| NEW YORK (Money Magazine) - Founded as a mining community
in 1880, Bisbee became, by the turn of the century, the largest city
between St. Louis and San Francisco. That early prosperity meant that
Bisbee was built in a far grander style than most of the era's boomtowns.
Today its historic downtown streets are lined with stately brick buildings
and its hillsides crowded with Victorian homes--all remarkably well
preserved.
None of this would justify a trip to southern Arizona in the summer,
however, were it not for Bisbee's strategic position. Because it's located
nearly a mile up in the Mule Mountains, temperatures are consistently
20[degrees]F cooler than in Phoenix and 10[degrees]F cooler than in
Tucson. The climate and location together make Bisbee a unique place to
enjoy the outdoors. Just outside town, hikers will find stunning views of
both the Huachuca and Chiricahua mountains. And bird watchers flock to
Bisbee in early July, when the nearby San Pedro River Valley turns into a
hummingbird highway.
Visitors also love following the chamber of commerce's popular
self-guided walking tour, which winds its way up the serpentine stairways
and narrow paths of the neighborhoods surrounding downtown. Back on Main
Street you'll find a range of galleries and crafts and antique shops.
Tombstone's legendary OK Corral (where gunslingers Wyatt Earp and Doc
Holliday took on the Clantons) is just 20 minutes away by car. Kids love
what is probably the best staged gunfight in the West. Many vivid glimpses
of the area's history are even nearer at hand. Tours of the Copper Queen
Mine, complete with hardhats and slickers, take you 1,500 feet belowground
aboard open-car trains. As many as 47 saloons once served up libations to
hardened miners in the area of town known as Brewery Gulch. (Beware: Most
are now shops selling New Age art or Old West kitsch.) And the Bisbee
Mining and Historical Museum, one of the country's few small-town
Smithsonian affiliates, highlights the area's mineral wealth.
Bed and breakfasts are plentiful, ranging from the small and exclusive
to the eclectic and kid-friendly (for a complete listing, check
www.bisbeearizona.com). The Copper Queen Hotel (800-247-5829), which was
built in 1902 with no expense spared, is celebrating its centennial year
with a summer package: $101 gets you a double room, continental breakfast
and mine and museum tour passes. And the Shady Dell (520-432-3567) allows
you to stay in its assortment of 1950s-vintage travel trailers, complete
with period furnishings and the occasional phonograph (vintage records
provided) for about $58 a night. Even if you don't stay at Shady Dell,
come for a meal at the on-site Dot's Diner, a perfectly preserved Art Deco
diner with hearty, inexpensive food and plenty of neon. |
