Thursday - the Mine

Today we toured the now defunct Queen Copper Mine. In its heyday it was one of the largest, most productive Copper mines in the world.  It was closed in 1975 and reopened a year later as a living history museum.  The tour guides are all retired miners and they bring their experiences and thoughts to the tours they lead.   We rode 1500 feet into the mine shaft  astride a narrow, single seat train, outfitted in yellow slickers, hard hats and heavy battery packs.

mine tour outfits waiting quietly for us

Dave waiting to board the narrow train

entrance to the mine shaft

just another happy miner.....

the only picture inside the mine that turned out.

Dave enjoyed the mine tour more than I did. He thought it was a good industrial glimpse into a real mine.   I felt our tour guide was wooden, just reading a script.  He gave no life to the mine's stories, even though he had worked there for 20 years.  He didn't capture my imagination, didn't make me think about how hard the work was and what the men and animals went through to do their jobs.  All I could think about was how tight the d amn hard hat was, how the heavy battery pack was pulling my pants down, how close the walls were, how jerry rigged the wooden supports looked and how deep we were in the ground. The temperature was a cool 47 degrees and the only light came from the battery operated hand held lights we were issued at the beginning of our tour.  I'm glad I did it, I won't do another mine tour.  To each his own....

We emerged into the brilliant warm sunshine about noon and walked back up the hill to Beluga.  After lunch we had planned on taking a little hike up the mountain, but whittled the afternoon away cutting our hair, and checking out internet sites on hydraulic jack problems and fixes.  Dave thinks one of the lower seals on our left rear leveling jack is leaking.   Probably not a really big deal, but you know how internet searches are, they take more time than intended.    Before we knew it, cocktail time!  

our back "yard" overlooking the Lavender Mine pit

this is really not a picture of Dave, its a stealth picture of our new neighbor....

While we were in the mine, a new neighbor moved in next to us.  It is a Roadtrek 190 with a really interesting storage box on back.  We wanted to see how it was attached so watched covertly until the man came out and started digging through it.  JoAnn, email us and we'll tell you more about what could be an interesting option for you.   The owners are a couple from Quebec and are enjoying their southwestern journey.

Lavender Pit directly behind and below Beluga

our view through the back fence

beautiful reflections in a neighboring motorhome's windshield

We left a little early for our dinner reservations at Cafe Roka so we could drive around a section of Bisbee we missed the other day.  It was a bit more run down than other neighborhoods we'd seen, but very "colorful" nonetheless.

6 nipples?

the peace makers

entrance to the dog park

inside the Bisbee dog park....Hmmmm, I don't think so.

I didn't take the camera to dinner tonight.  We had a nice adult meal with no posing or photographing food.  We were seated right next to Nina and Paul who were sharing a meal with friends from Benson, Az.   Small world.    At any rate, our dinners were stellar....soup, salad, and entree were beautifully prepared, beautiful to look at and full of good flavors. We came home very satisfied but still looking forward to our breakfast with Nina and Paul at the Bisbee Breakfast Club tomorrow morning (burp...).