Featured Rideout Riding Into The Christmas Spirit, Old Bisbee Style

Last weekend Mr. Sandi and I, along with our friends, Roe and Shelly, packed up our bikes, donned our woolies, and headed down to Bisbee, Arizona to get into the holiday spirit. Old Bisbee, the original part of the larger town of Bisbee, is known for celebrating most major holidays, especially Christmas! We only stayed overnight but, like most of our motorcycle adventures over the past year, we're finding that these "mini trips" are lots of fun and quite refreshing to the soul.



We stayed at a place we've stayed one time before called The Eldorado Suites Hotel located on OK Street. This hotel was originally built in 1914 and known then as the Brooks Apartments. It was very modern for its time and was built in the Territorial style. The building fell into disrepair over the years but in 2006 it was remodeled and renamed The Eldorado Suites Hotel. (info from the hotel website)

All four of us stayed in Room #5 which had two bedrooms, one bathroom, a living room, and a kitchen. Room #5 was on the 2nd or three floors and the exterior door was located on a beautiful veranda equipped with deck chairs and a table an expansive view of Old Bisbee and Mule Mountain.


The ride down to Bisbee isn't long but it is long on beauty and great riding roads. While this ride is easily done as a day trip, Bisbee offers excellent night life and so much to do and see that it's much more fun to spend the night. And my first overnight trip on the motorcycle was to Bisbee about ten years ago so this place holds special memories for me.




Bisbee is only 11 miles north of the Mexican border and 23 miles from Tombstone. It has a history as a mining town. In its heyday it boasted over 20,000 people but these days its population runs just under 5,000. I love the eclectic mix in Bisbee. The town has reimagined itself through tourism but there are influences of Hispanic culture, arts and artists, cowboys (and girls), retirees, and outdoor enthusiasts. Mr. Sandi and I entertained the idea of moving there but decided that it would make more sense to stay in Tucson and visit Bisbee regularly. The three flags flying over the entrance at the Eldorado speaks to Bisbee's cultural diversity--United States, Mexico, and Canada.


Mr. Sandi and I both rode our H-D Street Glides while Roe and Shelly rode two up on their new BMW 850GS. Shelly rides her own bike, too, but lately prefers to ride pillion. Not only did we have a great view from our hotel, but our bikes had a great view from their parking spots.


After checking in and bringing our belongings up to our room, we headed out to see what was happening nearby. We were all ready for a snack and we found both a snack (and a local beer) and some live music on the outdoor patio in front of the Copper Queen Hotel. The Copper Queen is the first place Mr. Sandi and I stayed in Bisbee when we started riding down here. It's one of the most well-known and popular hotels in Bisbee and is allegedly haunted but we didn't experience any evidence of that. Thank goodness!


Love this guys footwear.


More street music


And our first bit of evidence while walking around that Christmas was in the air!


CONTINUED...

 

We meandered about awhile longer on Bisbee's main street which is called Tombstone Canyon Road. Mr. Sandi and I did an overnighter to Bisbee back in November of 2020 and were very sad to see how many businesses were shuttered due to Covid. This year the little town seemed more vibrant and some of the businesses had either reopened or a new business had opened in its place. That said, it's still not quite back to its usual self and that may take some time.

We've never stayed at this hotel but there always seems to be at least one motorcycle parked out front. This one definitely caught my Triumph eye!


Our friend, Shelly, bundled up against the cold. When we were there, the highest temperature was in the low 60ºsF and the lows were in the mid 30ºsF. I always love this sign about Bisbee having the best year-round climate on earth. In some ways I suspect that's true. I love Tucson's climate other than the three or four months in the summer when the daytime highs are nearly always over 100ºF. But Bisbee sits at 5,538 ft so is significantly cooler than Tucson during the summer months.


This pooch was happy for me to take his photo and didn't budge one bit. He had a bed and a dog dish nearby and seemed content to hang out near the side door of this building where someone was busily working on something or other. Behind Rover you can see the base of one of the many stairways built into the hills in Bisbee which often replace streets. “The Bisbee Stairs” by David Ryan describes 82 stairways with an average of 78 steps each and there is a race each year called the "The Bisbee 1000" which, as you might guess, is named for how many stairs entrants climb during the course of the event.


Mr. Sandi, Roe, and Shelly in front of Cafe Roka where we ate a fantastic meal later in the day. Last year when Mr. Sandi and I were in Bisbee about a year ago, Cafe Roka was only doing take-out and only on Fridays and Saturdays. We love this place and were thrilled to see that they've managed to survive through a pandemic.


Strolling a bit further up Tombstone Canyon Road we saw this sight. I thought the VW bus seemed to fit right in with the inscription. I forgot to mention that among the eclectic mix of Bisbee residents are quite a few folks that would fit into the category of hippy.


There's a little indoor mall at the base of Tombstone Canyon Road and we wandered in to see what businesses currently occupied the space. There was an awesome bookstore that had the usual assortment of books but this section that was all about Bisbee caught my eye. The sign along the top of the photo finishes off by stating "if it's books". That could be one of my mottos.


These guitars also caught my eye and I flagged Mr. Sandi down to take a look. I know little to nothing about guitars but he started taking lessons about three years ago and has really developed a passion for all things guitar.


Our dinner reservation wasn't until 7:00PM so after wandering about as a foursome we headed back to our hotel to chat and relax. I joined in the conversation for a bit then went back out on the street to look around a bit more. The area just below the Eldorado is known as Brewery Gulch and is home to a brewery, a couple of bars, and some other unique businesses...and residents.


That's our hotel above and to the left of Old B Bisbee Brewing Company. I had one of their IPA's during our "snack break" at the Copper Queen. Delicious!




CONTINUED...

 

The skies darkened quickly once the sun dropped behind the mountains... and the temperature dropped with it. We bundled up and headed out to dinner at Cafe Roka. But not without some unexpected adventure along the way! As we neared the Copper Queen Hotel there was a bit of commotion. And then appearing out of the dark were figures in masks and cloaks carrying staffs and broomsticks. It was surprising, curious, and rather frightening all at the same time.




Mr. Sandi and I had no idea what this strange procession was all about but Roe said that it was related to something called Krampusnacht. With a little research, we learned that Krampus is a character from folklore in Austria's Alpine region who, unlike St. Nick who rewards good little boys and girls, Krampus chases and scares the naughty ones. I'm not sure how they knew or why they thought I was naughty but I got swatted twice on the behind accompanied by, "Oh, you've been naughty, so naughty!"

https://www.history.com/news/krampus-christmas-legend-origin

Continuing on our way to dinner we saw these luminarias on the staircase of a small shop. Luminarias are small paper lanterns--typically a candle set in some sand inside a paper bag but now electric versions are common. They are seen around Christmas in the American Southwest, particularly Christmas Eve. There is a small town between Tucson and the Mexican border called Tubac that has an luminaria festival each year at Christmas and hundreds and hundreds of luminaries light up the town at night. It's a beautiful sight. Luminarias have become my favorite type of Christmas lights here in the desert.


Onwards up Tombstone Canyon Road to Cafe Roka and dinner......




We saw yet another commotion as we neared the restaurant. This one revolved around a Christmas show that was happening inside a store display window! We happened upon it just as they were finishing but it was funny when we realized there were heads peeking out of giant Christmas ball ornaments!




Cafe Roka has been in business in Bisbee ever since I moved to Tucson back in the early 1990's. I've lost count how many times I've dined there over the years and it's one of my favorite restaurants in Arizona. Mr. Sandi and I had each been there numerous times before we started dating and now we try to go there each time we stay in Bisbee. Last year during the pandemic (pre-vaccinations) it was closed for all except weekend take-out orders. Now it is open for indoor dining but only on Friday and Saturday. Fortunately Mr. Sandi had made reservations for the four of us long before our trip because the place was hopping!

There are three levels and we were seated on the second level overlooking the main dining room and the locally famous bar.


My dinner was delicious. I chose the grilled shrimp and lobster ravioli topped with a light assortment of vegetables and accompanied by a nice Chardonnay. And creme brûlée for dessert. I didn't snap a pic of the dessert so you'll just have to trust me on that one.


After a lovely dinner and great conversation we strolled back to our hotel, said goodnight to the bikes, and crawled into our warm comfy beds.


CONTINUED--one more post (I promise)

 

Sunday morning dawned brilliantly sunny and cold. The overnight low temperature was 35ºF. Fortunately checkout wasn't until 11AM and we were in no particular hurry to get home. We made coffee in our "apartment" kitchen and sat around sharing stories and good conversation in the living room until our stomachs started to rumble.


There have never been very many places to get breakfast in Old Bisbee and with Covid there are even fewer. There are some places in the other parts of Bisbee but to go to one of those would have entailed gearing up and riding there. Fortunately one of our favorite places, the High Desert Market and Cafe, was within walking distance of our lodging, just about half a mile past Cafe Roka on Tombstone Canyon Road. That's Mr. Sandi and Roe down in the bottom left corner of the photo. We definitely arrived before the big rush.


After breakfast we noticed a couple of things we'd not noticed the day before. The snake used in this window display certainly looked to be real and the work of a good taxidermist. If not it was certainly a realistic fake. And you definitely don't see a display like this at Tiffany's!


Mr. Sandi and I must have walked past this Masonic sign and building scores of times over the years but we'd never stopped to read the plaque on the building front. This place and organization is pretty old--in U.S. years anyway. Does anyone reading this thread know about the two types of symbols on this sign?


When we checked in there was a small bowl filled with what initially looked like candy. On closer inspection--and after asking the woman checking us in--we learned that they were little plastic men who had "parachutes" attached to them. The parachutes were made out of plastic bags that had been folded in a particular fashion then attached to the plastic orange men. The check-in clerk said that the current hotel owner had started doing this to occupy her kids when she was running a hotel in Pennsylvania. She explained that what you do with these little guys is remove the rubber band holding the parachute to them. Then from the 2nd or 3rd floor, you toss them up in the air and watch them float to the ground until they land safe and sound. So Shelly and I excitedly asked if we could take one for each of us and two more for each of our husbands. We shared this tradition with them and we all agreed that we'd deploy the parachute guys off the veranda before loading up the bikes.


Well, here's what happened. Each of the four parachute men plummeted to his death from our 2nd story veranda. After the first two chutes didn't open, we tried again by opening up the parachute and basically unfolding it so it would work. No dice. So all four orange men died a sad death. Maybe next time?!



After double checking our room for anything we might have left behind, we headed back to Tucson by way of Tombstone.


We stopped for gas on the way home about 40 miles from Bisbee at a place called Mustang Corner. I took the opportunity to check the weather--beautiful!--and to remove some of the layers I had on because I was too hot.




Back home in the garage after a short motorcycle trip with good friends. Our trip was short on miles, but it was long on smiles! Mr. Sandi and I have adjusted our expectations and our attitudes through Covid and we've realized how much much joy and adventure can be packed into a simple, short, close-to-home motorcycle adventure. We are blessed to have such interesting, fun, and accessible rideout opportunities right in our backyard!

 

Thanks, @Markus! I love to share my rideout impressions with you guys. With Bisbee in particular, I always wind up with far more photos than I'd ever post. And I stopped at 40 on this report! There's just something interesting and unique around and in every corner. Yes, it would be fun to unravel that string and see how Krampusnacht wound up in Bisbee. I'd bet someone who immigrated to the US from Austria years ago.

 

Thanks, @Neal H. Glad you enjoyed my write up. Interestingly, another member here on the forum just mentioned about the first floor deal not that long ago. In most hotels here I've noticed that in the elevator the bottom floor is labeled "L" for Lobby. There's usually not a choice labeled "1" on the floor button choices but the next floor up is nearly always "2". Go figure.

 

Thanks, @Dawsy. Mr. Sandi and I just love Bisbee and it's even better that it's just a short--and beautiful--ride from our doorstep. That's too funny that your parachutists never worked either. Maybe adults were just messing with the kids' heads. Or giving them a puzzle to try to figure out to keep them occupied and quiet.

 

Thanks, @Octoberon! I like the idea of The Travels of Mr and Mrs Sandi. But I'm not sure about....27 VOLUMES! On the other hand, that would indicate that we'd been able to do many trips filled with many adventures.

Actually, at the suggestion of some of our riding buddies, Mr. Sandi and I did entertain the idea awhile back of doing a coffee table book about Blessing of the Bike events which are pretty common here in the Southwestern U.S. We figured I could do the photography and Mr. Sandi could do the writing as his narration is a bit better than mine. And my photography is WAY better than his. And a team effort is always good!

 

Thanks, @Ducatitotriumph. Why, I would love to read your coastal ride write up and see some photos of cold food on a freezing coast! Mr. Sandi always says, "There's no such thing as bad weather--only inadequate gear". And then I remind him that we live in Arizona and we rarely ever have bad weather. When he threatens to move back to Minnesota to live on the farm with my brother, I remind him to look at the average daily high and low temperatures in January.

BTW, the tire pressures on my Street Glide were 36psi front and 40psi rear. That bike has a tire pressure monitoring system and I can display the current values on the screen on my dash. What a silly and posh thing that is, eh? And I have to admit....I love it!

 

Thanks, @ Erling! Glad you enjoyed reading my Bisbee report.

I'm sure it would have been a great ten bucks well spent. But I'm going to have to disappoint you and say that we didn't go to Christmas A Go-Go and I don't have pictures. And you know what "they" say on the Triumph Forum--"no pictures, didn't happen".