Phoenix Overnighter - Tombstone
So you want to take a trip through history and/or get out of the 110 degree heat? Then Tombstone is the place to check into a hotel for a night! As my #2 favorite place outside Phoenix, here's a 'Heads Up': with the exception of a couple saloons, Allen street rolls up about 6:00 pm, so get an early start for sightseeing. According to Mapquest.com, Tombstone is 184.27 miles, or 3 hours, 2 minutes away. But by missing both Phoenix and Tucson high traffic hours, I make it in 2 hours, 30 minutes (or so).
While in Tombstone, you can watch the re-creation of "The Shootout at the O.K. Corral;" take a tour of the infamous "Birdcage Theater" and see the dozens of bullet holes still in the walls from the 1880's; go to "Boothill" where Lester Moore and others are buried; see historical artifacts at the Tombstone Courhouse, or; just hang out with the locals who wear 1880's garb with guns on their hips - they can tell you all the history of the town.
Did you know that the miners hit an underground water table and flooded all the mines, causing Tombstone's demise? And there are rumors about some people using scuba gear (illegally) to go down in the mines? Or that the "Birdcage Theater" is the only building on Allen Street to survive two city-wide fires?
A hooker house survived twice?
What do you make of that?
Who was manning the water buckets? And what was their priority? (lol... I love that story).
I found these stories and more from a "gunslinger" while having dinner at "Big Nose Kate's Saloon."
For more information, please visit Tombstone Chamber of Commerce
OR, my favorite hangouts there:
Big Nose Kate's Saloon (Doc's girl)
