Gold Canyon, Arizona

We are in Gold Canyon Golf & RV Resort for a FREE week.  This is a luxury resort and we are enjoying it.  We went to their booth at the Rally this year in Atlanta and they offered us a free week, so that we would come and check out the great park and amenities. This place has it all and it the nicest park that we have ever stayed in.  We are enjoying the January weather, in the mid to upper 70's everyday.  While our family and friends are enjoying the snow up north, we are in the pool everyday.  Why live up north anyway? Geez!
We are spending a lot of time in the pools and hot tubs, playing pool and seeing shows.  We did go to a nearby ghost town, Goldfield, that is now a typical tourist trap, compete with a gunfight and souvenir stores. They did have some good ice cream.                                                        

The front entrance to Gold Canyon Golf and RV Resort

The pool area, the lap pool is about 88 and the other pool is around 90 degrees.

One of the 2 hot tubs ans the Pickleboard courts.

The Lobby

Our very spacious site

Debbie challenged me to a pool tournament, first to 5 games wins.  Vince 5 - Debbie 0.

Debbie at Goldfield Ghost town

Nice view of the Superstition Mountains

The gunfight begins

Last nights sunset. Beautiful, Huh?

                                                     

Tucson, AZ

We are at Far Horizons Trailer Village in Tucson for a week.  We are seeing a bit of the area and spending time in the pool.  The weather is above normal by 10 degrees everyday, so at 74-78 degrees everyday, we are using the heated pool and hot tub.
We also spent 4 days sight seeing.  We have been to Sabino Canyon, Saguaro National Park, Mt. Lemmon and to the Mission Xavier Del Bac.  The day we went up 8,400 feet to the top of Mt. Lemmon, it was 74 degrees at the start up and 48 degrees at the top.  There was still snow on the ski slopes, but nobody was skiing. Tucson is very scenic and we are enjoying our stay.
                                                              

Yes, its January and Debbie has one of her new swimsuits on.

I'm enjoying the pool, its about 90 degrees.

                                                                               

Beautiful Saguaro ( Sa-War-Oh) cactus

Debbie with a Staghorn Cholla

Debbie with a Teddy Bear Cholla

A Fish-Hook barrel Cactus

About half way up Mt. Lemmon

Strange rock formations on the way up Mt. Lemmon

                                                                             

                               
                                                                              

Debbie atop Mt. Lemmon, snow, no skiers & 48 degrees

                                                                                   

Smile Deb, we're heading into the canyon!  The walk will do you good!

See, she made it to the top

            

See the rock on the right, he seems to be winking at you.

I made it too!

This is gorgeous country.

                                                                                   

Completed in 1797, the mission is in great shape

Next door at a place just for lighting a candle and saying a prayer.

We could not take photos inside the mission, as baptisms were being performed.

                                                                 

                                                                        

Queen Mine Tour, Bisbee, AZ.

We took the tour of the largest Silver mine in the west.  It was a copper mine that was very profitable as well.  Many kinds of minerals were mined here.  Inside the mountain were 43 shafts, one above the other with 200 miles of tunnels.  At its height of operation, two shifts totaling 3,000 men worked here.  Around 160 men perished during the operation of the mine.  We descended 1,800 feet on a narrow gauge, two foot wide mini, battery operated machine.  We got to see the equipment used, the way the dynamite was used, and all of the equipment that was used.  The temperature is 43 degrees in the mine.
                                                                                 

This is the mountain that 43 tunnels exist.

We are ready to go into the mine.

The entrance to the Queen Mine

Heading down and in, that is Debbie in front of me.

Our Guide, showing us the shots that dump minerals into the ore cars

The cars hold a ton of ore.

Just push down the lever between the 2 wheels and the ore dumps out.

Some of the equipment used to drill the holes for the placement of dynamite.

A figure of a worker drilling a hole in the ceiling.

                                                                         
                                    

Tombstone, AZ. "The Town to Tough to Die"

We spent the day in Tombstone, the baddest town in the old west.  The mining town drew the worst of the worst.  Miners, Saloon owners, gamblers, prostitutes and their madams, robbers and more.  The famous Boot Hill Cemetery is here.  In 5 years (1835 days) 2,000 graves were dug, more than one funeral everyday.  The town is reconstructed to show what it was like in the heyday of silver mining here, 1880-1885, when nearly 15,000 people lived here.  We enjoyed the day.  We took a trolley tour of town, watched a play with a gunfight, had a nice lunch in the Crystal Palace and visited Boot Hill and the Cochise County Courthouse and Museum, with the hanging gallows out back.  We even went to the famous O.K. Corral where Wyatt Earp and his two brothers, along with Doc Holiday had their famous fight and gunned down the McClarty Brother and Billy Anton.
                                                                                      

Debbie practicing her roping skills, she roped the horse on the first try.

O.K. Corral

Going for a ride on the Wells Fargo stagecoach

Lunch at the Crystal Palace, what a huge bar.

The Gunfight

Debbie preparing to enter the Boot Hill Graveyard and Gift shop.

They made a mistake

The McClarty Brothers and Billy Anton killed at the O.K. Corral

Sentenced to prison, but hung by the a mob from Bisbee

If you were bad, you got killed by the gun or ended up here at the gallows.