TOMBSTONE, AZ 2008

We headed into Tombstone for the day but not before we stocked up on fat with a hearty breakfast of Eggs, Pancakes and Jimmy Dean Turkey sausages topped off with authenic maple syrup. As a result it was not the earliest start but it was a fun day. We spent the day in the city of Tombstone and I was amazed at how well they had maintained the authenticy. Most of the buildings are originals with as little change as possible when having to do any kind of up keep.

We started off taking in a 25 minute documentary narrated by Vincent Price about the start of Tombstone, how it was rebuilt after 2 devastating files and started to get the name of "The town that was too tough to die". The town was originally started due to huge finds of Silver but flooding forced the mines to close and then the only thing that kept the town going was that it was the county seat. When that moved in the late 1800's there wasn't much to keep it going and it finally transformed into a tourist town.

We then headed down to the Crystal Palace Saloon for lunch. This saloon was a favorite of Doc Holiday, Wyatt Earp and others. It was said that Doc Holiday ran a Faro game out of this saloon. Again they have done a good job of keeping it as original as possible.

After lunch we headed down to the OK Corral for a 35 minute show of "The gunfight at the OK Corral". It was pretty well done and worth the nonimal fee that they charged. The amazing aspect was how close all the shooters were to each other and the fact that not everyone was killed. There is still an argument going on over whether the Earps were good guys or bad guys.

Upon completion of the Earps killing everyone we walked the town doing a little shopping, well actually looking before heading out to Boot Hill. It is not actually a boot hill as much as it is just their cementary. The people who dies in the OK Corral fight are buried there.

We are now at home resting up for another day of the touristy thing tomorrow.

Picture # 1 - Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday. Well at least the actors who portray them in the daily show.

Picture # 2 - This stagecoach still runs up and down the main street of Tombstone and people can get off and on.

Picture # 3 - A shot of the main street of Tombstone

Picture # 4- A grave in Boot hill. Actually it is the grave of the three people killed at "The Gunfight at the OK Corral" The main one being Billy Clanton.