Tombstone & Into Arizona - July 14

Hot desert town, doubtful past, a gunfight, and the sound of thunder in the distance. It is definitely a tourist town/trap all focused on the Wyatt Earp/Doc Holiday cowboy showdown. It is such a small, unassuming, dusty town but full of history and interesting facts. We wandered the town before the gun fight, stopping off to get an old style picture done. The girls and A were the saloon girls while E & I were the marshals that were gonna bring them to justice. I love those old style photos, so much fun to dress up and then you have that neat conversation piece for later. While waiting for the gun show to start we had fun looking at the pictures and artifacts from the old time western town. The actors in the show were actually pretty good for amateur performers, the man who played Doc Holiday actually waxed very poetic. The guns shots flew pretty fast and furious during the shoot out, startling the kids and adults alike. It was a neat experience but I don't know if I would go back, it was one of those 'do it once' things. On the way back we had to stop at a border control check. I guess because we were in southern AZ they were concerned about illegal immigrants. It was a very brief stop, I think the ON plates on the van maybe were a clue that we were from a place a bit farther north. The drive up to Holbrook takes you through some very beautiful countryside, desert and scrub with canyons cutting through. The road took us through the Salt River canyon which I can describe as "terrifyingly beautiful'. It is mountain grade driving, very twisting and steep, but beautiful views. E was driving the van with A following in the car behind, they said that the first time through the canyon you should be able to enjoy the view and not worry about going over the side of the cliff. Aptly put, for along the road you can see pieces of old wrecks along the cliff faces. Scary but beautiful. We were all very glad to finally pull into Holbrook for a few days of rest and local touring.