I highly recommend watching the movie Tombstone before visiting. No, the movie is not entirely historically accurate, but alas, it will prepare you for the rich history surrounding the O.K. Corral and the Cowboys. We started off by visiting the Old Tombstone Western Theme Park, for which we had a Groupon (of course)! What I was most surprised about by Tombstone is how small it is. I expected there to be several wild west parks competing for business, but alas, that was the case. The whole historic district is walkable and the O.K. Corral has free parking. We started off watching a cheesy, corny, and in my opinion, less than funny, staged gun show at the park then taking a trolly ride around the city. The trolly ride was a fabulous way to see some of the homes that we wouldn't have otherwise been able to see. We then went to the O.K. Corral portion of town, where we watched the Tombstone Historama! How cool! The Historama is a moving slideshow with the coolest moving sculpture. We then toured the museum and watched the O.K. Corral gun fight. The O.K. Corral gunfight was much better, telling the story of how the Earps got mixed up with the Cowboys. We toured several other buildings, and Nick learned how to win the last round of Faro!
We then toured the Birdcage Theater, which was one of my favorite parts of the trip! The theater, which was the most famous in the town, oozes with sin. 26 people were killed in the building and you can still see several knife and bullet holes. The upper boxes were used as "cribs" and gambling ruled the lower floors. The building is still so original, with original wallpaper, original stage curtain, and original flooring. Again, I could feel the sin oozing from the walls :D The Birdcage is said to be one of the most haunted buildings in America. We then went to the Tombstone Epitaph Newspaper Museum, got some grub, and visited the Boothill Graveyard, which is also noted for its paranormal activity.
As opposed to driving back the 3.5 hours to Phoenix that evening, we Air bnb'd a tiny house on an eco friendly ranch. It was the best! We arrived in the sprawling countryside just before sunset. The renters were nicest and the tiny house was the cutest. Run by solar power, the lights are solar powered, the hot water is solar powered, and there is a compacting toilet. 240 square feet of tiny house was still a lot to keep warm in the windy, rainy night we had haha
That morning, the renters recommended we check out some old ruins just outside of town. There was an old jail, the foundations of an old school, and an old grocery store that was falling down. Pretty cool! We attended church in Elfrida, Arizona at the smallest church building and the cutest ward.
Driving back, we stopped just outside Saguaro National Park at the Colossal Caves. We took the basic cave tour, which was so cool! They have more advanced cave tours where you can climb ladders and go deeper in the caves, but I was totally fine with just walking the paved trails! The cave was converted for tourism in the 1930's by the Civilian Conservation Corps and was used by the local Native Americans and several outlaws :D
We had an excellent trip. There were several other fun things we wish we could have checked out while we were down in the area, such as the Lavender Pit mine, the Tombstone Courthouse museum, and the town of Bisbee, so I guess we'll just have to head back soon! :)
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