sierra vista trip

we finally were able to get down to sierra vista a few weeks ago and it was awesome. my mom is working at ft. huachuca for 6 months, so we went to visit her.

there really is a lot to do in that area. we started with an innocent hike in ramsey canyon. my mom hikes there all the time and it also happens to be the hummingbird capital of the world. so we thought we would check it out.

there were all kinds of things to explore. here, they were checking something out with daddy.

beheaded bug. kind of pretty against the brown dirt. what?

here's the whole gang. ready to start up the trail.

well. well. what do we have here? do you see what i see?

let's get a little closer. as in why don't you start walking towards us and literally cross the hiking path right in front of us.

ok. kids. hike is over.

let's walk slowly/book it back to the car.
this was actually the second bear my mom saw on that hike. my mom and the 3 older girls got there before us. they had hiked up a bit to explore some abandoned houses on the trail. they were playing on a tree trunk and heard some rustling right behind them. out popped a cinnamon bear. my mom swiftly got the children outta there.

because of all the recent fires, there have been more appearances of homeless animals.

we decided to stay close to the nature center and explore the beauty around there.

this little tree frog nestled himself against the nature center all day.
D liked this abandoned house and wanted her picture taken by it.
after our hike provided to be a little more dangerous then we had anticipated, we decided to do something more sensible. like take all the children deep into a mine. you know, the kind you can't get out of until the tour is over.

it started out pretty fun. we got to wear some serious mining gear.

here are noni, D and S. notice how packed together the train was. just after this picture. the tour guides came around and told my mom to scoot forward, they were going to make space for another person who couldn't find a spot. while we felt bad for the ginormous guy, they would have been pressed tightly together for the 2 hour tour. it was the funniest/most uncomfortable thing ever.

she said "no!" and they finally found a spot for him by his wife. which was all around better especially considering the circumstances.
you may have mistaken her as a regular old miner if the sparkle shoes hadn't given it away.
most of the group ready to go on an adventure!
here we are at the first stop. later, we realized that this was plenty. we would have been happy to stop right there.

when we first entered the mine, they stopped at 100 ft. and announced that if anyone wanted to get off, this would be the time. speak now or forever hold your peace. well, we had barely even entered, R was a little antsy, but we thought that once the train got moving, he would fall asleep.

we were wrong. at the second stop. R hated it. it was terrible. he just needed to get out. so the guide said that P could walk out with him. it was quite the sight. to see him starting to walk into this dark hole with a baby in his arms. and just the flashlight that they provide you with. yikes. a little disturbing.

we felt better that he took the baby out. then we went into the next stop. at this point, it is pitch black and freezing cold. the kids were over it. they kept saying they wanted to go out. there was no turning back at this point. not fun. as we were heading to the back of the crowd, we noticed another mining car pulling up. we just imagined P having to flash his light at the oncoming car. there is no way the car could miss him, it would just be a matter of how they were going to get around each other. again, very disturbing.

finally at the next stop, the kids were miserable. noni and i started to get a little slap happy. we were definitely over it too. there was nothing we could do to speed this thing up and we just wanted it to be over. we ended up all laughing and staying at the back of the group. but we weren't the only ones, lots of other people were cold and over it too.

we decided it was a great experience, but WAY too long for a family with little kids.
downtown bisbee was really cool. there were lots of people dressed as pirates for some reason.


next stop. tombstone. it was really touristy, but fun. the kids loved the street shows and gun fights.

learning all about wyatt earp.
we stopped for ice cream. these were the biggest scoops ever and they were only $1.55 each. my mom and i decided to get a scoop too because they were so big. we got a different scooper and his scoops were not even close to as big as the kids. disappointing.

we had to get an old time photo.... when in tombstone.
the drive back was beautiful. if you haven't been on this road trip before, i would definitely recommend it. the weather is so much cooler and the scenery is amazing.
this picture does not do justice to size of these dust devils. they were huge. we felt like storm chasers.