{Tombstone}

Over Memorial Day weekend, Mr. Mechanic Man had some time off, so we planned a quick "vacation" to Tombstone, AZ. We only live about 5 hours or so from this old west mining town, and we figured we might as well go while we could. So we left Friday morning and stayed in Tombstone and the surrounding area until Monday afternoon. It was good to get away for a little bit and learn some history, but it was also good to come back home. 

I didn't take too many pictures over the weekend, but enough to give you folks an idea of what Tombstone looked like, and what else we did. 

We actually stayed in a motel in Benson, AZ, for our whole trip, but on Friday we went straight to Tombstone to look around and see what all we wanted to do. Fortunately {I think?} when we were there the town was holding Wyatt Earp Days all weekend, so there were lots of free gunfights to watch. The downfall was that most of these mock fights started in saloons, and were accompanied by revealing saloon girls. But they were still pretty interesting to watch, and the one "cowboy"'s shirt caught on fire from one of the blanks fired at him! 

But I'm getting ahead of myself...the first thing we decided to do on Friday was visit the Tombstone Courthouse which is now a museum for the town. So we toured that, and learned a lot of history about Tombstone right there. I had heard about Tombstone, and Wyatt Earp, and some other things, but I learned a lot that I didn't know. Such as, Tombstone was a huge silver mining town until the mines flooded {they're still submerged!} and then it was mostly deserted, except for about 1800 people. And the fact that Wyatt Earp had three brothers, two of whom served with him as lawmen. Also, I had no idea he was good friends with Doc Holliday...anyway...

They had stagecoaches for hire

 On the second story was the actual courtroom. This one was set up to resemble what the 1912 courtroom looked like. Outside and to the right of the building were the gallows where criminals met their punishment. I can't recall the number of men who were hanged there, but I know at one point they hung four at one time on a specially built gallows.

 The big deal in town was to see the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, since this is what made Tombstone famous, I believe. Back when it happened {in Oct. 1882}, it didn't actually take place in the corral,but in an empty lot nearby. But we all know how the media can be about facts...

 Anyway, pictured here and above are the town marshal, Virgil Earp, and his three deputies, Wyatt and Morgan Earp, and Doc Holliday. {At this point they're simply trying to get people to come see the show...it takes place in a closed area that you have to buy tickets to. We did this on Saturday} The main gist of the story was that some cowboys in town were wearing guns when there was an ordinance against such, so the marshal went down with his deputies to disarm them. It ended up in the death of three of the cowboys and the wounding of the marshal and one deputy because the cowboys opened fire. Now, there are more details than that, but I don't have time to relate them all. Sorry! You'll have to do your own research, BUT beware that not everything you read or see is the truth.

a view of the old streets of Tombstone

 This is the town of Bisbee, AZ. We went here to tour the Queen Mine, which was open for almost 100 years. I believe mostly copper was mined out. We read on a sign that in Bisbee's heyday, it was as socially elite as St. Louis and Denver! 

 And lastly, back in Tombstone on Saturday we toured a museum that boasted the world's largest rose bush. The base of it is the big black spot in the middle of the picture. The rest of the museum was about the family who owned the house and planted the bush.

On Monday we went back down to Tombstone one last time to tour a gunfighters museum. We saw lots of interesting things in there, but no pictures were allowed. 

So that about sums up the trip! Sorry for the neglect of my blog. Things have been pretty busy here lately, and sure aren't going to slow down soon. Our summer trips begin tomorrow! So please remember us in your prayers! We need them!