Sierra Vista

We went to Sierra Vista where my youngest brother, David and his wife Kari and son Blake, live. They were very accommodating and we had a really good time visiting and sharing a couple of meals.The have a very nice home they built several years ago. They did a lot of the work themselves. It is pretty much at the base of a mountain range. They have a great back-yard barbecue area and a pool. I should have gotten more pictures, but it is one of those times I didn't get the camera out very often.While we were at Sierra Vista, our friends from Emmett, Russ and Louise Manwaring, came and stayed with us for a couple of days. The Manwarings are bird watchers or "birders." So we went up Ramsey Canyon which is a bird and wildlife preserve close to Sierra Vista. There were some fascinating trees and plants. This is a tree that grew sideways and then several trees grew up from one of the branches.
The hummingbirds were just starting to come out. I was lucky to get this really good picture of one of them.

The next day we went to the town of Bisbee. It is actually the County Seat for the same county that Sierra Vista and Tucson are both in. It is an old copper mining town that they have preserved from the time it was built in the early 1900's. The mine is no longer being worked. The population in the early years of the town was around 20,000 and now it is about around 10,000 (I think).
We found one of the local "residents" to be very friendly.
The town is build in a small valley and the houses are almost built on top of each other, with long cement and wooden stairs leading from the streets to the homes. They actually have some that are 1,000 steps long. Some are kind of crumbly, but they have tried to keep them preserved, and most are still used by the residents.
The streets are very narrow--some are more like wide sidewalks! It's a good thing Russ and Louise took their small car instead of us driving the dually!

This old VW bus kind of gives you an idea of what many of the residents are like. A lot of them seem to be dressed like the "flower child" era. It is a very "artsy" community and it was fascinating walking around the town.

We want to thank David and Kari for the fun time we had at their home and will definitely plan to visit again next year, if they are willing to put up with us again.