Tucson Week 2 & Bisbee

Local chef, Maria Mazon's establishment. Boca means "mouth" in Spanish.

Well, sometimes the struggle is real when you are trying to work remotely and this past week proved to be challenging with the technology it takes to work on the road. I have a different computer that UNMC kindly sent me, but still am having issues that I hope can be resolved soon. Any hoo, all that said and we ended the week at Boca. Chef Maria Mazon was a James Beard finalist - for those foodies that may read this - and we have seen her on the Food Network in the show Chopped. She was at the restaurant (duh) and came out into the dining room to help bus tables and check on things. We really enjoyed the fare!

Sonoran-dogs are a THING here in Tucson - it's claimed that everyone has their own "take" on them. SO, we decided to see if that was true and patronized a local food truck. All I can say is they are ALL delicious!

Mike and I have been immersed in the fascinating history of this area. Everyone knows about Tombstone and the OK corral, but there is so much more. We have not even scratched the surface and must come back sometime for sure! Any hoo, about mid-week, I decided that we should check out Bisbee on the weekend and we are so glad we did! Bisbee was founded about the same time as Tombstone. The town is only about 20 miles - give or take- south of the ol' OK corral and the Tombstonians. What a treat! It is an old copper mining town and is built into the side of the Mule Mountains. Super quaint and kind of hippy-dippy (so, I fit right in - lol). The pictures will not even do it justice, but here we go...

Called the town of 1000 stairs every year in October there is a race/event where people do all 1000 stairs - or try to. We did some, but WOW! Really out of shape!

Mike looking up the 150 steps in anticipation! lol

Looking down about 3 flights with another 2-3 to go on this set. we stopped after this set - the ol' knees were quite angry with me!

After much hilly walking and all those stairs, a fella (and a gal) needs refreshment so, when in an old west town with a TON of saloons, might as well partake.

Bisbee is known for it's eclectic atmosphere.

There are so many really cool old buildings. We decided we could easily spend a couple weeks in this area in order to get the whole vibe.

There is really no way to capture how the town is literally built into the side of the mountain. We drove the Jeep up streets that made San Francisco's steep streets pale in comparison.

We decided to drive the 8 or 10 miles down to a very small border town called Naco. It is a blip on the map with no visible commerce and very poor. Naco is a port of entry into Mexico. Here we saw "the wall". It's very sobering to observe this. I don't know what the answer is to the migration problem, but seeing this really hit home with us as to the seriousness of the situation. It resembles an iron prison and goes for miles; as far as the eye can see. I wonder if every American should visit a community like this in order to experience the extremity of the problem. There has to be a way - maybe the solution is a wall, I don't know, but it's kind of like a punch in the guts to think how desperate people must be to try all things to get around it .

Trailer house with the wall in their back yard. Mike says to call this pic "'Merica".

I want to leave our readers with some beautiful shots of one of my favorite spots thus far on our wanderings; Saguaro National Park (again). We have been there 4 times and I'm hoping to go back at least one more time this week before we leave on Thursday. It is just pure magic in its beauty!