SXSW Road Trip day 2
Headed out for Oatman first thing, knew nothing would be open, but figured I’d take some pictures, and wasn’t interested in buying stuff anyway. An interesting turn of the century town, much seemed original, slightly touristed up, looks like it’s quite the town during tourist season, a fake gun fight kinda town.Made me think of a much smaller and less remodeled Tombstone. Clarke Gable and Carole Lombard stayed at the Oatman hotel on their wedding night, and visited on occasion.
Compare this to the night shot from Day 1…
Heading out from Oatman, I was on a mission to get to Bisbee, so I headed over the pass to get through Phoenix and Tucson as soon as I could. The pass was a great drive, twisty switchbacks, climbing some 2000 feet in 8 miles, passing many active mines and some interesting places to see.
After getting through the pass, a slower decent into collections of houses, then eventually towns. A quick stop in Wickieup for a Dr. Pepper, the combination souvenir store, deli, market was the perfect stop.
And, the potentially offensive “road attractor”
Past this, I hit the interstate, a 70mph blurr into Phoenix, where the road turns into a stoplight and traffic ridden road for a while, slowing progress to a crawl. It took an extra hour to get through Phoenix with all the traffic and lights. Grabbed a bite at Chik-Fil-A, which I’d never visited before, but had heard wonderful things about. It was a fine chicken sandwich, but didn’t match the hype for me. Then off through Tucson, and I realized I’d never make it to Bisbee before stores closed. There was one shop I wanted to visit with particularly nice turquoise (Bisbee Blue), but I couldn’t make it tonight. I’d passed a sign for “Colossal Cave”. My friend Keith had mentioned this a couple weeks earlier when I said I was going on the trip.So, looked it up in my guidebook, called, and I could make it there for the last tour. Ahh, road trip attractions, the key to a fun and memorable journey.
After this, another hour and change to Bisbee, then picked the Copper Queen, the nicest hotel in town when it was built, and possibly still is. I noticed the John Wayne room, as I went to my room, guessing they have many rooms that had well known guests who stayed there.Was pretty full, but got a nice, if small, room. Quiet and very comfortable. Dinner in the resturant was OK, but not spectacular and a little pricy. The semi-fry bread was the highlight, but was fine considering it was late and I was tired. Unfortunately, the wireless didn’t work, signal was poor, even next to the router, but no connection to the internet. Gets to be a pattern.
Mar 12 2009
[RoadTrip]