First Day in Tucson

30 September 2014

Weather: Sunny and 29C

This morning Justin drove us to Tombstone, the traffic from Phoenix was bumper to bumper on the highway so I was glad he was driving.  It was midday by the time we reached Tombstone which was later than what we had planned.  

On arriving we raced to Allen Street to see the shootout at the OK Corral.  Unsure on where it was to be held we followed the actors from out the front into the OK Corral where we paid the entry fee and rushed around to the area behind the shop.  The re-enactment is held very close to where the actual shootout occurred between the Earp's plus Holliday and the Clanton-McLaury gang.  Today the actual spot is set up with dummies in the positions where they were said to be in during the historical shooting.  At the end of the live re-enactment we walked around the OK Corral visiting the museum, saw where Doc Holliday was staying at the time of the gun fight, and visited the livery and the blacksmith's from the time, 26 October 1881.  They screen footage on the town’s history at the Historama but we decided not to wait to see it as the day was getting away.

Historama and OK Corral in Allen Street

Shootout

We had lunch in Big Nose Kate's Saloon where we were recommended the Rueben Sandwich.  If you don't know what a Rueben Sandwich is like us it is bread with a whole lot of corn meat on it and a bit of pickles, it was an enormous sandwich.  

Where we had lunch, Big Nose Kate's Saloon

After lunch we went downstairs in the saloon which was the original location of the bar and we walked around Allen Street which was the main street at the time of Wyatt Earp. We visited the Bird Cage which was the gambling hall but only saw the lobby as Justin planned to go in after we finished looking around Allen Street.  We visited most of the gift shops and I decided on buying some belt buckles for my Dad.  

In our travels we met the current Marshall in Tombstone, Danny, he walked around the street with us.  He talked about the history of the town as we went, he also answered questions we had about policing in the USA.

It was around 4pm when we drove through customs on our way north to visit Mum's third cousin who lives in Tucson.  It was about this point that we realised that we forgot to go into the Bird Cage, so please visit when you are in the lobby otherwise you might forget like us.

It was around 6pm when we arrived at the relative’s home because we had stopped to get a memory card for the GoPro on the way and we had missed some of the turn offs to get to her place.  We spent the evening talking about the differences between Australia and the USA and there is a lot to our surprise.  It was great to meet relatives we had never seen before but which I had been communicating with through email as we have a shared interest in family history and this is what brought us together.  We all seemed to get along like a house on fire.