Tucson Arizona

After a so-so breakfast at the Sands, we left at about 8 am driving in heavy mist that was freezing... shades of deja vu!  As it turns out, the mist and rain stopped within a half hour and the temperature rose above freezing and stayed there for the rest of the day.  As we moved westward, it continued warming up until it reached 11C: things are looking up!

Most of the day, we drove in a valley surrounded by large mountains. Somehow,  the mountains never seemed to get much closer.  The nearby fields were either scrub brush or farmed for pecans.  We also saw large concentrated milk farms, which are not a pretty sight or acceptable smell, but that's for another time.  We also saw alfalfa and walnuts being farmed, along with the usual hay.  Most of the land was pretty grim and wouldn't grow anything except cactus and scrub.

After we crossed the New Mexico / Arizona border, we left the Interstate to try a secondary road south.  Surprisingly enough, we were immediately committed to this scenic road since there was no way to get back on the Interstate!  I can't remember ever getting off any highway and not having the option of getting back on.  At any rate, this approximately 60 mile long scenic route was reasonably scenic but nothing was really spectacular until we got to Bisbee AZ.  This used to be a very large open pit copper mine in the late 1800s and a major employer in the south west. 

This first picture  is of one of the mine's open pits.  What you don't see are the mountains of slag that surround the area.  These man-made mountains don't support much growth and don't look very natural or nice.  The open pit looked interesting and awesome, but it did reflect the destruction of nature. 

A little further down the road, we were blown away by the old village of Bisbee; it was an assemblage of mixed style properties crammed together on the side of a mountain.  These next two pictures were made from a highway pull-off with a good view of this fantastic village.  Hope these views give you an idea of what we saw.  We drove around the villages narrow streets and were continuously surprised at how so many houses and shops were literally just jumbled together, and yet, the overall impression was most favourable.  The detour along this scenic route well worth the time because of Bisbee. 

This second view of Bisbee centers on the local hotel, the Copper Queen,  which is quite spectacular.

Tomorrow, we have a relatively short run so we'll probably try some more 'scenic routes'.  What fun!