My mom arrived to visit for a few weeks and escape the snow and cold of Chicago. For our first weekend trip, I suggested Tombstone and Bisbee. I had briefly visited these towns last winter and really wanted to explore them more this year.
After checking into our RV park in Tombstone, we drove down to Bisbee for some shopping and dinner. Unfortunately, we had gotten a rather late start and there were no dinner reservations left for the place we really wanted to try so we ended up at The Bisbee Grille which actually turned out to be a pretty nice place in it’s own right! We discovered a great new wine, a red blend called Primal Roots, that was outstanding. Can’t wait to find it again somewhere:
Also enjoyed a great appetizer of mushrooms sautéed in garlic with a light covering of cheese, and some excellent seafood pasta entrées.
The next day, strong winds kept us home at the RV most of the time, but we finally got motivated enough to go explore the town of Tombstone for a few hours in the afternoon. The downtown strip certainly feels more authentic than Boot Hill in Dodge City did, but it was certainly a tourist trap to be sure.
At least in Tombstone, though, the hawkers were all fittingly dressed in their old west attire and tried to look as authentic as possible.
There were cowboys headed towards the O.K. Corral--
The Sheriff keeping the peace:
A tambourine man providing entertainment:
A bar room hussie coming back to work (toting a decidedly unauthentic bag of snack chips!)
And teams of horses pulling stagecoaches (full of 21st century tourists, of course!)
Mom wanted to see the World’s Largest Rose Bush, and even after learning there was a $5 fee to see it, she still went in. Of course, after coming out she said it was likely only worth about $2. So, when we rounded the corner to the famous Bird Cage Theatre and learned they wanted a full $10 each to see it, we decided to pass.
We checked out the Outlaws Social Club instead!
And finished across the street laughing at these:
I love the uniqueness of Tombstone! Most of the shops we visited, didn't really qualify as tourist traps though. They were arts and crafts made by local folks,pottery, jewelry, weavings, stained glass etc. Not made in China junk like some of the places we have visited. Of course, that was 15 years ago, so things must have changed a lot! Hope your mom enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteWell, maybe we breezed thru town a little too quickly. I only saw one store claiming to have locally made arts/crafts and it was only a small section of the store. But, we did find a number of stores in Bisbee with a wide variety of items from local artists (lots of artists in Bisbee!). Too bad the RV was already filled up with stuff and no room for more!
DeleteThe sign for the politicians is right on!
ReplyDeleteHa! Yes, just in time for Presidential politics!
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