April 23, 2010 - On the way into La Paz

On the 17th, we anchored outside of Loreto and Earl and I took a quick run to Pescador, the local grocery store. Since Earl was involved, it was quick- a sprint through the store. The man really does not understand the concept of shopping. We did manage to get most of the essentials, some milk, fresh veggies, red wine and tequila. We also picked up some ice cream, but in our rush to leave the store, it was forgotten at the checkout counter. Tragedy!

Then we ran down to the south west corner of Isla Carmen to anchor for the night. Bahia Marquer was a pleasant place. Since it is so near more popular anchorages such as Honeymoon Cove, it is apparently little used. I read in the guide book that the Mexican government has transplanted dessert big horn sheep to this island. They hope that herds here can be used to replenish stocks which have declined in other areas which are under more pressure from development. We will need to look up on the internet the diet of these animals. Certainly the rocky hillsides of cactus did not look friendly. Howard spent some time looking thought the binoculars looking for signs of sheep, but he saw nothing. The next day we headed south to Aqua Verde, which we have visited before. We ran further offshore than we had in the past and stopped for lunch on the north side of Isla Monserrate, at beach called Yellowstone. It is off the beaten track and lovely. The rocks were an extraordinary color. We also had a good time beach combing. Both Louises added to their shell collections. We saw a great many dead lobsters on the beach and wondered what the story was. Later a pangero told me that in April and May the lobsters shed their shells and that was what we had seen. It is extraordinary that the shells survive the process so intact.

When we arrived in Agua Verde the northern anchorage that we normally use was pretty full. Since there was little wind of any kind, we anchored in the southern part of the bay by ourselves. Shortly after we dropped anchor, along came a panga with lobsters for sale. We put the shrimp back in the frig and, at my suggestion, Earl cooked the lobsters on the grill. The ones that John Zimmerman had cooked for us in Agua Verde a month earlier had been delicious. Earl was disappointed with his results and regretted not having steamed the lobsters as usual, but we all enjoyed them anyhow. It was a merry evening, and a lot of wine was consumed. Louise was very impressed by a large sailing ship approaching though the dusk that was revealed to be a large rock. That rock will henceforth be special for us.

The next morning while Earl waiting in vain for a panga to bring him some of his prized ballyhoo for bait, Louise and I went to explore the little community of Agua Verde. There is a maze of dirt roads threading through the little houses and it took us several tries to get the correct one to the little tienda where we were able to pick up some fresh veggies. Later, we stood on the beach waiting for Taxi Earl to pick us up and watched a local pangero casting his net for bait. It was quite beautiful to watch – as is anything that is done with such skill.

The next day we had a short trip to Puerto Los Gatos so we swung out and did some fishing on the way. There was great excitement and something of a Chinese fire drill when we hooked something. The ‘crew’ did everything wrong which made it more exciting. The result was a fish we had never seen before which we determined was a Black Skipjack. It was quite a beautiful fish, blue silver with stripes on the back. The fish handbook warned that the flesh was very dark, but that it was reported to be good eating. It was not on the menu that night since we had shrimp from the prior day to eat. Earl filleted it and we were very impressed by how dark the flesh really was - a very, very dark red brown, almost black.

Puerto Los Gatos is a popular and beautiful anchorage. The rocks on the beach are an extraordinary color red which looks all the more special against the teal colored water. Luck was with us. A panga arrived with lobsters to sell, irresistible for us. We put them on the ice for the next night since we really could not keep the shrimp too long.

The next day we cruised down the east side of the Isla San Jose, new territory for us. It is a beautiful rugged coast and we saw few other boats all day on a way into the Hook at Isla San Francisco. We had the fishing lines out and we rewarded fairly early. This time the crew’s performance improved, although the captain felt that more improvement was needed, and Howard landed another Black Skipjack. Since we had not yet tasted the one we had kept the day before, we thought it best to let it go. Our reward was to catch another, and another and another. I think that we had 8 or 9, we lost count. One time we even had two on at once. With all this practice, our performance improved to almost satisfactory.

Later that afternoon Earl grilled some of the prior day’s black skipjack, and Louise, Howard and Earl tasted it. I could not overlook the color enough to try, but the others agreed that is was okay. Louise said about 6 out of 10, while Earl said it was as good as Ahi. There was some regret that we had released everything that day, except that we had lobsters waiting for us. This time we steamed them and they were wonderful, definitely a better way for us to prepare them then grilling.

I had promised Louise some good shelling at Isla San Francisco. That evening we went swimming instead of going into the beach. Louise believes in tormenting herself and getting into the water in half inch increments, but I think that she enjoyed it once she was in. However, I regretted that we had not gone to shore because that night, the wind which had been almost nonexistent for our entire cruise arrived from the south. The hook at San Francisco is a wonderful anchorage for north winds, and a very poor one for winds from the south. Earl was up much of the night watching, and Howard and Louise in the front stateroom had a very bumpy night. The weather forecast for the next few days was wind from the south west. We had to abandon our plan to spend the morning at the hook and the afternoon at Ensenada Grande and instead we headed down the west side of the Isla Partita and Espiritu Santo. There was a pretty good chop until we tucked into the shelter of the islands, but it was pretty smooth thereafter.

One the way we had a pleasant surprise. We passed a sailboat coming north and it hailed us. It was our friends from Vancouver on the Black Dragon. We had met them coming down the west coast and had last seen them in La Paz in November just before they headed south for the winter. They will be staying in the Sea of Cortez until July and we will try to catch up with them in Loreto on May 11^th.

Howard caught another of his fish, as we are calling the black skipjack, but then he was rewarded with a dorado. The color was a delight to Howard and Louise who had never seen one. Later the taste was also a delight. I had made a marinade of butter, orange juice and soy sauce which gave it just a subtle flavoring and Earl grilled it to perfection.

We anchored off Bonanza, a beach at the south west end of Espiritu Santo. It is a beautiful long curved white beach. We had brought Stuart and his family here at Christmas and had been alone then. Again we had the place to ourselves except for a party of kayakers who came in after we anchored. We did a little beach combing and Daisy explored to her heart’s content.

That night the wind gusted to 30 from the west but we were as snug as could be in our anchorage with practically no waves to move us. It was still blowing in the morning. Howard said with the skylights open in the front, they had gale force winds in the bathroom. Since we were obviously not going to go anywhere in the boat, we decided to hike across the island to Bahia San Gabriel, the wonderful beach to which we had taken Bella. Since the sand there is very white and the water is so shallow, the color is extraordinary. The guidebook promised a trail and we foolishly believed it. Earl dropped us off and we set out. What was supposed to be a two mile walk took us an hour and three quarters to get across the island. Initially we wandered in semi circles around various kinds of cactus and through burrs which stuck firmly to our soles. Poor Howard was wearing sandals and the burrs attached his socks. Then we walked though bright red rocks, and then later green ones. The final stretch, which seemed endless, was over enormous beds of shells. The area is flat and obviously storms are able to blow shells well across the island. Finally, we were there. We sat, drank water and enjoyed the view. Louise found some almonds in her back pack which she shared and then up and off again we went, Howard breaking trail. We had learned a little. We found traces of a path part way and found that by sticking close to the rocks on the north side we were able to avoid most of the cactus and burrs. We saw occasional footprints and Howard said we were fine as long as we did not see any skeletons. The return trip took only an hour and a quarter. Earl was relieved to see us – he had been getting ready to call for a rescue team. We were delighted to see Earl and indulge ourselves with food and drink!

Another lovely evening, but sadly our last anchored out with the Esslingers. Today we are on our way into La Paz.

April 17, 2010 - Isla Coronado

We headed north to San Juanico, a beautiful anchorage that we had visited before. On the way we did see occasional whales off in the distance and a small group of porpoises close up. What they lacked in numbers, they made up for in their jumping, flipping and spinning in the air. The weather was just about perfect. The slight overcast was actually a blessing, reducing the sun and heat, and the sea was pleasant. We arrived at Juanico at about 3, and we all took naps, which was a good way to recover from the total absence of stress. A tough life, but someone needs to do it.

The next morning, Earl, Howard and Daisy went fishing in the dingy and Howard hooked two small yellow tail which unfortunately came off the hook when Earl tried to get them in the boat. Louise and I kayaked to the beach and looked for shells and then kayaked over to visit friends who had come in. Mary Ann and John on Old Moon were tied next to us in November at Costa Baja and we later saw them in Mazatlan. They are touring the sea for a month before heading back to San Francisco for the birth of a grandchild. They have loved their trip down here and promise that they will be back next winter.

Around noon we took off and headed south to Isla Coronado, retracing a route from the day before. Almost immediately after leaving Juanico Earl saw a large group of porpoises. They were on a mission, swimming on the surface and going south. Earl had to speed up to keep up with them but we were in the middle of them for five or ten minutes. It was very special as always. Earl told the Esslingers that we only provide the porpoises in these numbers on the premium cruise. We were hoping that we would be fortunate and run into the large pod of whales that Earl and I had seen the week before. We did see a couple large whales, very close to us. They were not the type we had seen before, much larger, but as usual we were unable to identify them.

We anchored at Isla Coronado, hoping to see the small rays we had seen when last here. According to the internet they are called mobola and these small ones appear to jump more often than others and to be found in large groups. The local fishermen call them tortillas. They were a no show – hopefully we will run into them somewhere south.

Louise and I kayaked around looking for large king angel fish. We saw a few and then had Earl tow us back to the boat behind the dingy. In the morning, we all enjoyed watching a flock of grebes in the water. They are enchanting. Somehow they all stay together, diving and surfacing as a group.

We are off to Loreto to replenish our veggie supply before headed south to La Paz. We will take most of a week to cruise there.

April 15, 2010 - Running North Past Loreto

We anchored in front of Loreto. Conditions were perfect, even Earl had no qualms about leaving his boat at anchor. We left our dingy in the small boat harbor, which is really for small boats, like pangas and boats under 28 feet. Another boater helped us tie up. His boat was a 23 foot sailboat, appropriately called Speck. He had spent lots of time in the area and was a well of information. Most importantly, the weekly farmer’s market was being held in that direction and his favorite restaurant was Café Ole. Just then, his wife showed up to tell him that no internet cafés were open, so we were able to return a favor and offer them the use of ours on our boat later. We found the farmers’ market and bought all we could carry, including eggs, one of which did not survive the trip home. Then we checked out Café Ole. It was very simple, you placed your order at the counter and picked it up when ready. It was also very good and pretty cheap. We stopped in a Budget and arranged to rent a Jeep the next day. I wanted to visit a mission about 20 miles away in the mountains. According to the rental car people, and the guide book, we needed a four wheel drive car.

That afternoon our boaters from Speck came over. As always, we found interesting stories. This couple, Bath and Gary, are from Eugene and have a small stained glass business. Their children are grown, so they had built a mother in law apartment onto their house and were living there while renting out the house. The mother in law apartment is 300 feet . Since the house is for sale we were able to see pictures and it is amazing how liveable 300 square feet looked. Obviously they don’t mind small spaces.

Although we would have been fine overnight in front of Loreto, we ran 8 miles across to Isla Carmen and a lovely anchorage called Balandra, then the next day we headed for Puerto Escondido. Puerto Escondido is an extraordinary anchorage, almost totally enclosed by hills and incredibly protected. There is a small Singular marine, small at least in available tie ups. All Singular have identical shore facilities, which are very nice. Singular controls the entire port and has installed many mooring buoys. The charge for use of the buoys is small – the same charge applies to anchored boats. In return we had the use of the facilities, including the internet. There is a good sized semi permanent community of cruisers and an active cruiser club with a large DVD lending library and book exchange. We had dinner at the restaurant at the marina. The proprietor, a Mexican named Peter, had spent two years in Cuba and made killer mojitos.

The next day we took our car into Loreto and stocked up on groceries and wine. The only major disappointment was the absence of ice cream. Then we went to pick up the Esslingers at the airport. The airport building is only 7 months old, and there is a small eatery there, manned by none other than Mojito Peter. As usual it seemed to take forever for our guests to get through the Mexican formalities. There are only 4 international flights a week into Loreto, so I guess the officials like to stretch out the process.

Yesterday we took off to go up the mountain to visit the mission of San Javier which is reputed to be one of the most beautiful of the missions as well as one of the best preserved. It was built in 1740 and virtually everything for it was carried up into the mountains by donkey. Well maybe we would have done better with donkeys than with the jeep. The first 12 miles were paved and pretty good, except where the road had been washed out or the edges undercut and collapsing. It is very rugged country and we climbed up quite a way. Then the paving stopped. As Alaskans we are no strangers to unpaved roads, and, in fact, we have found a good gravel road good going at 45 mph. The signs had warned us that this road was not ‘for high speed’. This was no gravel road, in fact, it was not a dirt road. It was a rock road and when, after a couple of minutes, we were told it would be the same for another 12 miles, we decided to skip the mission and head back down the mountain to Loreto.

On my to do list for Loreto, apart from sightseeing, was to get an orange juicer and a bag of oranges. We stopped at a hardware store, which, while not impressive from the outside, seemed to have everything, include a huge selection of stainless steel screws for Earl. I explained that I ‘wanted something to make orange juice’ and was showed quite a fancy and large counter top model for about $20. Storage is always an issue, so I asked for something smaller and cheaper and was presented a small plastic reamer, which was just what I had in mind. Later we stopped by a fruit store and bought a large bag of oranges for not much money, and I spied another juicer, a hand operated aluminum model which I bought for $3. Turns out, it works wonderfully as we have found to our delight.

Before touring the town mission, we stopped at the Café Ole and all enjoyed more lunch than we needed. The fish tacos were huge and Earl loved his. Then Louise and I were allowed a little wandering around time, long enough to view the church. There is a small museum, but it was closed for lunch and we were not allowed to wait for it to open. ( Welcome to touring with Earl.) Loreto is quite a nice small town, pretty streets and not many tourists. We enjoyed our short stay, then back to Puerto Escondido and off to Honeymoon Cove on Isla Dazante, just 4 miles away, for the night. We are off and heading north, hoping to find the whales and porpoises we saw the other day to show off to the Esslingers.

April 11, 2010 - On our way to Loreto

On Easter morning we ran south about 15 miles to the eastern shore of Conception, an area called Bahia Coyote, in which there are lots of anchorages. We chose the northern most, called Santispac. It turned out to be well protected from the winds which came up that night and continued for three full days. It gusted well into the 30 knot range and we were happy to be snug in this anchorage. No one was going anywhere.

While we were there we got to know some people on the sailboat Imagine who had been at Santa Rosalia with us and were anchored nearby. Steve and Tawny are from Boise and delightful. They had developed engine problems on the way into the anchorage and over the next couple of days Steve had the opportunity to really get to know his engine. He was fortunate in that the sailboat boat next to him was manned by a terrific mechanic who helped track down and fix the problem over the next three days. Our contribution was as drinking companions. There was a little restaurant on the beach, Ana’s, which had okay food and fabulous margaritas. The first evening that we went, we stayed later than we had intended and ended up rowing back in the dark, hoping that the lights we saw were the Serenity. We weren’t sure if we had left the anchor lights on – fortunately we had or we might have had a pretty tough time finding our home.

Bahia Coyote at Conception is a beautiful place. The water was 4 or 5 degrees warmer than outside and the beaches and coves are lovely. The down side is it is right on route 1 and has been pretty developed, mostly with palapala shacks, but with some larger houses as well. I suspect that anyone who visited 20 years ago and had not returned would be saddened at the change.

Finally on the 9^th we were able to pull our anchor and head towards Loreto. We left before daylight and were rewarded by a gorgeous sunrise. The water had a residual lump, but the traveling was nice. We intended to go to Juanico which we had so enjoyed coming north. However, SE wind was forecasted for the evening and we decided it was more prudent to anchor on the north side of that point, in a cove called Ramada. It was a perfect anchorage. We shared it with two other boats. One, a Nordhavn 46 names Discovery was there when we arrived. We chatted with her owners, two ex computer programmers from the NW named Linda and Frank. Their boat is now their home and they had spent the summer in San Carlos on the mainland side of the Sea. They confirmed what others have told us – it is awful in the summer. San Carlos had temperatures in the 100s and the humidity in the high 90’s. They said it was hell on earth and they would never spend another summer there. They will bash north this spring and summer over in Ensenada. The other boat was a 65 foot sailboat named Endless Summer. We chatted with the skipper on the radio. He was from Oregon City and had built the boat himself. He had been boating in the Sea since the early 80’s.

The next day was unforgettable. We saw lots and everything we saw was in large numbers. First it was porpoises. We saw number of groups, all hard at work at fishing. We have taken some photos of them close up and, with the help of our reference book, are arguing about the exact species. Then we saw a large group of whales, cruising on the surface feeding. They let us get close and we watched them for quite a while. We did get some good photos of them, which are leading to more arguments as to what exactly they were. They had bottlenoses and rounded heads and where probably about 9 to 11 feet in length. Then we anchored in on the south west side of Isla Coronado. It is a magical place, with rocks and sand bars and beautiful sand beaches. We were treated to an acrobatic show by some small rays, about 18 inches wide. They were close and the water was clear and we were able to see that there was a huge group of them swimming together. Then I went kayaking. The water is very clear and there were tons of beautiful king angel fish. Later we played with Daisy in the shallows and it was very mellow. By late afternoon there was no wind and we discovered the only downside – the bobos. Bobos don’t bite, but they can drive you crazy. We closed things up and hoped they would be gone in the morning.

This morning we had rays swimming around the boat. Earl was able to photograph a few. A panga came by and we asked about buying ballyhoo for bait. They had none but said we could probably buy them in Loreto. We had seen them in the bay the day before, but Earl had no luck catching them. Unfortunately, the bobos were still there. So we are headed to Loreto. That anchorage is not protected, but there is currently little wind and none forecasted.

April 5,2010 - San Domingo, Bahia Concepcion

Published April 10 when we got service

We ran south from Punta Chivato to Santa Domingo northeast at the entrance to Conception. This is another beautiful beach. Like many around here, the water is relatively shallow for a long way out. We anchored in 20 feet of water, a long way from the beach. The three of us went in the dingy to the beach to stretch our legs. Daisy has become very brave. She will now jump from the boat into the water when we hit bottom. She loves running up and down the beach, but we do worry about her eating dead sea creatures. I had brought a large umbrella that I thought I could use to provide some shade for Daisy. She seems to get quite hot. I opened the umbrella and ignoring Earl's warning stuck it in the sand. It took approximately 30 sections for the wind to pick it up and blow it down the beach. It took about 10 minutes to catch up with it and then I only managed because it landed in the water which slowed it down. Earl enjoyed watching.

Like Chivato, this beach is covered with sea shells and I had to restrain myself. We were alone in the anchorage, until a small motor boat came in. A man and his young son came ashore and we enjoyed chatting. He is from Hungary, as is his wife. He gave up a teaching job and his wife gave up a law career to raise their two children on the beach. She is now an artist and they live off her earnings and he watches the children.

Easter morning the water was glassy. We decided to run south into Conception and see what it was that people loved about it. It was not a success. We ran into a small anchorage at Isla Coyote, a beautiful little beach, for lunch. Because of the holiday we had been warned away from the beaches that were more accessible from the road. There were some other visitors who stopped by the beach and a horde of bobos that visited us. The bobos drove us nuts. We finally put up the screens, but I think by that time we had a huge indoor population. We decided to head for an anchorage further south called Santa Barbara. We got close and then I read in the guide book that you might not want to be too close to the shore because of the bobos. We stayed about an hour, with the cabin shut up and getting hot, and finally decided to head north back to Santa Domingo. Even with everything wide open going back, we still did not get rid of all the bobos. We spent a good deal of time swatting them and the windows are now coating with a bobo smear.

One the way back we were treated a show by a couple of very small rays. They jumped and jumped and jumped. They must have been juveniles and just playing.

Santa Domingo had about 8 boats anchored last night including the Pyxis and Anon, but the anchorage is huge and it was quiet and peaceful. We had a piece of ham for dinner along with red California chilies which I had stuffed with raw rice and cooked. The owner of the little fruteria in Santa Rosalia had given me the recipe, and, as she promised, it was ‘muy rico’.

This morning we took Daisy for a walk to the beach (and to look for shells). The water is warmer here than outside and walking in the shallows is delicious. Earl saw lots of sign of clams but had no way of digging them. We were later told by a boater anchored near us that the chocolate clams which are delicious are only a couple of inches below the surface of the sand. He usually free dives for them in about 8 feet of water since in the shallows they have been heavily harvested. Earl told him that I would love to do that for him. We’ll see.

The weather today is lovely, but winds are forecasted for the next two days. We will go back south into Conception and check out the anchorages. Hopefully we will avoid bobos.

April 3, 2010 - Punta Chivato

We went out to dinner our last night in Santa Rosalia with the entire population of the marina. I think there were probably 15 or so of us. It was very jolly. The next morning at 5:30 we pulled away from the dock and headed south. Our destination was Punta Chivato about 4 hours running. We had not been able to anchor there on the way up because the wind was blowing from the south and Chivato is open in that direction. The wind was light and from the north, so we anchored about a quarter of a mile off the beach in 12 feet of water. We spent the afternoon being mellow, reading our books. A small sail boat came by and told us there were two restaurants on the beach that we should check out. We thanked him, but ended up opting for home cooking.

Chivato has a long sand beach and is known as a shell beach. We put the dingy in the water this morning and went over to walk Daisy and check it out. I have never seen so many shells. There are deep drifts of them all along the beach. As I walked along I realized that if I wanted to pick up shells, I would have to limit myself to very small shells or specialize. It is overwhelming. One lady told me she collected the very thin pieces of shells worn by the sea which were reduced chips of mother of pearl. Wet they are luminous. She likes put one in the bottom of a glass of Champaign. Apparently they look quite wonderful. I picked up a little of everything and now will have to go through them and decide what to keep and what, if anything, to collect in the future.

In a little while we will pick up our anchor and head south into Conception Bay which everyone raves about.

April 1, 2010 - Santa Rosalia

Santa Rosalia has a small harbor, with a ferry dock, a commercial dock and two very small marinas. We decided to go the newer one, Singular, which has room for 15 boats. We tried to hail the marina on the radio several times and finally just went in a tied at the end of the dock. Earl trooped up to the office and while he was gone I chatted with Sally and Dave from the Sally G which was tied across the way. When Earl came back we moved a couple of slips down from the Sally G on the other side of Blue. It was a mini Nordhavn Rendezvous. Blue is hull 9 of the Nordhavn 46s– the model that made the company famous and that we first fell in love with. Sally G is a Nordhavn 50 is also one of the earlier models. She was previously owned by Alaskans and called the Ice Dancer. We, of course, are a 43, one of the more recent models. The first 46s were made in 1989, the 50s were first made in 1996, and the 43s were started in 2004. We had a wonderful mini rendezvous, with drinks and munchies on the Serenity and enjoyed hearing everyone’s stories. Dave and Sally have been boating around the world for the better part of 20 years, first on a sail boat, then on a Nordhavn 46 which they took to Alaska, down the West Coast, through the Panama Canal, through the Caribbean, up the Atlantic Coast to Newfoundland, over to Norway and eventually the Med before returning to the Caribbean and the West Coast via the Panama Canal, putting some 34,000 miles on the boat. They then bought the 50 which they have used around the Sea of Cortez for a number of years, summering over the boat at San Carlos. Blue’s owners are on their first trip away from the US and came down here about the same time as we did. Their long range plans are a three year trip ending in South Africa which is where they are from, although they both have lived in the US for years.

The town of Santa Rosalia has 18,000 inhabitants and little foreign tourism. Copper was found here in the 1860’s. A French company, El Boleo, purchased the mine in 1885, greatly expanded it and built the company town. Wood for construction was shipped from the Pacific Northwest, and unlike any other town we have seen in Baja, the houses are built of wood with porches and ornate balconies. The town looks like a cross between New Orleans and old Key West. The streets are lined with dense fica trees. One of the landmarks here is the Church of Santa Barbara which was built by Gustav Eifel out of steel for the 1889 Paris Exposition and dismantled and eventually reassembled here. It is quite charming. The structure is very simple inside, quiet and serene. I loved it. The mine has long since closed but the town seems thriving.

We wandered through the town and bought some groceries. At the fruteria where we bought vegetables we kept hearing roosters crowing loudly. In the yard behind the store we discovered cages of fighting cocks. That was something new for us. We then went to the bread store which is quite well known. I bought baguettes. Then I explained that my husband loved sweets and asked them to give me a selection of sweet breads. I don’t know the names, but they are good. I had something that was like an apple turnover. (Earl is not the only one who can eat sweet breads.) As we have found everywhere in Baja, the people are lovely. My little bit of Spanish serves me well and the fruit and vegetable sales lady and I had a good time making fun of Earl having to carry the heavy bags of all that I bought.

The weather forecast for tomorrow is promising and I expect we will take off and start wandering south. We need to be in Loreto on the 13^th. In between we plan on cruising Baja Conception which everyone loves. Were we to spend another day here, I would not be unhappy. There is much to explore – an old hotel, the mining museum, the city cemetery high on the hill and a hike following the old copper mine railroad tracks up the hill. We will need to return.