Bisbee, Faywood Hotsprings, and Adobe Deli

My previous visit to Bisbee (way before I met Kerri) left me with a sour taste in my mouth. Honestly, I didn’t much care to make a return visit, but with Kerri having never been I took one for the team. We arrived early enough to be able to park in town and walk around for a bit. Even ate breakfast at a local diner, which burned enough of the day for the locals to wake. We were both surprised just how welcoming they were, with a hearty hello from each person that we passed. Long story short, I like the place a lot more this time around.

Leaving before the crowds came in, we passed by the old Lavender Mine to gawk at one of humanities failures. Now, I’m no snowflake. I fully understand that minerals need to be mined for our civilization, but these huge pit mines just rub me the wrong way. There just has to be a better way than wholesale destruction of the landscape, but what do I know, I’m just a dude living in a van.

We kept Big Blue pointed North-East, crossed into New Mexico past Granite Gap and connected with the Interstate again. We hadn’t yet figured out where we were going to overnight, but along the Interstate didn’t sound great. “There isn’t much worth seeing”, I said about the Interstate route to Las Cruces, so Kerri took on the challenge to prove me wrong – always the debater she is. We had City of Rocks as a fall back location. Thanks to Kerri’s constant drive to prove me wrong – about anything – she found Faywood Hotsprings, only a few miles from City of Rocks. A cute little campground with both clothing and clothing-optional hot springs for a traveler to rest. We spent the evening soaking in a pool all to ourselves as the sun set. Heck, we even returned to the pool in the morning for a little more soak-time before heading out towards Las Cruces.

Since we started driving before breakfast, Kerri was on the hunt for a small town cafe to grab a bite before the long day of driving. Now, normally she finds the most popular place in town, along with it’s three hour wait, but this time she was directing me miles down a random farm road. I was actually chuckling at her, telling her there was no way a restaurant would be down this road. Literally, it was 9 miles out of town on a barely paved path with zero signage at all. I turned out to be wrong (hey, it happens occasionally). There it was, just where Google Maps said it would be, the Adobe Deli.

Of course, when she told me the name I was expecting a small meat or sandwich shop. Anyone would make that assumption, right? Upon walking through the door I saw that my assumption of the place would be shattered. I actually had a tough time talking or walking at first as my eyes were simply overwhelmed with what I was seeing. Taxidermy of all types covered most wall space. Trinkets from locals and visitors over the years filled in the rest. Down the hall was a library and smoking room, and outside was a train car where one could consume their drinks or meals with a different vibe. What I thought was going to be a quick-stop deli turned out to be a full fledged bar, restaurant, and museum-of-sorts. It was amazing.I ate the world’s largest French Dip for breakfast, ha!