Tombstone, like Roswell, is one of those small American towns that one has to visit at least once, despite how hokey it all may feel. If anything, it gives the visitor a sense of just how varied American history is, and how willing people are to cash in on it.
On October 26, 1881, the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday collided with a local band of cowboys in an alley next to the O.K. Corral. The fight was the culmination of years of tension between the two groups, and lasted only thirty seconds with as many as thirty shots fired. Three cowboys were killed while Virgil and Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday were wounded. Only Wyatt Earp walked away with no injuries, and went on to live into the 1920's, which is perhaps why he remains the most famous of the bunch.
This famous, 30-second gunfight is reenacted daily at 2pm and stretched out to 30 minutes, which includes a quick lecture on gun safety, a bit of western themed tomfoolery, and lots of shooting.
The rest of the time the many actors are just paid to walk around town looking tough, I guess.
After the show I went into one of the saloons where the cowboys were gathered drinking beer and just being manly, and I sat at the bar and ordered a burger and a beer.
Tombstone's official slogan is "the town too tough to die." The words 'fun' and 'hokey' could be applied today, but just wouldn't sound as cool.
5 comments:
Some of my friends have been following your blog. Comments range from how adorable our grandmothers are to how cool of a guy you seem. So keep writing, folks are reading!
Tombstone is a fun place - despite being somewhat touristy. I was there back in March with my friend, Ailim, from Tucson. We couldn't get tickets to the gunfight reenactment, but saw the very good museum at the old courthouse, visited the Bird Cage Theater, the Tombstone Epitaph Newspaper, which also has a museum, and had lunch at the Crystal Palace, which had a great bluegrass band playing.
Good to know people are still reading. It kills me that I have no way of tracking how many times the blog is viewed.
Just spent two nights with Drew. God bless your friends, since I would have had to spend the past two nights in Walmart parking lots if he hadn't taken me in on such short notice.
Dont worry Scott, I read every day. I love reading this! I am going to send the link to a bunch of my friends here in Madison. Hope that is all right. Are you going to make it to San Francisco?
Yeah, I plan to hit California around San Francisco and then head north to Seattle.
No problem, send the link out to anyone!
Thanks for reading!
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