Tombstone & Bisbee, Arizona Tour

Today Sandy, John and KoKo took a drive down Hwy 80 to see the sights at Tombstone and Bisbee; both towns have a lot of history but for different reasons. Tombstone is synonymous with the wild west and it’s history includes people like Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday, Bat Masterson and Johnny Ringo that walked it’s streets. Bisbee was a mining town and at one time was the largest city between St. Louis and San Francisco.

Despite being designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1962 Tombstone is for “tourists” where even the old Courthouse which is a State Historical Site charges $5.00 a head for a tour. Want a historic tour by trolley, $10.00, want to see an indoor historical reenactment of a gunfight (two guys firing blanks at each other), $10.00; you get the idea we didn’t even ask how much it cost to climb Boot Hill or see a reproduction of the O.K. Corral.

The Court House Historic Site in Tombstone.

Tombstone is rich in history but it is presented poorly; if it wasn’t for the Historic Location Signs along Allen Street we wouldn’t have learned any actual history. Sorry to speak poorly of the place but while Sandy was in the visitor center John was outside listening to a man dressed in 1800’s western garb speaking in a western drawl telling people why they should pay $10.00 for a trolley tour, after his speech he asked the tourist where he was from and then the cowboy replied “Oh, I’m from Chicago”. If you want to pay to eat and be entertained while you learn history this would be a good place to go, it’s just not what we enjoy.

Stagecoach Tour.

Despite the above rant we did learn that the entire town did not burn down in 1882 and some of the buildings along Allen Street date back to the early 1800s.

Allen Street in Tombstone.

The original Building is now the Visitor Center.

The original Can Can building is a restaurant again.

Some of Tombstone’s History.

Had to laugh.

Boot Hill.

Bisbee is very open and authentic. Since the mines played out it has become a home for artists and other “free spirits”. Like Tombstone there are a lot of stores to window shop and places to sit down for a meal. While walking with KoKo on a side street we met a local man who was also walking and asked where we were from, he was genuinely interested in who we were and that we enjoyed the city; he suggested two good restaurants where we could eat outside with the dog present. Later we saw him again on Main Street and he greeted us like old friends and told us about some good shops to visit.

Bisbee.

The Muhein House.

Youngblood Hill Avenue.

John enjoyed the “free spirit” side of Bisbee, the other local trademark that was very noticeable was the stairs that seemed to lead to every building. Bisbee is located in the Mule Mountains and as an old mining town it is built on hillsides along several valleys.

Some of the stairs in the city.

A Hillary Clinton Art Car.

A sign in the window of this building stated “I do what the voices in my head tell me to do”.

Entrance and stairs leading to a house.

We took the long way home from Bisbee, Sandy took the wheel driving Hwy 90 through Sierra Vista, another nice drive and another Border Patrol Checkpoint to stop at.