We left Phoenix on Friday, May 2 and took a side trip to Tombstone, AZ. We saw it on the map and remembered about the gunfight at the OK Corral. For those of you too young to have grown up watching westerns, you really should look up the stories about the Wild West.
Tombstone is a historic western city in Cochise County, AZ It was one of the last wide-open frontier boomtowns in the American Old West. The town prospered from about 1877 to 1890, during which time the town's mines produced US$40 to $85 million in silver bullion, the largest productive silver district in Arizona. Its population grew from 100 to around 14,000 in less than seven years. (Wikipedia)
The city was only 30 miles from the Mexican border and is smack dab in the middle of nothing.... as far as the eye can see there is nothing but desert, scrub brush, and sun. Just outside of town was a Border Patrol check station and we had driven for miles without seeing as much as a telephone pole. Anyone who would cross the border in this area could easily get lost in the desert and starve or die of thirst. Now ask yourself... what would make YOU want to venture to cross such an area? Life must be pretty bad to be willing to take such a risk.... but more on this later.
The little town of Tombstone is now a tourist area and reminded me much of Tweetsie, however, it was a real place. There are all sorts of places to buy country & western style clothing as well as souvenirs. You can get dressed up in period clothing and get your picture taken. You can go to where the historic gunfight occurred, take stagecoach rides, and shop, shop, shop.
We had lunch in Big Nose Kate's Saloon and was waited on by a waitress dressed in period saloon girl clothing and torn fishnet stockings. She looked tired and bored but was pleasant.
After our meal we continued walking around town and went into one shop that had lots of cow skulls.
As we left town on the same route we came in, we stopped at the Border Patrol station. The guard asked us if we were US citizens and we each had to affirm that we were before he let us pass.
We headed back out to I-10 and east toward El Paso. We arrived there around rush hour (isn't that always the way?). After a quick nap we had the BEST TACOS EVER at Leo's Mexican Food. We got back to the hotel and slept in preparation for our real curveball trip the next day.
The city was only 30 miles from the Mexican border and is smack dab in the middle of nothing.... as far as the eye can see there is nothing but desert, scrub brush, and sun. Just outside of town was a Border Patrol check station and we had driven for miles without seeing as much as a telephone pole. Anyone who would cross the border in this area could easily get lost in the desert and starve or die of thirst. Now ask yourself... what would make YOU want to venture to cross such an area? Life must be pretty bad to be willing to take such a risk.... but more on this later.
The little town of Tombstone is now a tourist area and reminded me much of Tweetsie, however, it was a real place. There are all sorts of places to buy country & western style clothing as well as souvenirs. You can get dressed up in period clothing and get your picture taken. You can go to where the historic gunfight occurred, take stagecoach rides, and shop, shop, shop.
We had lunch in Big Nose Kate's Saloon and was waited on by a waitress dressed in period saloon girl clothing and torn fishnet stockings. She looked tired and bored but was pleasant.
After our meal we continued walking around town and went into one shop that had lots of cow skulls.
As we left town on the same route we came in, we stopped at the Border Patrol station. The guard asked us if we were US citizens and we each had to affirm that we were before he let us pass.
We headed back out to I-10 and east toward El Paso. We arrived there around rush hour (isn't that always the way?). After a quick nap we had the BEST TACOS EVER at Leo's Mexican Food. We got back to the hotel and slept in preparation for our real curveball trip the next day.
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