Sister's Weekend: Part I

Dear Sisters~ I wanted to compile our photos together and do a series of blogs about our sisters weekend to Bisbee in November.  Our photography blog seemed like the perfect vehicle to share our collective photos and stories.  For our offspring, spouses and friends at home wondering or (more likely) imagining just what do we do on sister’s weekends? ...read on!

Tombstone Arizona

Getting all 5 of us headed toward the same destination is nothing short of a miracle, even at this stage of our lives.  This year, surgeries, sprained ankles, and the loss of a loved one threatened to derail our plans, but I think we all had a strong sense of the importance of spending the weekend together during the one year mark following our mom’s passing.

We piled in the car and headed toward Bisbee with a (roundabout) stop for Starbucks in Tucson and a little planned time in Tombstone, Arizona.  It amazes me that despite the fact we were all born and raised in Arizona, there are so many places we have never been.  Tombstone was one of those places, for me anyway.  If Tombstone were on my bucket list I guess I could check it off the list because once you’ve seen Tombstone….well let’s just say there’s really no need to go back unless you’re taking relatives from back East (ahem…) who want a taste of the Wild Wild West!   

And this one's for you!

Tombstone has stagecoaches, and gun fights, and turquoise stores, and yes lots and lots of tourists….we were 5 of them!



I think I heard a certain sister comment on more than one occasion that this gentleman was
"very nice looking"...



Tourists ...yes that's (3 of) us!



We decided to have lunch at Big Nose Kate’s Saloon and when we travel by 5’s we get lots of questions.  The local cowboy was no exception and found us to be the perfect subjects to volunteer to take pictures with OUR cameras for us. 

Caution: Content not intended for young children

Before we knew it we were being herded to the poker table, dressed in Western attire and handed shotguns and moonshine bottles. 

You should have seen the "serious faced" version!

I’m not sure how or why but I was the lucky one he chose to put in the coffin, hang a noose around my neck and take my picture. I must look lile a "2 bit tramp".  We promptly paid our tab and left Big Nose Kate’s.  My reputation was tarnished.

About 20 stores later-2 times each (did I say Angie likes to shop?),  3 propositions to take a stagecoach tour, an equine chat between Kim, the stagecoach driver and 2 Clydesdales, multiple photo ops,  and 2 3 trips to the “public” bathroom, we blew that popsicle stand and headed for Bisbee!

As we decompressed from the hurried pace we keep in our every day lives we had to laugh at each other.  We took turns demonstrating how the aging process and stress have taken their toll on our brains!  First it was my turn.  As we were nearing a Picacho Peak road sign I saw a grove of trees and commented that I thought they were Pecan Trees, but the sign infiltrated my thought process and suddenly I was proclaiming that they must be Picacho trees…(thinking Pistachio but saying Picacho!)  I followed with “do Picacho’s grow on trees?”  A moment of silence followed while everyone processed what I had just said and then we busted out in laughter.

Cindy took a turn with a new twist on an old phrase about Hell but as further proof of that comment I made about aging brains…I’ve forgotten exactly what she said, but it was very funny at the time!

As we approached Bisbee, Angie saw a bowling alley in the middle of nowhere and commented “look we could stop and bowl a square, a …square?  What is it called?”  A frame Angie, we could bowl a frame. 

We knew it was only a matter of time before the others slipped up at the rate we were going. 

Unlike the days of our youth,  there were no fights about who got to sit by the window, who got to ride in front, who ate all the snacks or who got the bathtub first when we got there.  Our bickering days of childhood... a thing of the past, have been replaced with chuckles and grins!  And not unlike the times we spent in the Buick "Vista Cruiser" stationwagon, we cruised on through the Arizona desert towards the town of Bisbee, Arizona!

                                                                                                                   To be continued…

As Thanksgiving and the Holidays approach I am reminded of all that I have to be thankful for.  I count my sister's amongst my richest Blessings and I love you all!

                                                                                  Tina