Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Bisbee Arizona Another Great Trip

        

       **This exciting Exploring blog was first published in my Exploring Arizona blog page.  Please check out all the posts and share if you enjoy them!     http://exarizonagobensonbobcats.blogspot.com/  **





              I am not sure I have had a bad trip to Bisbee-  although this one started a bit on the negative side.   This was awhile ago, because we were still driving our little Ford Ranger -so probably last year actually.  I try to keep these Exploring posts current for the most part but life in general gets in the way a lot.  And in this instance I might of misplaced the pictures for awhile, just finding them on my Facebook page.   That is OK  I still have a post I wish to do, from several years ago, a ways down the trail, when we went to Oregon state.  Several things are pausing me, although I have lots of good pictures from the trip--- It's not in Arizona for one.   We went on the trip as a family for a great mans funeral, my wife's amazing father   and mainly the fact that in this post, when I do it  I want to honor this amazing man more than anything.   And I am not prepared to attempt that post and fail -from the standpoint of telling how great a person he was in the post more than telling my story through pictures for once.  
       Back to this Bisbee trip----My beautiful wife and I have been to the amazing town since this journey, and just hung out all day.   It was the first time in awhile that we got along and played nice all day long.   Luckily it was the start of such days together.  And I will post those pictures before this year is up.  ;)   On this particular day I was by myself.  And as I said, it started out on bad terms.   I was attempting to fight a ticket in court.   I won't go into specifics, but the judge did not bother to show up on that day, something I have never heard of before, but small town-and he was busy I guess.   But the court clerk would have been more than glad to take my full court fee-----I decided it best to set up another day to actually attempt to talk to the judge.   Something I missed, thus why my wife and I were there on the last trip.    After getting a new court date, I suddenly had time to kill -on a sunny day---in beautiful Bisbee.   I was not letting this pass me up.   If you look back through this page  I have several trips to Bisbee under my belt.   And every trip offers new finds and knowledge.   The whole area just had a very close call with a forest fire a few weeks back--and people living local and far prayed for the town rich in beauty and history.  Luckily the fire was quickly put out.   




              I actually started this morning at this coffee shop.  One of several great coffee shops in the town.   There are few even good coffee places in Arizona so when I find one that is great, I give it's lots of praise.   I lived in Oregon and Washington state for so many years, were amazing coffee can be found ALL over --that I might have become a bit of a coffee snob.  Anyways short story shorter---I really like this place!  ;)   The workers informed me I was pretty close to the court house, so I took my coffee to go and walked in the direction they were pointing.   Parking IS kind of hard to find in town and I did have my camera. 


   Still inside the store.   Several shops and restaurants are here, but nothing was open yet.  




Inside one of the shops connected to the coffee joint.  
Kind of explains most small towns and or places I have worked.  




Just outside the coffee store.  



As I have shown in past posts from here, art can be found 
through out the town.   
And I find new treasures on every visit. 


Over the museum
A place I still wish to visit inside!


Neat-o business after business lines the streets as I progress up toward the great court house.


The theatre

As I roamed up I passed many a great sight    business or vehicle, many tucked into the side of the mountain---like a fireplace completely outside.  But I was pressed for time, court was calling.   And I vowed to snap these pictures on the way back down.



You have to look for the bomb bottom a lil bit in this picture.  


Quite an impressive building for sure!

As well as the statue out front. 
I wish this was closer up, but I was already in the middle of the street trying to get this shot.  

Right about now, is when I find out I am indeed at the wrong court. 
And not only do I need to get to my truck quickly, I need to get to the other side of Bisbee. 

So all those pictures I wished to take on the way back down, had to wait, as I mostly ran back to our truck. 

Luckily Bisbee is a small town and I made it to the other court, by the jail, if you were wondering with minutes to spare.  
As I said, court even at the right building was not happening on that day   so time to Explore some more!



I always like a good cemetery and after passing this one every trip to town, decided to find the road that led me there.  




With the mining props in the background---to Kool!  At least in my book.







There are some very old graves here.
And a lot of history. 
I later read about a lot of it and the famous people buried here. 













This probably used to be the caretakers house.  In any case it was huge. 
And calling for me to Explore inside. 
But not on this day.







The old creamery beside the cemetery


Old school just across the way     look at those doors!

I left my truck here for a bit  to the dismay of several dogs and walked towards old town.


Were I soon found this trailer park   lost in time.


Everything inside was from days past, but they did not seem to kind to people checking it out    for free.   





Bisbee houses the largest round about I have ever seen.
Complete with Large N,S,E,W letters to help with directions


Just near the round about and under this spooky bridge is old town.
I have previously shown many pictures from here. 
Including an old old Grey Hound bus that is no longer parked here.
Possibly the neatest aspect here is that they change the vehicles parked/stored here randomly.  


Old town is also named   Lowell




On this day I found it very amusing to find this water company sign on the ancient cop station door.   I am sure it has been a long while since they last paid or needed a water bill.


As I said our last visit to Bisbee was with my wife and I.
And of course it was great. 
We found our selves in the Coffee shop lobby enjoying coffee and some amazing fudge!
More on this on another day.

But first one last shot from Bisbee.
And maybe your moment of Zen.....





Peace!!


And as always 

**HAPPY TRAILS!!!**

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Babysitting Blues






        I wont talk about the heat today --except to say it was hot   again.  ;)  I know I know   Welcome to the desert!   As my buddy would yell at me, if he had not just moved back to the desert.  It is kind of like complaining about the cold when you live some were like Wyoming--except for that one week in the summer   when it is super   super hot!   And yes I have lived there also   thanks for asking.   Grew up there in fact.   Woooooo for me   I used to be able to yell   Welcome to Wyoming, when people complained about the cold in winter.  Today has definitely been a day.  A day off work even.  I did manage to get a few things done today, but mostly started projects and than vowed to pick them back up again when it cooled down outside.  I didn't   or it still has not really cooled down, you pick.  Last I was trying to clean up my trailer/office/dog house.   The part of the trailer I had much of my stuff stored in  tends to leak during the monsoon rains so I have almost everything in the middle of my trailer.  Yes it's in the trailer  but its hard to get around once you are also inside the trailer.  Tomorrow is back to my Monday at work and a very different day----for sure.  I will type more about all this fun in another post.   But will leave this paragraph with, I would not know what the heck to do with a "regular" work week.  


The days are getting longer. And so are the shadows. Somewhere on The AZ trail one fine day   

  

Too soon??

And here's a tip.  


Apparently if a boss tells you you can't do something! Replying loudly "But I just DID do that!" Is not correct 😁
            --- I don't know how to people   but I do do what I want!   Like just now I typed do do   twice.   Just sayin'

                                                            Dam white people! 


       So I found this online earlier today   and it is from the casino I work at   --the poster was complaining about day care for the kids or something equally as stupid.  Although this casino is less strict than any in Vegas  I can assure you the kids did not sit here long at all.  Whom evers kids they were.  It is an amusing picture though for sure.  We get lectured because our kiddos can play quarters with the best of them, we don't hide it when we are playing with friends   but they obviously drink milk shots or something similar.  I maybe do too!   Anyways, when I worked at Wally World the toy isles and bike department were the free day care of shoppers  of choice.   And people took full advantage of it.  Sometimes leaving the store, it seemed   they were so hard to find adults when needed.  I can't even count  how many kids I kicked off bikes, zooming around the store.  Ever wonder why assembled bikes come with mostly flat tires?   This is supposed to be a deterrent from riding them in the stores.   Supposed  to   is the key words.  


Our sons a few years ago
to Kool for school!




I don't really agree with the confederate flag but now that the government says I shouldn't fly one, and they wish to take it off of The General Lee----- I want to post the flag all over my Facebook page and my house. I am also not against gay marriage, but I don't want to see rainbow flags all over my FB page either---it makes my feed look like a Dam Skittle factory exploded. Talking crap and name calling against anti gay supporters is exactly what the lesbian supporters are against with their beliefs. Just because some weenie whiners are against a flag---makes even more reason to post it for me. If my neighbor told me daily how much he hated the Broncos, I would buy a huge Bronco flag and fly it high every day in my yard. WAKE UP sheeple---while we are worrying about this overly trivial crap---huge laws and changes are happening and no one is even noticing.-----I wrote this about a year ago, but it is still mostly what I feel now re reading it.    Thoughts??




Pinal Air Park



   **This exciting Exploring blog was first published in my Exploring Arizona blog page.  Please check out all the posts and share if you enjoy them!     http://exarizonagobensonbobcats.blogspot.com/  **


Pinal Air Park



      So last week I got a chance to get in some good Exploring past Tucson.  And to get pictures of course.  I also got to take what will be our oldest sons first car on the open road to see if there were any serious issues with it.  Although it did try to over heat on me, in the cars defense --I later found out it was well over 100 outside on this day.  I left our house in Saint David early with intent on a long, well needed hike in the desert.  I really had no plan -just get in the car, crank up the music, and drive.  Just past Tucson heading in the general direction of Phoenix, down I-10 I was soon distracted by the Pinal Air Park.  And found myself on the very sharp exit ramp.  I have been to the air and space museum, in the heart of Tucson before, and thought this would be much like that.  It's not.   I did get some neat pictures in before being asked to leave the area.  This pushed my hike back though into the already hot hotness of the day.   More on this as we go here.  



Check out this Exploring : 


 http://exarizonagobensonbobcats.blogspot.com/2014/09/pima-air-space-museum.html
   Pinal is active base and very restricted.  I found out later in the trip, that much of the area I was walking on was closely watched ---and private property.  I had thought if I stayed outside the restricted signs and definitely the fence, I would be fine.  I kept my camera out and obvious as I walked to get pictures.  I also found out later that it is almost imposable to get inside the gates and walk around the planes in this bone yard.  You may have noticed through my Exploring that signs and fences do not usually fully keep me out of an area.  But on any military base or such facility, I follow the rules fully!

 I am going to pause for just a second here to boost my own personal blog page.  I update it much more often than this great page,  with personal pictures and Exploring.  Also with rants, rambling, attempts at jokes, complaints about the desert heat and tons of coffee love!   It is definitely not a page for everyone, but I enjoy it a lot!    www.wyomingjack.blogspot.com

                               Sorry    now back to the current Exploring!    ;)




Near the main entrance.



   So as I said this is an active base----there was a main entrance with a both, but no one was inside when I showed up.   Lots of traffic on this road.  There is supposed to be a bar that looked pretty cool just past the gate but I never found it.  Anything near the planes had actual gates.   I stopped across from this well maintained park in the middle of the base.  Although it really did not seem like anyone had been in the park for years.   





     It really was nicer than many of the public parks in greater Tucson.  Especially with the big planes framing the view!


Covered tables.



   Green grass and well maintained grounds for sure.   





   Just past the park   were I turned around to get some pictures of the actual main attractions here.  








As I said this is an active base   and on this day many parachutes gently floated down. 
It took me many attempts to get this one picture of them. 
Active base -thus all the security. 
At the air and space museum I mention above you can 
walk among the amazing planes and such.  





I of course was mainly fascinated by this control tower. 
And really want to climb up to the top. 










The above plane is parked all by itself on the other side of the road. 
It is gated off and surrounded by no trespassing signs.  



About here I was attempting to cut by the many buildings and see what the big object was near the middle of those fields.   I was staying outside the restricted area signs.





Almost back to my car I got this picture and noticed a security pickup stopped near by.  
I stayed put, and the officer never drove to me, but did ask if I worked on base.   
I replied that my car was just down the way, and I was leaving ---as I went back to walk the main road so this above was my last picture.    The officer never came closer to me, but waited till I was almost to my car before going inside the other side of this building.  
In any case I left the area just after this.  
On to take a hike at the nearby peak.
I have been here several times --posted from there on this very page several times
in fact.  
I wish to climb to the top of the main peak some day  but after the 
above Exploring, it was already about ten in the morning and already growing warm. 


So I picked an easy trail to stretch my legs before continuing on the road.  
These pictures in a very future post!   


Now I would like to bring back a feature for this sight
were I celebrate a local business that goes above and beyond on service. 
I used to do such a post in every Exploring blog  trying to do a business that was close to the sight I had Explored.     I mainly started doing this because readers were saying my other blog pages were to negative    especially when it came to local business.  
In honor of Flag Day and bringing this feature back, I am going to talk about two beyond great businesses here. 

This brings us to today's unofficial official business of the blog!
I need to work on the title but basically I pick a local business that gives great service and with
out there knowledge tell about them here.
I hope that as my Exploring blog grows --each place featured here will know about the praise and hopefully in turn get more business.  


Today I wish to talk about the Shell gas station near the peak.  
The workers are very friendly and knowledgeable about the entire area, not just there huge store.   Inside is a Subway, and huge restrooms.   And they even sell fireworks!  Every time I have been here, I have been greeted with amazing service   well beyond just wishing to sell there crap to me.  And they have a lot of product in the huge store to look at.   My wife would love the bargain bin near the back of the store, on this day filled with items that were all under a dollar in price.   

Enterprise Rental Car is my second  blurb today.
With out them a lot of my past and future Exploring would not be possible. 
They do not check credit and with a debit card or even money order you can drive away with a nice car.  Unlimited miles with most deals and very low prices have let me Explore and or see my family many a time when we had no working vehicles of our own.  The workers are always super helpful and friendly too.     Especially at the location on Tucson Street just before the airport.   It got to were I didn't even have to make a reservation, just show up   and with in a half hour the manager would have a rental for me.   

The rest of this days Exploring will be posted very soon!
Maybe even tonight   I did sleep in for a change.  
So please keep checking back on this page and share the links if you enjoy!!


And as always

**HAPPY TRAILS!!**