BISBEE, ARIZONA FEBRUARY 16, 2014

Bisbee, Arizona  notice the "B" on the hill above the town

The Queen Mine...this is a Copper Mine that quit mining in 1975

Suited up and ready for our mine tour

This is our guide who is one of two miners that still live in Bisbee and worked until 1975..very knowledgeable 

Demonstrating how the dynamite is fused

"Joe" built this wooden roof support structure in 1925

One of the carts which were used to bring the ore out....extremely heavy!

Ok, for those who are wondering what you did when you had to use the bathroom in the mine ..here it is!  It has wheels on it and a brake.   One of the initiation rituals of a new miner was to use the bathroom when unknown to him the brake had been released!   YUCK!

Looking down into the mine.   We both really enjoyed this tour, although when it began the walls in the entrance tunnel were pretty close and I felt a few moments of claustrophobia...but it did open up as we entered the mine.

On the way back to Tombstone, we took a side trip to visit Fort Huachuca.   This fort is an Army Intelligence School.

Another interesting fact of this fort is that LaGuardia, eventually the mayor of NY, lived here with his family as a child.  Just click once on this picture to enlarge and read about him.

This fort is also famous for the place where Geronimo surrendered.

Here is a picture of LaGuardia and his family.

In the museum of the history of intelligence is one of the first done prototypes.

TOMBSTONE, ARIZONA FEBRUARY 12, 2014

Crossing the Continental Divide on the way to Tombstone, AZ

Entering Arizona!

Our campsite...notice that each site was marked with a tombstone

Trail rides were offered at our campground

Sunrise at our campsite

Main Street, Tombstone, AZ

Big Nose Kate Saloon (she was Doc Holliday's girlfriend)

Inside Big Nose Kate's...notice the movie playing on the screen

Stagecoach on Main Street

Bird Cage Theater

Looking west down Main Street

The Tombstone Epitaph newspaper office...this paper has chronicled the people, events and places of the Old West for 133 years.  This was the paper that reported the O.K. Corral gunfight of 10/26/1881.

This courthouse was built in Tombstone in 1882.   It is now a museum.

The courtroom inside the courthouse.

The gallows outside of the courthouse.

Monument to Ed Schieffelin, the founder of Tombstone.  This monument is intended to represent the type of marker a miner makes in claiming a stake.

Sign on the monument. (click on pic once to enlarge)

Re-enactment of the gunfight at O.K. Corral in 1881

Doc Holliday posing with Liz

Boothill

Broad view of  Boothill

These are a few of the tombstones on Boothill

These are the grave sites of the three "bad guys" killed at the O.K. Corral Gunfight on 10/26/1881.   Billy Clanton, Frank McLaury, and Tom Mclaury

SILVER CITY, NEW MEXICO FEBRUARY 11, 2014

Leaving our Carlsbad campground...notice the bats on the wind gauge..an homage to the caverns

Mountain view on the way to Silver City, NM

A snowplow passed us on the way to Silver City...no snow!!

But there was a dust storm!

Our Silver City RV Park

At the Gila Cliff Dwellings

A little picnic lunch before we head to the dwellings

Starting our hike to the dwellings

The Gila Cliff dwellings--there are more than 40 sites protected within the 533 acres of Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument (set aside by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt in 1907).  Sites range from pit houses dating from 500 CE (Common Era) to surface pueblos dating to 1400 CE.  Today we were taking a guided tour to see 6 of the sites where cave dwellers lived. You can see the first cave dwelling right ahead of us.

Looking from the inside of a dwelling

As you can see it is pretty spacious in the dwelling.  The ceiling has black soot from the cooking fires in the cave.

Walking along the outside of the dwellings.

Looking out from one of the caves...beautiful view.

Pictograph on one of the cave walls.

Leaving the dwellings.