Tombstone

It seemed to us that a trip to Arizona has to include Tombstone!  So with Ken, Ann, Brian and Bev (John's brother and wife and friends from home) we set out south toward Nogales and then east to Tombstone.  There is no direct route due to the mountains.  It was about an hour and 1/2 drive through, you guessed it, more amazing scenery that kept us happy.  On the way home we took a different route.

When visiting a new town it is always nice to take the trolley tour to get the lay of the land. We thought this was a good deal at only $5.00 each and we would be able to use the tickets to get discounts elsewhere.  Yeehaw! We did learn some interesting history on the tour and we asked the driver which would be the best gunfight to attend.  He suggested Helldorado.  So we took his word for it and headed over after the tour.  Our ticket gave us a dollar off so we only had to pay $10 each.  Huh?  Shouldn't that be $9?  Who charges $11 admission to anything?  Oh well, it wasn't busy and we got good seats.

 

Well this gunfight might have appealed more to the under 10 year old crowd.  It was a bit Micky Mouse to say the least, no offense to you Micky fans!  The gunshots were loud. We did take advantage of some of the props around Helldorado to take some ridiculous photos. 

It quickly became apparent that to get into many buildings and exhibits you would have to pay another $5 or $10 for each one so we decided to just walk around the historic main street.  This was entertaining and there were a few cowboys and girls polking around.  Most were soliciting us to come into this or that exhibit for a fee of course.

The interesting buildings, shops and funny signage could be enjoyed for free.  We got the feeling that the cowfolk were in cohoots and that many of them were hippy folks when not in Western gear.  This seems to be a theme in AZ.  It reminded us of Jerome and I have heard or read about other places where people moved there in the 60's or 70's and never left.  Thus, artisans, boutiques and tourist towns like Tombstone.

We could have taken a stage coach tour but we were tapped out rather quickly.  Tombstone is famous for gunfights but I didn't realize it was also the site of yet another prolific copper mine.  Apparently most of the fights occurred between the miners and the cowboys who supplied their meat?  There were around 140 saloons and bar type places at one time so maybe that contributed to the rowdiness.

We settled on lunch at Big Nose Kate's saloon and that was really enjoyable.  The beers were big and Rusty, a senior cowboy with a deep voice was entertaining.  You could spend a couple of hours in there and still not have time to read the walls. 

We did stop at the famous Boothill Graveyard where the participants of the famous "OK Corral" gunfight were buried but didn't take the tour.  Yup, it would have cost us!

I am glad we visited this famous town but I think once will do it.  Of course if you wanted to dress up and go there and really get into it I think it could be lots of fun, perhaps on Hallowe'en.  I wonder what the cowboys wear on Hallowe'en?