Impromptu Vacation: Tombstone, AZ

Over the 4th of July, we thought to ourselves, "Wow. Lee has a bunch of days off work and we have planned nothing. Let's do something." So we tossed around various "staycation" ideas, and eventually settled on visiting Tombstone AKA "The town too tough to die." We'd never been, it is a bare 45 minute drive from our home, and due to freak monsoon weather patterns the weather there was going to be in the 90's! Compared to the triple digit temps expected in Sahuarita, it seemed a no-brainer. Let's go to Tombstone for the weekend!

I explained to Paul that Tombstone was a "Cowboy" town, which he thought was cool. What really won him over was the ice cream cones he saw everyone walking around with. It seemed the thing to do so we got an ice cream cone to share. Laszlo is really quite greedy about ice cream and so is Paul so it ended up being difficult to keep one happy while the other got a lick or two.

Surprisingly tasty and reasonably priced!

We cooled off at the hotel pool then grabbed some dinner before being struck by an epic monsoon storm. It felt like hail, because each rain drop was laced with a few grains of sand...very pleasant...

Puny John's BBQ: Definitely get
their mac and cheese.

The next morning, we visited the famous Boothill Graveyard. I got a kick out of some of the epitaphs and there were some very interesting historical tidbits. If you are visiting Tombstone, you gotta visit Boothill. It is an inexpensive and essential part of the experience.

"Here lies George Johnson Hanged by mistake 1882.
He was right, We was wrong, But we strung him up
and now he's gone."

Down the hill, this is the Jewish cemetery of Tombstone.

I just loved how sad Paul looks...

"Here Lies Lester Moore, four slugs from a
44, NO LES NO MORE."

The oldest grave in Boothill.

We took a stagecoach ride around town and our driver narrated the whole thing with terrific historical tidbits about the O.K. Corral, the Chinese Mafia, Wyatt Earp, and a number of other colorful characters.

We ate lunch in the Crystal Palace Saloon...

And, of course we went to the O.K. Corral and watched their gunfight, because we are tourists and that is what tourists do.

Here are our gunfight actors, generously posing for me.

Lastly, we visited the Courthouse museum. It was probably very interesting, but we were going at a "Paul" pace, so we saw everything very quickly. We spent a lot of time ringing some old bells and locking Paul up in the jail.

By then it was time to head home and do an Independence BBQ, like real Americans. Some things we really wanted to do but couldn't this trip: tour the old Good Enough Mine, and the Bird Cage Theater. Both looked wonderful, but not for babies. We'll come back again sometime and check them out. Stayed tuned for future family adventures! Our next few months promise to be non-stop super action adventures! Or, at least, they will be very busy and possible photo worthy.