Cue the Spaghetti Western music and tumbling tumbleweeds . . . Tombstone was
high on my bucket list of places to visit, and since we didn't get to see it
on our
Christmas Canyon trip or our Monument Valley trip, we made sure we went this time. It did not disappoint! I am a
junkie when it comes to the Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton
Tombstone movie version, and as I walked up the road to the main street in
Tombstone, Arizona, I believe I got chills. It was as if I was walking onto
the film lot, but then I had to correct myself and say, "this is the actual
Tombstone, not a movie set!"
To make the experience even richer, the day we were there, it was the first
return of Vigilante Days (since the pandemic) and it was glorious!! Vigilante
Days commemorates a part of Tombstone's unique heritage with fantastic folks
dressed in period clothing, gunfight reenactments, street entertainment,
gunfight competitions, hangings and more. I just stood there on the side of
the street just outside Big Nose Kate's Saloon, watching passers-by, eyeing
the gentlemen in their suits with bowler hats, women in their Victorian
bustles and ladies in their saloon dresses . . . fantastic! I couldn't help
imagining myself there, back in 1880's . . . then our table was called for
lunch and went inside for a Reuben and ice cold beer. Ha!
I would highly recommend a step back into history and a stop in Tombstone if
you're headed to the
High Desert
in Southern Arizona. Take in the OK Corral gunfight, tour the "haunted" Bird
Cage Theater and simply sit, look and listen to the whispers of all who have
passed by.
