BREAKFAST AT THE BBC, HISTORIC ERIE STREET AND A FEW COLD AND DRIZZLY PHOTOS IN BISBEE

ERIE STREET IN LOWELL/BISBEE ARIZONA

From the warm comfort of my recliner I was able to watch a beautiful sunrise overtop the Mule Mountains.  Clouds had finally lifted and we knew Bisbee would be clear.

SUNRISE OVER ARIZONA’S MULE MOUNTAINS

MULE MOUNTAIN FOOTHILLS

SUNRISE ON THE HUACHUCA MOUNTAINS

STILL A DUSTING OF SNOW ON HUACHUCAS HIGHEST PEAKS

THAT LONG LIGHT GRAY LINE RUNNING HORIZONTALLY THROUGH THE BOTTOM OF THE PHOTO IS THE TOPS OF COTTONWOOD TREES ALONG THE BANKS OF THE SAM PEDRO RIVER AND STRETCHED OUT ON THE VALLEY FLOOR BEYOND IS SIERRA VISTA

I never tire of the South-wests endless beauty.  It’s the wide open spaces, big skies, and feelings of freedom I so enjoy.  Looking out my side window this morning I see nothing that Mother Nature herself has not created.  Morning’s air is cool, clear, crisp, and silent save for an occasional tweeting bird.   And how nice to be able to see for miles and miles from mountain top to mountain top.  It is good that all people do not see the South-west’s beauty as I see it or else we would have tons of people crowded in over here.  Glad to see the bulk of people on the east side of the country and not here where cowboys still ride the open range tending to cattle and mending fences.  And I have taken photos over the years of them doing just that.  Yes it may be warmer on the southeast coast but give me the cooler air, freedom and majestic wide open spaces of the great American Southwest and I am a very much most happy camper………………

Despite another cloud dominated sky we did have some nice sunny breaks pass up the valley early this morning and oh how nice to feel those warming rays of sunshine beaming through our large windshield.  Knowing Bisbee is at a higher altitude we dressed warm and with Pheebs in the back of the Jeep acting as tail gunner we headed off to Bisbee just a short 20 minute drive away.

TO REACH BISBEE WE PASS THROUGH THIS MOUNTAIN TUNNEL

AND THAT’S BISBEE COMING UP AHEAD AS WE SLIP ON BY HEADING TO THE BBC

THIS LITTLE TOWN IS ONE OF OUR ALL TIME FAVORITE PLACES

iT WAS EARLY JANARY 2007 WHEN WE FIRST SAW BISBEE FROM THIS HIGHWAY AND WITH THE TOWN COVERED IN SNOW THAT DAY IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL ALPINE SIGHT TO BEHOLD

We made our way straight to the BBC (Bisbee Breakfast Club) knowing a visit to Bisbee without a stop at the BBC just wouldn’t be right.  Breakfast there is kind of a tradition with us.  We arrived just in the nick of time as a line-up quickly formed behind us out the door.  I had my standard bacon and eggs while Kelly had something called a Popeye.  Now comparing breakfasts between the BBC and Mornings Cafe a couple of miles away in Warren I would have to give it Mornings Cafe.  Cheaper price and you get more bang for your buck.  But no matter, we like the BBC and the old street it is located on.  A historic street where the hands of time stopped somewhere back in the 40’s and 50’s.

THE BISBEE BREAKFAST CLUB IS LOCATED ON HISTORIC ERIE STREET IN THE FORMER COMMUNITY OF LOWELL, NOW BISBEE

HEY DI WAY UP THERE IN SEAFORTH ONTARIO, THAT TABLE AT THE RIGHT WITH THE LITTLE GIRL IS THE SAME TABLE WE ALL SAT AT YEARS AGO WHEN YOU AND HARRY BOUGHT US BREAKFAST:))

KELLY’S BREAKFAST WAS CALLED A ‘POPEYE’ WHICH CONSISTED OF SCRAMBLED EGGS, SPINACH, CREAM CHEESE, AND CHEDDER JACK CHEESE….SHE SAID IT WAS DELICIOUS AND SAVED SOME FOR SUPPER BUT NEVER GOT TO EAT IT….PHEEBS FOUND IT HIDING UNDER A BLANKET IN THE BACK OF THE JEEP AND THAT WAS THE END OF KELLY’S POPEYE SUPPER:((

A VERY POPULAR SPOT WITH FOLKS VISITING BISBEE

PART OF THE BBC’S NEXT STORE FRONT ARE THESE HARLEYS

PHEEBS MEETS A NEW PAL IN FRONT OF THE BBC

I’ve probably walked this old street half a dozen times in the past and find it more interesting every time I do so.  Don’t know how many photos I have taken of the old yellow taxi cab but there I was this morning taking even more.  Erie street is just one of those streets where the clock has stopped.  It’s not commercialized or all jazzed up to look old, it’s genuinely old and looks like every business on the street just seemed to up and close their doors one day and nobody ever came back.  Layers of dust in some old store front windows hasn’t been disturbed in years.

 

 

From Bisbee’s Erie Street in Lowell we slipped on down past Warren heading for my favorite Safeway grocery store on the road to Naco.  This Safeway grocery was our ‘go-to’ store in the days we did ranch sitting over in McNeal.  I especially liked the way they lit their produce department and this morning I strolled through there amid the bins of rosy red apples, greener than green greens and piles of yellow bananas.  I nice comfortable little trip down memory lane for me.

AND THAT’S MEXICO DOWN YONDER ON THE NEAR HORIZON

From Safeway we headed back into Bisbee proper and parked the Jeep in a lot close to the towns center where the Bisbee Coffee Club and magnificent old building housing Bisbee’s Post Office and fine old Library are located.  Kelly headed off up the street to browse a few favorite stores while I strolled around with cameras in hand taking a few photos until a fine drizzly rain sent me scurrying back to the Jeep.  For anyone interested in my previous writings and photos of Bisbee just type Bisbee into the Search bar at the top of my blogs right hand column and it should pull up my Bisbee posts.  Had it been sunny and warmer in Bisbee today we would have stayed longer and traveled some of the back streets looking at all the really groovy things there is to be seen in and on the narrow twisty little alleyways.  This small artsy mountain town in it’s Alpine like setting will always be one of our memorably favorite places:))

BISBEE POST OFFICE ON THE MAIN FLOOR WITH LIBRARY ABOVE

KELLY IS ACTUALLY VISIBLE ABOUT HALF WAY UP THE STREET ON THE RIGHT

 

SOME OF MY BEST EVER CANDID PEOPLE PHOTOS WERE TAKEN RIGHT HERE ON THE STREETS OF BISBEE YEARS AGO

BEING AN ARTSY COMMUNITY BISBEE IS KNOWN FOR IT’S INTERESTING AND COLORFUL CAST OF CHARACTERS

ONE OF BISBEE’S FAMOUS BISBEE CARS

IF SOME OF MY PHOTOS ARE APPEARING A TOUCH OUT OF FOCUS IT’S BECAUSE THEY ARE….THE AUTO FOCUS SYSTEM IN MY OLDER HEAVILY USED NIKON D-90 HAS FINALLY PACKED IT IN AND I NOW HAVE TO RELY ON MY UNRELIABLE EYES TO MANUALLY FOCUS MY CAMERA….NOT SO GOOD:((

Good thing we had dressed warm as clouds thickened over the mountains.  It was time to lose some altitude and head for home with one last stop at Kelly’s favorite High Desert Cafe in Bisbee’s north end.  With Pheebs riding shotgun beside a Pizza in back we headed out of Bisbee for our rig parked between the Huachuca and Mule Mountains somewhere out in the San Pedro Valley.

We are waiting for UPS to deliver us a package and as soon as we have that we will once again have the big wheels rolling.   Could be Wednesday.

ACROSS FROM THE HIGH DESERT CAFE IS BISBEE’S COURTHOUSE AND NEAR IT THIS LARGE CHURCH BELOW

GROANER’S CORNER:(( George W. Bush, in an airport lobby, noticed a man in a long flowing white robe with a long flowing white beard and flowing white hair.  The man had a staff in one hand and some stone tablets under the other arm. George W. approached the man and inquired, "Aren't you Moses?" The man ignored George W. and stared at the ceiling. George W. positioned himself more directly in the man's view and asked again, "Aren't you Moses?" The man continued to peruse the ceiling. George W. tugged at the man's sleeve and asked once again, "Aren't you Moses?"  The man finally responded in an irritated voice, "YES, I AM!"  George W. asked him why he was so uppity and had taken so long to answer him.  The man replied, "The last time I spoke to a Bush I ended up stuck in a desert for forty years!

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A guy was driving when a policeman pulled him over. He rolled down his window and said to the officer, "Is there a problem, Officer?"  "No problem at all. I just observed your safe driving and am pleased to award you a $5,000 Safe Driver Award. Congratulations. What do you think you're going to do with the money?"
He thought for a minute and said, "Well, I guess I'll go get a drivers' license."  The lady sitting in the passenger seat said to the policeman, "Oh, don't pay attention to him - he's a smartass when he's drunk and stoned."  The guy from the back seat said, "I TOLD you guys we wouldn't get far in a stolen car!"  At that moment, there was a knock from the trunk and a muffled voice said, "Are we over the border yet?"