Southwest 2017:
Day 4 - Arizona

Bundlings.com: [Main] [Contact Us] [Events] [Family] [Fun] [Garden] [Misc.] [Photos] [Search] [Site Index] [Travel]

Southwest 2017: [Day 1 - Missouri] [Day 2 - Texas] [Day 3 - New Mexico] [Day 4 - Arizona] [Day 5 - Arizona] [Day 6 - Arizona] [Day 7 - Arizona] [Day 8 - Utah] [Day 9 - Colorado] [Day 10 - Kansas]

	Monday, November 20, 2017: To our delight, we had a tiny visitor near the ceiling as we were getting to leave our motel.
	We slept in a little because we had a fairly low travel day, so it was 7:45 AM before we hit the local McDonald's.
	What's this? A sign for the Pima Air & Space Museum. Oh, no, please, not another air and space museum. Fortunately, Tom didn't feel the need to stop. (But we made it there a year later!)
	We saw this series of signs multiple times - the caution about dust storms, followed by the instructions of what to do if you get stuck in one.
	The Grand Canyon State welcomes us!
	Did you know that Arizona celebrated its centennial in 2012? Signs posted at random intervals let us know.
	Here's some cool overpass artwork.
	And here's some pretty scenery tucked behind a rest area.
	We rolled into Tombstone around 10:00 AM.
	Our first stop was Boot Hill Cemetery. We were aware that it wasn't completely authentic, but it is still a pretty unique destination, so in we went.
	It is laid out in rows and we were given a guide to all of the graves, many of which were unknown.
	The cemetery has been restored after falling into disrepair.
	Some graves are a little more substantial than others.
	Some are a little more ornate too.
	This is a child's grave, so many toys were scattered on it by visitors.
	And here's where Old Man Clanton is buried. Being a Confederate soldier, it's legit that a Confederate flag flies over his grave.
	This collection of graves is where the bad guys from the OK Corral gunfight were buried.
	We didn't stay very long and even with a bathroom stop and a stroll through the gift shop, we were done in 20 minutes.
	In the parking lot, a car pulled in as we were leaving. Sure enough - that's the Tombstone Marshal, with a slightly different ride than the marshals had 140 years earlier.
	We headed into town to see the historic district.
	There's the Bird Cage Theatre, ...
	... a stretch of street, ...
	... and the entrance to the OK Corral attraction. There's no other way to see the hallowed ground other than by paying, since there are high walls all around it. We opted against it, ...
	... and also turned down the hawkers dressed in period costume who beckoned us to join their mine ride or visit their restaurant.
	Here's the lovely Tombstone courthouse.
	It didn't take long to return to our car without doing any shopping, eating, or touring. Tombstone may have its appeal to some, but not us.
	Here's the OK Corral from the other side of the block with its high fence.
	We snapped a photo of this statue of Wyatt Earp on our way out of town 50 minutes after we had started.
	An hour or so later, we were in Tucson.
	We had heard about Sonoran-style hot dogs, so we headed to Güero Canelo.
	The famous hot dog is the item in the lower right. There were beans on it, so Debbie didn't try more than a carefully-chosen bite, but Tom liked it.
	We passed another Top Golf on our way out of Tucson, ...
	... plus another field of cotton; the third state we had seen it in on this trip, which continued to surprise us.
	We discussed that the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) Facility on the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, AKA the "Boneyard," was nearby and that the next time we're in the area, we should plan ahead to visit it. (We did the very next year!) Shortly after that, we passed another airplane boneyard, but this one is for commercial aircraft, located at Kingman Airport and Industrial Park. It was very odd to see so many airplanes parked so close together.
	Up ahead on the left is Picacho Peak, ...
	... and here is it up close.
	We hit Mesa traffic around 2:30 and found ourselves behind this beautiful Tesla.
	We were here to visit Debbie's father and stepmother, who winter here and summer in northern Minnesota.
	We went for a walk around the property in the afternoon, ...
	... then had a nice German dinner at the Bavarian Point, the exterior of which was very poorly photographed here. Day 5 >