July 24th-26th 2009

So on the 24th - 26th my sister and I got another visitor, Mike. Mike is a friend of my sisters from IL (I guess I can call him a friend too) the last time I saw him was 3 years ago. Anyways Mike took a train from Chicago to Flagstaff then rented a car and drove down to Tempe (he arrived around 12:30 am on Friday), talk about a late night waiting for him to arrive, my sister and I both had to wake up at 6:10 am, so we got little sleep.

On Friday I got home before my sister did so I spent a few hours talking with Mike until she got home. Then the three of us had dinner at the Elephant Bar (I know I always take people to this restaurant). After dinner we drove down Mill Avenue and then went home.

Saturday 25th
Woke up around 7:30 am got around, packed the car and the 3 of us started on the three hour trip down to Tombstone AZ. Yeah I went back to Tombstone, my sister wanted Mike to see more then just the city plus I think Mike is a fan of the movie so this seemed perfect. We arrived in Tombstone around 11:30 am, parked the car and then walked to the O.K. Corral to get tickets for the gunfight. When we got there we found out we were just in time to see Doc Holliday give a speech about his life. He was setting up a game of faro and recruited my sister to play. She was given the black chips since she was wearing a black shirt (he was color matching the chips with color of shits; red, blue, green, white and black). At first I was almost called to go up and play but I was to shy and said no. The speech lasted for about an hour and talked about his life, the mystery surrounding his death and things like that.

Doc’s speech ended around 1pm and we had an hour before the gunfight so we grabbed some lunch at the Longhorn Restaurant. During lunch a thunderstorm rolled through town but it stopped raining by the time we got done eating. So like I said the gunfight was at 2pm, this was my second time watching the show and I was happy to find out that the plays before the famous fight was different then the last one I saw. After the show we got our pictures taken with some of the actors (you can view the pictures below). Then we walked over to the Bird Cage Theatre and took a tour (again my second time) but I think Mike really enjoyed seeing the building since it’s the original. Afterwards we walked around the town some more then stopped at the Crystal Palace Saloon and had a drink before leaving town (sadly I had to get a soda since I was going drive).

Ok before completely leaving Tombstone we made one last stop at BootHill Graveyard. Third time coming to Tombstone and first time stopping here. Yeah I know I don’t really have much to say about the graveyard, according to info I looked up it’s located on the original site but most of the graves looked completely fake, but I guess they’re not.

After BootHill the three of us got back in the mini and headed to our next stop, Bisbee AZ

After leaving Tombstone we drove south down to Bisbee. I have been here two other times before so I’m sure some of you might remember me talking about this town in the past. To my surprise it didn’t take me to long to fine the hotel parking lot. After parking we unloaded the mini and checked into the Copper Queen Hotel. The room we stayed in was 414, which was located on the fourth floor; it was a very nice room, clean and comfortable. Not sure if any of you have heard of this hotel but it was featured on Ghost Hunters a few years back. I can’t say we had any true ghostly encounters. The only odd thing that happed was the bathroom door opening on this own. The door to the bathroom was completely shut and the three of us were talking and sitting on the beds. Then we heard a noise and looked over at the bathroom and saw the door opening. But this is a very old hotel so there could be other reason for this happening. I must add that it only happened once.

So once we got our bags in the room and took a little moment to just relax we headed downstairs to eat dinner at (the hotel’s) Winchester’s restaurant. The restaurant was very fancy and nicely decorated. I ordered the Copper Queen Burger, which was topped with sautéed mushrooms, green chilies, and pepper jack cheese. After dinner we headed back to our room and watch The Firefly which is an old movie made in 1937. After the movie Mike and I walked around the hotel, I wanted to look around the place and take some pictures.

Sunday 26th
The next morning we woke up around 8 am. Checked out of the hotel (we put the bags in the mini) and at 10:30 we took the tour of Copper Queen Mine. The first time I took this tour I had fun, the second time around….kind of boring and just to cold for my liking. But we thought Mike would like the tour and I think he did (I hope). The tour lasted over an hour so by the time we got out it was time for lunch. We had lunch at Santiago’s Mexican restaurant. Mike badly wanted to eat at a Mexican restaurant, my sister and I don’t like Mexican food but we have eaten here before and it’s a really nice place so my sister decided this was a nice place to take him and fulfill his wish. Lunch was really good and for dessert Mike and I had fried ice cream and my sister had key lime cheesecake, just yummy over all.

After lunch we walked around town then made our way back to the mini and drove over to the Lavender Pit. I decided to take some pictures of Atori while my sister and Mike looked at the pit. Then it was time to make the three hours drive back to Tempe.

I think we got into Tempe around 6 pm After dinner we went back to the apartment and watched the movie Tombstone. I always have to watch this movie after visiting the town. The movie ended around 11 pm and we said our goodbyes to Mike. His return ticket was for 5 am on Monday and it takes a good few hours to drive to Flagstaff so he left early to give himself plenty of time. And that’s how the weekend with our guest went. Next time if he comes out I think he’ll stay longer then just 3 days.