Tombstone Feb 1 – 5, 2022

We love the scenery in Arizona, the mountains don’t look real.  Unfortunately, my camera just doesn’t do it justice.

The weather is bizarre here.  We are in the worst part of their winter, and it is going down to minus 7 tonight.  We have to do a makeshift winterizing on the trailers. Storm clouds with a little hail.

Laureen bundled up for a little walk-about while the others stayed in the trailers nursing colds. Not covid, Vince got sick first and had 3 covid tests, all came back negative.  Mark took 1 test, and he was negative as well. So far, knock on wood, Laureen hasn’t gotten sick.

Laureen, knock on wood, hasn’t gotten a cold yet.

There are deer and javelina’s in the area. Javelina’s are pigs of some sort. They are 20 inches tall and weight around 50 pounds. Our garbage had to be put on the bumper of our truck so they wouldn’t get into it.  Laureen saw a shadow of one in the dark but by the time a flashlight and cell phone were ready, it was gone. They are timid animals but that didn’t stop them from scaring Laureen in the dark.

We watched a shoot-out at the OK Corral. It was kind of corny but when in Tombstone you have to watch at least one of the five offered shows.  Mark and Vince thought it was great.

Included with the gun fight admission ticket you get to see a Historama film narrated by Vincent Price. It was fantastic and made up for the corny reenactment. You also get to see the spot where the historical shoot out took place and other time period pieces.

We ate lunch in Big Nose Kate’s Saloon (originally the Grand Hotel). It was partly original, but a fire destroyed some of it. It was rebuilt to the original design as best as they could.

In the basement was the “Swamper’s” residence. He cleaned the saloon and did odd jobs for little pay but got a private room and was fed.  Over many years he dug a tunnel through the ground into the entrance to a Mining shaft in hopes of striking a silver vein. Rumor has it that he was taking out many ounces of silver nuggets and hid his wealth in the hotel somewhere and to this day his “Ghost” haunts the hotel keeping his treasure safe.

The Bird Cage Theatre was the best thing to see in Tombstone.  If you can only do 1 thing, do that.  It’s the only building in its original state. You walk on the floor where Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday did.  There are bullet holes in the bar, in the walls and in a picture, made from drunken cowboys.

The theater holds the original balconies where people would sit and contained a bunch of original stuff from that time like silverware, mirrors, poker chips, playing cards, furniture, bedrooms, etc. You get to see caskets, tools, saddles, etc. as well.

Boot Hill was ok. It was very windy and cold, so we didn’t stay to long.

We went to the “new” Cemetery and looked at the graves because Boot Hill was only used for 3 years or so.  It’s sad that many of the headstones were lost (because they were made out of wood) and are just bumps in the ground.