We visit the wild, wild West

Leaving Kingman we took the very scenic Highway 93 down to Phoenix.  The desert landscape is dotted with either Joshua Trees of Saguaro Cacti.  Just lovely. 

Joshua Tree

Saguaro cactus in the stick 'em up pose we know so well

Wouldn’t you know it.  Just about every place we had marked for visiting in Phoenix was closed the day we were there.  Lunch at Bill Johnson’s Big Apple BBQ made up for it as did the lovely weather.  It’s the middle of winter and the swimming pool at the campground we are staying at is still open.  The water isn’t quite warm enough for us softies so settled for dangling feet over the side.

Stopped at Florence on the way south to Tucson.  There is a gem of a museum there which caught our attention until our stomachs told us it was time for lunch.  It’s not large but it is interesting, specifically the furniture made from cactus.

 

Furniture made from Saguaro cactus - minus the spikes of course ... although that could make things interesting

See - whisky can be drunk for medicinal purposes

The Reliant Robin of the tractor world

Had the same kind of luck at Tucson as we did in Phoenix – first place we visited was closed.  Had no problems with the Diamondback Rattlesnake Bridge.  How cool is this for a pedestrian crossing over a busy highway.  It’s the eye that makes it.  By the time we got to the Air and Space Museum at Pima we were too late to enter.  Probably a good thing though as there is no way we would have seen everything in an hour.  The bus tour of the airplane graveyard takes 75 minutes alone and, for me, that would have been the best bit.  Sigh!  Another time.

 

If walking across this bridge doesn't cure your fear of rattlers nothing will (I'll still keep a healthy distance myself of course)

Need to come back to Tucson for a closer look at the airplane graveyard

So it was onwards to Tombstone and Bisbee.  Since we had a full days activities planned at Tombstone, we headed straight through Tombstone and down to Bisbee for a look.  Both of us have read a couple of books by J A Jance in our travels – they are based in Bisbee - so we were curious.  We should have been more cautious rather than curious really as there are a lot of murders, carjacking and the like in her stories and we were free camping that night.  For the record (and in case you couldn’t tell) we came through unscathed.  Bisbee is an interesting town too.  The historic part of town is built down a narrow, steep gully so of course we drove down it with the 5^th wheel on tow.  There are some awesome buildings here.  On the far side of town is a huge old open pit mine.  Not in the same league as the Super Pit in Kalgoorlie but impressive all the same.  You can see where nature is reclaiming it.

 

The old copper mine at Bisbee, only minutes from town

Parked outside the Shady Dell RV Park.  They had closed up for the day but went for a quick wander through – it’s full of old 1950 style RV’s that you can rent out.  Since we had our own we passed on that one and, since it was shut, couldn’t even spend the night among them.

 

Some of the old RV's you can rent

Spent the next day in Tombstone, the town that’s too tough to die.  What a lot of fun.  It boomed as a silver mining town in the late 1800’s but these days tourism is their main source of income and they do it very well.  First stop was the Bird Cage Theatre that prides itself on being the only building in Tombstone in original condition.  It has had a colourful past with different areas of the building set aside for a bar, casino and bordello as well as musical entertainment.  It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see how things went down in the 19^th century especially when all the bullet holes are pointed out.  Rough times.

Bird Cage Theatre - doesn't look like it but it's three floors of mischief and mayhem

One of the many bullet holes, this one is in the bar - others are in the walls and ceiling

Only the boxes either side of the stage were used for viewing the entertainment, the others, well, I think you can work it out

Paid a visit to the Good Enough Silver Mine.  This was the mine that set off the boom that became Tombstone as it was so rich in silver.  Approximately $40 million (in 1880’s currency) of silver was extracted from the mines in Tombstone over the 25 years it boomed.  Tombstone is riddled with abandoned underground mines.  They would have been a great playground for kids growing up here.

The old time miners must have thought Christmas had come when this baby got invented

The elevator took ore up and miners and gear down - I think a decline you can drive trucks down underground is preferable

Backfill 1880's style - all done by hand and still holding the mine up 130 years later

No visit to Tombstone would be complete without a stop at the OK Corral – site of the infamous shootout between the Earp brothers with Doc

Holliday and the McLaury and Clanton brothers.  History tells us that the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday were the protagonists in the gunfight but that wasn’t the case initially in 1881 and they were charged with murder following the deaths of the McLaury brothers and one of the Clantons.  They were found not guilty and exonerated … and the legend of Wyatt Earp began.  Or rather, continued, as he’d already been the marshal in Dodge City prior to arriving in Tombstone as a peaceful saloon owner.    

Stand off prior to the main event

The gunfight begins

The bad guys go down

Doc Holliday moves in to end it all

The aftermath

Got a recommendation from the no longer dead Frank McLaury for lunch and made our way to the Crystal Palace Saloon where the food was hot and the drinks were cold.  Appetite sated (for now) we continued our exploration of Wild West Tombstone.  Picked up a newspaper from the Epitaph that has eyewitness accounts of the 1881 gunfight.  Interesting how the witnesses who were friends of the defence and the witnesses who were friends of the prosecution saw different things – some things never change.  Luckily for the Earps and Doc Holliday there were some strangers in town that day that witnessed the whole event.

We also went to a small museum that houses what is purported to be the World’s Largest Rose Bush.  It was planted in Tombstone in 1885 and today covers over 8000 square feet.  They sell cuttings too if anyone is interested.  It’s a Lady Banksia and has small white roses that grow in clusters – I’m sure that’ll make sense to gardeners.

World's Largest Rose Bush

You can keep your roses, this is our kind of plant

After soaking up all that history it was time to start organising our return to New Zealand which is only a couple of weeks away.  Who’s up for a party?  (You know we are).