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BISBEE — A “former tradition being revived” is how Bisbee Chamber of Commerce staff on Saturday defined the Bisbee Lodging Tour.
“They’re all bed and breakfasts, hotels and motels. All of the lodging facilities are participants,” former chamber Executive Director Jeff Blankenbeckler said.
Saturday’s tour comprised 23 different places wherein people may hang their hat for a spell in Bisbee.
 Mirka Batista, left, and Pat Wysocki enjoy the garden area of The Gardens at Mile High Ranch located on Tombstone Canyon in Bisbee on Saturday. The pair joined the Bisbee Lodging Tour, which concludes today. (Mark Levy-Herald/Review) |
In the order that the tour proceeded, the locations were America’s Best Value Inn and Suites, San Jose Lodge, Calumet and Arizona Guest House, Shady Dell Vintage Trailers and RV Park, Highland House, OK Street Jailhouse, El Dorado Suites, Silver King Hotel, Audrey’s Inn, Hotel San Ramon, La Estancia Bed and Breakfast, the Copper Queen Hotel, Sleepy Dog Guest House, Canyon Rose Suites, Oliver House, Bisbee Getaways, The Gardens at Mile High Ranch, the Weatherstation Inn, School House Inn Bed and Breakfast, Mayberry’s Place, Inn at Castle Rock, and Copper City Inn. The Bisbee Grand Hotel was the final tour destination Saturday.
Jill and Don Ownsby of Queen Creek straggled from the tour as they investigated the lodging accommodations of Bisbee.
They didn’t need to tour through the San Jose Lodge, since the couple is actually staying there this weekend.
“We got the grand tour of the Bisbee Grand,” Jill Ownsby said.
The couple skipped over next to the Copper City Inn, which Mrs. Ownsby said was her favorite at the time.
“Feel the breeze, and there’s this wonderful deck,” she said.
The quiet history and quaintness of Bisbee and its buildings was much appreciated by the Ownsbys, they said, especially since their town of residence, Queen Creek, has been over run by Maricopa County growth.
Up and across the street was stop No. 22 on the tour — the Inn at Castle Rock.
Owner Jeannene Babcock and her dog, Alice, welcomed tour takers Saturday at Castle Rock’s first-floor restaurant, which is where the full breakfast is whipped up every morning.
Babcock’s father bought the place in 1978 for about $8,000.
“We’ve been doing a lot of renovation. Each of our rooms is theme-oriented,” she said.
The 15-room, 8,000-square-foot bed and breakfast was originally a miners’ boarding house in the 1890s. The walls are now adorned with her late father’s art work.
Behind the old three-story boarding house is about an acre of hillside trails through thick foliage and bamboo.
When one walks into the trails behind the house, “you kind of forget you’re in Arizona,” Babcock said. “It gets so shady in here.”
“George Barr’s father paid $1,500 for it in 1953,” chamber Vice President Tom Mosier said.
When Barr received Babcock’s $8,000 for the house in 1978, he must’ve thought he’d turned a pretty good profit, said Sandra Corn, a member of the Bisbee chamber’s Board of Directors.
HERALD/REVIEW reporter Gentry Braswell can be reached at 515-4680 or by e-mail at gentry.braswell@svherald.com.
Tony P wrote on Nov 25, 2008 12:24 AM: