top of the tall stairway. Sitting at our reserved table at the top of the stairs we get a better look at the pressed metal anaglypta ceiling tiles, they are a favorite feature of these old buildings. Our hunger is inspired by the current offerings of award-winning Chef Rod Kass, his partner Sally Holcomb and their attentive staff. We were not disappointed with the current menu of imaginative appetizers, small plates and dinner entrees. We shared the piquillo pepper, artichoke and medjool date appetizer sampler and great glasses of wine as we gazed down to the main dining room and art deco bar full of happy, chatting locals and visitors. I had the dinner special with succulent crab cakes, lobster ravioli and wild shrimp on a bed of fresh pasta. Partner rolled his eyes in happiness at the rich flavors of the lambondigas (lamb meatballs) with savory spices and a chimichurri sauce. We barely had room for a dessert of sweet sponge cake with dark cherries in syrup with sweet cream. Oh my gosh, how will we make it up Tombstone Canyon back to our hotel?
Café Roka has a worthy companion on the Bisbee foodie scene, in the newer Copper Pig located in the adjacent town of Warren. It is great that the two fine dining restaurants in the Bisbee area are open on alternate nights. Roka Thursday to Saturday and the Pig Sunday to Wednesday. It was our first visit to the Copper Pig, and it has made the list of must do’s for our visits to Bisbee. At the Pig Chef Chris Dangerfield and partner Heather Reedon share their love of carefully prepared and artfully presented “upscale comfort food”. The house salad was one of the best salads I have ever had with so many unusual ingredients, including a topping of house-made crispy onions, creating bursts of flavor with every bite. My entree of Chicken Scallopini likewise was some of the most succulent and savory layers of chicken in garlic cream sauce my taste buds have been treated to. Partner had awe-inspiring blackened tilapia with shrimp served over herbed angel hair pasta with an orange chili butter sauce. We found room for a few bites of the special Basque cheesecake with passionfruit glaze. We stumbled out the door, hardly able to waddle back to the extra spacious bench seat in the old Buick.
I think we are a couple of unquenchable foodies! Lucky for us, another misadventure of the tropical storm barreling through the Southern Arizona mountains forces us to stay two extra nights, ah days, for sampling more amazing food, art, museums and people watching. Wandering around the turn of the century streets we kept seeing Paris pink handled bags from the local pastry shop, Patisserie Jacqui, runner up for the James Beard Best Bakery in America award. The sweet delights that line the selves of this fabulously Parisian bakery made me want to cry. I couldn’t decide on passionfruit cheesecake, again, the tiramisu tart, savory and sweet croissants, and so many more brightly decorated and interesting flavor combinations. How can this lil’ ol’ Arizona mining town have such great chefs turning out such amazing taste delights? We ask ourselves planning out our last meals for this trip.
We had to make it to the Shady Dell Vintage Trailer Park to eat at Dot’s Diner. The Diner is nestled into the cutest retro 1957 Valentine Diner built in Kansas, then moved out to Los Angeles, then moved again on a flatbed semi to Bisbee in the ‘90’s. At first, I was a little disappointed that Dot’s was not serving the Parmesan-crusted grilled cheese I remembered from my last trip, but I made do with the tantalizing smoked brisket breakfast tacos. Partner tried the couscous bowl with lemony dressing, greens and avocado. Oh my more outa this world food lovingly prepared in old Bisbee.
Bisbee is also famous for ways to walk off all the great food, climbing her more than 1,000 stairs in staircases all over town. The stairs are a reminder that this town was once home to 10,000 miners and those that supported them, living in buildings hanging off the steep sides of Tombstone Canyon and Castle Rock. To celebrate the old stairs every October Bisbee hosts the Bisbee 1000, a famous 5k race up the steep staircases, climbing 1,200 feet in elevation. We visited one of the most famous staircases up Brewery Gulch, dubbed the Artists Stairs. The walls of the staircase are covered in original paintings, collages and more. Looking across from the Artist’s Staircase we saw another of our must do’s, The Old Bisbee Distillery, famous for their locally made, award winning Blue Gin. A fabulous “Bee’s Knees” cocktail of Bisbee gin, lemon and honey, had us singing praises and taking a bottle home.
The last of our adventures included historical and educational excursions on the Queen Mine Tour, traveling 1,500 feet down into what was the world’s largest copper mine when it closed in 1985. The tour takes you deep into the cold heart of the Mule Mountains, exploring the life that the miners led underground, showcasing the tunnels, minerals and equipment that supported what was once the largest town in Arizona. If you are like me and a little claustrophobic, the wonders of the mine, including minerals and crystals of all types and amazing colors can be seen and enjoyed above ground at the Smithsonian Affiliated Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum. A great space filled with many vignettes of mining life, astonishing minerals, equipment, and history of this fascinating place.
We also checked out the Copper Queen Hotel, with its turn-of-the-century opulence. There are dozens of restored buildings housing hotels and rooms for rent in this mecca for travelers, art lovers, history and mining buffs, as well as dozens more great restaurants, galleries and local sites to explore, sample and view.
We had a great time on our adventures and misadventures in Bisbee. Flying home on the tail end of the storm, was another exciting adventure, dodging thunderstorms and finally landing safely back home. We are already planning our next explorations of the Queen of the Copper Camps, Bisbee, Arizona.
