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Bisbee, Arizona

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Our first stop heading east out of Mesa was Bisbee, Arizona. Bisbee was first founded in the late 1800s as a mining town and is now a touristy town with a hip vibe. We stayed at the Copper Queen RV Park with a great view of downtown from our rear window.

Bisbee today

Bisbee 1909

On our first full day we took the Copper Queen Mine Tour. Wow, we can’t imagine the miners that worked underground in those dark, claustrophobic conditions. Our tour guide told us his father had worked at the mine on a 28/10 schedule – yes, he worked 10 hours a day for 28 days straight, then had 2 days off and started over!! Learning about how the miners worked, especially when they used dynamite to blow out new sections was fascinating!

For dinner we went to The Quarry Bisbee which had great reviews. I have to admit that when we first walked in and took a seat we had our doubts and considered leaving. Glad we didn’t, our dinners were excellent.

We also found this cute little wine bar and stopped for a glass of dry Riesling that was really good!

Nearby Erie Street in what used to be Lowell is a reminder of time gone by.

Mesa, Arizona

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It’s hard to believe that we have been full time RVers for 5 years already! We have had so much fun exploring the Western part of the country, but one thing we’ve realized is that there really aren’t many places to spend the winter if you want to stay in warm weather.

So, we’ve spent the last four winters in Mesa, Arizona, which is a great Winter base for exploring the West Coast. Ya gotta be somewhere in the Winter and you can’t argue with the Winter weather in the Phoenix area!

There are so many great things to do in the area, and we know we didn’t see them all, but we were fortunate enough to get to see many of them like … Pima Air and Space Museum, Titan Missile Museum,
Tortilla Flat, Scottsdale, MIM, Museum of Illusions, TranSiberian Orchestra, Tucson Book Fair, International Guitar Night, Whose Live Anyway!, Rent, Jesus Christ Superstar, Concerts and Dances, Starz American Bar for watching the Ravens! (with breakfast beer), Vito’s Cellar Comedy Club nights. Plus, we found a tequila we like that is only available locally.

We also had the opportunity to get to know and work with a great group of workampers and a fantastic boss over the years.

When we first started this ‘road trip’ we thought we’d never go back to the same place twice, we ended up coming back for 4 Winters. But now we feel like it’s time to move on. So for now we bid this area adieu and move on … back to where we started – the East Coast! After 5 years we’d like to spend some time closer to family and visit some beaches! Although the West Coast is beautiful, the beaches don’t compare to the East Coast beaches.

Growing up in Maryland our weekend/vacation resort was always Ocean City, MD – so we are psych’d to be returning there this summer … more to come!

Musical Instrument Museum

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We’ve wanted to go to the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix for years and and not quite got around to it. So just before we left the area we did make it and luckily for us, it coincided with a new Exhibit called Acoustic America, Iconic Guitars, Mandolins, and Banjos! What a treat! The entire museum by itself is a ‘bucket list’ thing to do if ever in the area. It’s impossible to even begin to describe the breadth of the collections of instruments from all over the world contained here, and throw in the Acoustic America exhibit … wow, we were just blown away. LOL, we thought we’d take a couple of hours and be fine … we could have spent a couple of DAYS in this place … and probably still missed things! P.S. – a special shout out to two Maryland companies that were represented well as part of the exhibits, PRS Guitars, and Pearl Works!

12 fret dreadnought owned by Peter Yarrow of Peter Paul and Mary, with set list still taped to the top.

This 12 string was owned and played by Paul Stookey of Peter Paul and Mary.

Although not a Baltimore native, Michael Hedges studied at Peabody Institute and spent several years in the Baltimore area. This is his harp guitar he used frequently. Mike followed him for years and he is one of Mike’s favorite guitar players.

A couple of PRS guitar examples, the sunburst is owned by Al DiMeola, the blond is owned by Carlos Santana, both custom made by Paul Reed Smith himself.

The Pearl Works display, which includes a PRS.

A special guitar, a 1975 Martin D-28, played by Elvis Presley on his final live performance in 1977.

A few more items of interest, and a couple of Candi and Mike just playin’ around!

Pima Air & Space Museum

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We took a day trip down to Tucson to visit the Pima Air & Space Museum. It’s a huge indoor/outdoor facility with over 400 current and historical aircraft spread out over 80 acres including 6 hangers. One of the big reasons Mike wanted to go there is the number of Glenn L. Martin aircraft they have and one noteworthy plane: the last remaining PBM5 Mariner. This aircraft is literally the last one in the world and at the time of it’s donation to the museum back in the ’70’s – was flown in to the facility! So it was airworthy at the time!

The museum is also home to several other Martin aircraft: 2 – B-57’s, a 404, and a B-26. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) the B-26 is not on display and undergoing restoration at this time. Fun fact/sidenote: Those that know us know we are huge Doobie Brothers fans … ‘back in the day’ the Doobie Brothers had their own plane called the Doobie Liner – it was a Martin 404!

There are of course many more aircraft to see from a tiny BD-5 mini jet to several B-52’s and 747’s, as well as aircraft from around the world.

There is also a ‘museum within the museum’. There is a single building within the complex dedicated to the 390th Bombardment Group and home to a fully restored B-17.

Verde Valley

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We decided to make one last stop on our way to Mesa for the winter. We stayed at the Thousand Trails Verde Valley, which is definitely the nicest Thousand Trails park we’ve seen!

Alcantara is a quaint little winery right next to the campground that had live entertainment and a nice selection of wine.

We had been in the area a few years ago but hadn’t visited the town of Cottonwood. We’re so glad we decided to see it this time. It’s a really cute town with some nice shops, restaurants, and wine tasting rooms.

We knew we were in the right place when we walked into a bar/restaurant for lunch and they were replaying the last Ravens game!

Page Arizona

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We decided to spend a few days in Page, Arizona to see some things we missed on our last trip through the area. We stayed at Page Lake Powell Campground, which was a good location for visiting the area.

Our first full day here we visited Horseshoe Bend.

Luckily, we had left some extra time here since it rained one day. Then the sun came out and we saw this incredible rainbow!

The next day we went on a group tour to Antelope Canyon and had a decent dinner at Big John’s Texas Barbeque, an old converted gas station. The food was good, but the decor made it an experience.

Horseshoe Bend

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Three years ago we drove from Denver to Mesa through Utah and visited the “Big Five” National Parks, which were amazing, but one thing we missed was Horseshoe Bend, which is part of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. This is such a well known area and we have seen so many pictures of it that we were afraid seeing it in real life would be somewhat of a dissapointment. No worries there – it was amazing to see!! In fact, so amazing that we went three times to view it in different light!

(click on the image for full screen view)

Antelope Island and Golden Spike

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We drove through Antelope Island which is in Salt Lake. The scenery here is beautiful and we loved seeing the bison.

We didn’t stay long since we wanted to reach Golden Spike National Historic Park in time for the demonstration run of their trains. Golden Spike commemorates the completion of the first transcontinental railroad across the United States. This is where the train tracks from the east met with the tracks from the west. It is named after the four final spikes which were made of gold and joined the tracks. We learned that the gold spikes were decorative only and were removed and replaced with regular spikes after the ceremony! The trains that are on display are replicas of the actual trains but were made to be as authentic as possible from the original engineering drafts.