Boot Hill and Stalagtites

On Sunday April 6th we got up early again and headed for Tombstone. Yup Wyatt Earp and the OK corral and all that old western stuff. The town of Tombstone got its name from a prospector who thought there might be silver in the hills around what is now Tombstone. At the time the Apache Indians controlled the area and the local Ranger said that the only thing that prospector would find is his own tombstone. When his first silver mine turned out to be very profitable he remembered that Ranger and called the mine Tombstone. The name stuck when the town grew up around it. The took an equivalent of 230 million dollars worth of silver out of the Tombstone region.
Our first stop was Boot Hill Cemetery.

 The Three Losers in the Gunfight at the OK Corral

 John was the mastermind behind a bank robbery that went real bad and 5 people were killed including a young child. The city folk of Tombstone didn't want to wait for a trial so they broke him out of a Bisbee Jail(a town about 10 miles away) and brought him back to Tombstone and hung him. The doctor/coroner said he died of emphysema while hanging there so no town folk could be charged with his death.

A true classic

Tombstone is a cool old west town and they close down the main drag so you can walk freely around to take in the sights. The only problem is there is a cover charge for just about everything. The original town was built by prospectors, gun fighters and "Ladies of ill repute" and today it is run by hucksters. Every corner has someone selling you tickets to Their Shootout" which by the way is so much better than the other 4 "shootouts" in town. We selected the "Vaudeville comedy shootout as it didn't try and pretend to be authentic. For $10 each we got a guided tram ride around Tombstone and a 30 minute comedy shootout where we cheered the good guy and boo'd the bad guys. The actual "gunfight at the OK Corral" lasted about 30 secounds start to finish. I couldn't see spending too much money on that.

 150 year old Stagecoach the real thing. Doesn't look very comfortable

 Pool Hall where Virgil Earp was playing pool before the big event

 Gallows behind the Court House

 Bad Guy on Left Good Guy on Right......Good Guy turned 90 3 days ago.

The show was good Kelly had a beer so I think he enjoyed it more.

Statue of Wyatt Earp in front of his house in Tombstone.

We said goodbye to Tombstone and drove 30 minutes to The Kartchner Caverns. The Caverns are a series of "Wet Caves" discover in 1974 by two amateur cavers. They had been told about a sinkhole in a near by farmers field. Well they dug out a hole about the size of a coat hanger and followed the path 450 feet into a huge Cavern. The manged to keep the discovery a secret fore many years until the Arizona government could protect the site for future generations. It took 7 years and 37 million dollars to catalog and construct the entrance way into the "Big Room" and more dollars and time to open the "Throne Room". we only had time to do the Big Room tour. It lasted about 1 3/4 hours and was at times breath taking. The stalactites and stalagmites were just 50,000 years old and they were bland compared to the rest. The only problem is you are not allowed to take photos in the caverns. I know what a pain how can I show you all what we saw if I can't take photos.

If you are at all into caves etc. and are in the Tucson area please go there.

When we got back to the RV park we had a new neighbour.

You can't read the front but it says "Freight-liner" on it. oh yeah it was towing an H3 Hummer. Ah the rich. At 7:30 sunday night we went into the observatory at the park and spent an hour and a half looking at the moon and 4 parts of Orion. The park has a 16" reflective telescope and on even nights the manager allows 12 people in to do a little star gazing. This was very cool. Kelly wanted one till he found out it was about 37,000 for the scope and about the same for the building, besides there just isn't quite enough room in the rv. We left Benson on Monday the 7th heading for Las Cruces New Mexico and then Roswell......................Beam me up.