Mammoth's Arizona Adventure, Day 7

 Tue 14 March

Long day today for the dogs--they were left behind. We headed out at about nine to go to Tombstone. It wasn't part of the original agenda, so I didn't book an overnight stay near the town. But when I happened to see it was "fairly" close to our park, I decided to offer it as an option to Ed, who loves that sort of thing. But the distance was way over my hard limit for side trips--one hour--and ended up taking us about 1-1/2 hours.

I'd read on the web page that you should buy your tickets to the OK Corral gunfight when you first arrive because they sometimes sell out. So we did. And then as we were walking across the street to kill some time before our 1:00 show, a guy hawking the "other" gunfight was in the street, advertising the "only gunfight in Tombstone with professional actors, just finished shooting scenes for some sort of well-known show (I'd heard of it), and a comedy." Of course, the only times available for that one were one-o'clock and three, and three would have been too late for us. If we saw a three o'clock show, we wouldn't have returned to the dogs until 5:30. Too late.

 

So we blew it. But I don't blame myself. The web site didn't say anything about "three" gunfight reenactment troupes in town. We ended up going to two of them, one in the bar and one at the OK corral.  They were both a little lame, in my humble opinion. No one fell off the roof or were dragged by their horses or returned from the dead and required a second killin'. They were just straight reenactments, one of some  shootings that occurred in the bar and one of the famous duel.

No matter, we enjoyed ourselves all the same. When we returned to the dogs, Molly and I had a couple of hours for a long walk. Since I'd gone up the road to the day-use area before, and didn't think I'd have time to walk all the way back up to the top of Picacho Peak before suppertime, I decided to go down the road to the entrance station.

It was more up than down, or so it seemed. There is a gravel/rock walkway, just the width for one person, all alongside the road up and down. Molly and I took it, her going in front at the end of the leash. It was probably too early for snakes and despite all the beautiful flowers, not so overgrown that I couldn't see where I was placing my feet. Or Molly hers. So it was safe to let her go first.

 

 

We didn't see much, but it was a delightful walk all the same. Only a cactus wren or two. I heard a black-chinned?? sparrow but didn't see it.  I have a funny feeling that if there weren't so many people around, there would have been a lot more wildlife.