Benson

Mar 14     Tucson - Benson         52 miles               2 hours

In 1540, Francisco Coronado followed the San Pedro River looking for the Seven Cities of Gold. This is now the beautiful valley in which Benson is nestled. A railroad town and stopover for the Butterfield Stage, this ideally situated historic town was established in 1880 and served as a transportation hub for the entire area. Many historic buildings and homes still remain from the early days.

We made an hour stop at Costco for some food shopping and lunch before heading to Benson.

We're staying at Cochise Terrace RV Resort for 5 nights. Passport America rate is $26 so our total is $150.00. It's nice here. Sites are spaced apart nicely. They have a nice pool and hot tub. Can get kind of noisy if kids are swimming.

Such a pretty tree

Flowers everywhere

At this RV park, they serve dinner at "the barn". First night of your stay, you get a free dinner. Other nights, if you want to eat here, it's $5.00. Dinner tonight was pulled pork sandwich with beans and chips. Drinks and ice cream are also included. Good deal.

Mar 15     Tombstone

"The Town To Tough To Die". Site of the OK Corral and home of Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday, and other famous characters of the Old West.

We started with the Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park. Built in 1882, the two-story Victorian structure once housed the sheriff's office, jail, and courtrooms of Cochise County.

Today, the courthouse is a museum filled with exhibits that portray the authentic history of Tombstone as a frontier silver mining boom town. A replica of the gallows in the courtyard represents where seven men were hanged.

Gallows

Courtroom

Then off to the OK Corral. The gunfight at the OK Corral took place on October 26, 1881. This inevitable showdown over control of Tombstone climaxed months of threats, romantic rivalries, stage robberies, pistol whippings, and arrests.

Also went to the Tombstone Epitaph Newspaper Museum. The Tombstone Epitaph, the Old West's most famous newspaper, was founded on May 1, 1880. At this museum we read original reports on the historic gun-fight at OK Corral. Toured the historic print shop, which includes an original 1880's hand press and other equipment dating to The Epitaph's earliest days.

We enjoyed our walk through town, lots of different characters roaming the street.

Boothill Graveyard was laid out as a burial plot in 1878. Called "The Tombstone Cemetery", it was the burial place for the town's first pioneers and was used as such until sometime around 1884, when the present plot was opened as a burial place.

Because of the many violent deaths of the early days, the cemetery became known as Boothill Graveyard. It is possibly a true symbol of this roaring mining town in the early 1880's.

Buried here are outlaws with their victims, suicides, and hangings, legal and otherwise, along with the hardy citizens and refined element of Tombstone's first days.

On the way home, we had a late lunch at Wild Dogs Hot Dogs. We finally got to try a Sonoran Dog. Pretty good....we also had a Pastrami Dog with fries and onion rings. Food was pretty good, service was excellent!

Mar 16     Chiricahua National Monument

We decided to do this day trip this morning which means I didn't get a chance to pack a lunch or cooler. What a mistake....this is a very remote area, no food services anywhere! It took us about an hour and a half to get here but worth it.

As you enter Chiricahua National Monument you are climbing up a sky island -- an isolated mountain range rising above the surrounding grassland sea. It's the rock pinnacles looming over the road like guardians of the forest that announce you're in Chiricahua country.

The Chiricahua Apache called these pinnacles "standing up rocks". Their origins began 27 million years ago when eruptions from the Turkey Creek Volcano spewed ash over 1,200 square miles.

We drove the eight miles Bonita Canyon Drive to Massai Point,

The Grotto

climbing through oak, cypress, and pine forests. We hiked the Massai Point Nature Trail, then did part of the Echo Canyon trail to The Grotto.

Beautiful hike but it got pretty hard towards the last quarter mile. At least we had plenty of water.

So ono

We had a late lunch at Mi Casa in Benson. This is a hole in the wall but excellent food. We were kind of turned off with the little signs they have in the restaurant. Extra charge if you want to use your charge card, $4.99 extra if you're sharing a meal, when you get seated they bring out a small bowl of chips and salsa. If you want more, it's $1.49. What a turn off!

Mar 17     Bisbee

A historic mining town nestled between two canyons in the Mule Mountains of Southern Arizona. It took us about an hour to drive here.

Once known as "the Queen of the Copper Camps", Bisbee has proven to be one of the richest mineral sites in the world, producing nearly three million ounces of gold and more than eight billion pounds of copper, as well as significant amounts of silver, lead, and zinc.

Lavender Pit Copper Mine

Open-pit mining at Bisbee began in 1917 and ended in 1974. The pit is 4,000 feet wide, 5,000 feet long, and 850 feet deep at its maximum.

The town once had a bustling population of 20,000. The Bisbee of today is a well-known artist's community whose architectural and historic heritage has been preserved.

Street art everywhere

Mar 18     Gammons Gulch

Gammons Gulch is located north of Benson, Arizona, in the High Desert of Cochise County.

It is the 40 year Labor of Love, gathered and built by Jay and Joanne Gammons. Gammons Gulch has been used for Hollywood movie sets.

Jay's stories of the days he and his father worked security for the movie industry will delight you. A museum of memorabilia is on site as well. It's an old west filming town and living museum.

This guided tour by Jay cost $8.00, excellent tour and he's quite a character. We enjoyed Gammons Gulch more that Tombstone and Old Tucson.