SE Arizona - Naco & Bisbee

[Pmount]

Wednesday, December 19, 2013
Duration: 9 AM to4 PM
Start/Finish: Tucson, AZ

Fun day trip through Southeastern Arizona. Today's destination was Naco and Bisbee. Most people have heard of Bisbee, a historic mining town that has re-invented itself as a tourist and artist destination. Most people have never heard of Naco, a border town with history and great food!

We headed out of I-10 East to AZ 90 South towards Sierra Vista, continuing South on AZ 92 to Hereford and Palominas. AZ 92 then heads east towards Bisbee. Before reaching Bisbee and after crossing the San Pedro River (with water today) turn right on Willson Road towards the US-Mexico border. There are two towns named Naco, on in Arizona and one in Sonora, Mexico. Our trip was to Naco, AZ.

The first stop was at Camp Naco. The pictures below give the history. There a quite a number of adobe buildings at the end of Willson Road. The site is not accessible by the public, but interesting to see.

Camp Naco







Continuing east on Newell Street you arrive at the Turquoise Valley Country Club. This building was built by the WPA in 1938. The golf course and restaurant are open to the public. There is also a RV park across the street. My parents played golf here and enjoyed the views. We have eaten at the restaurant for many years and enjoy all of the food, especially the Mexican fare. It is open 7 AM to 3 PM, and Friday evenings.

http://www.turquoisevalley.com

Turquoise Valley Country Club


TVCC - bar and aquarium



After enjoying a very tasty lunch we headed to Bisbee, about 10 miles away. Our first stop was at the Bisbee Mine Tours building to get smashed pennies. A new machine was placed there recently. This open pit mine is enormous, the sunlight interfered with getting a picture to show the scope of the pit. The road cut shows some of the incredible variety of rock found in this area.

Bisbee Mine Tour


Bisbee Open Pit


Bisbee Road Cut


We found a new letterbox hidden in the hills above this very hilly town. Whew, a climb on a full tummy takes effort. Spectacular weather, mid-60s made it a great day to be out and about.

Bisbee town view


Copper Queen Hotel


Mining Museum


After walking around town we headed back to Tucson on AZ 80, old US 80 that once went from Savannah, GA to San Diego, CA. Along the way you pass Tombstone, no stop for us today, but always a fun place to visit.



26 license plates- 1/2 of US seen in one day. Winter in AZ

Smashed Pennies
Bisbee Mine Tours - 4 pennies

Letterbox
1, with a steep climb on a very rocky trail.

Wildlife Sightings

Mammals
Arizona Gray Squirrel

Birds
Anna's Hummingbird
Mourning Dove
Feral Rock Dove
Northern Harrier
Northern Mockingbird
Common Raven
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Great-tailed Grackle
White-crowned Sparrow
House Finch

[Mark Sedenquist]

Just thought I would some of the coverage we've done in the Bisbee area:

Copper Queen Mine tour ~ September, 2001

Outdoor Stair Climbing Event

The Peace Mural in Bisbee

Staying overnight at the Copper Queen Hotel

or stay over night in a vintage trailer at the Shady Dell!


Lavender Pit at Bisbee, photo by Peter Thody

And about 75 threads of discussion

[DonnaR57]

**26 license plates- 1/2 of US seen in one day. Winter in AZ**

I had to chuckle. When I traveled from San Diego to Phoenix in March 2012, I think I saw that many different US license plates around Yuma! Plus about 5 Canadian province plates!



Donna

[glc]

You will always see a lot of different plates around a large military base, which Yuma has.