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On Tuesday I drove on to El Paso Texas. I took advantage of the relatively short day of driving and did laundry. On Wednesday morning I tried to do some sightseeing. I wanted to go on an aerial tram I had read about, but it was closed. The "historic" part of the city was border-town shabby, and you couldn't see the Rio Grande for the fences and railway cars. I tried to drive around but the streets kept putting me back on the I-10. Eventually I took the hint and drove on. After a long day (kinda drove straight through New Mexico!), arrived in Benson, Arizona. The next morning drove the short distance south to Tombstone.
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Here's the realistic reinactment of the famous gunfight at the OK Corral. Tombstone was pretty much what I expected - very tourist-y. (I keep going to tourist places and expect them not to be touristy!!?? I can see the old town under the theme-park veneer, though. I don't know if El Paso may have been more "authentic", or if it's just under a different veneer...) They do give you lots of information about the history of the town, perhaps a lot more than you wanted to know about the gunfight.
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The corral itself had displays of horse-drawn carriages from the days of the Old West. Back to the gunfight - I guess I don't really understand the significance of it - that seemed to get lost in the details. It sounds like more research was done on this incident than the Kennedy assassination.
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They said this is the oldest newspaper in the U.S.: The Tombstone Epitaph. They're still printing. But back to the gunfight. Afterwards there was a hearing to determine if the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday were to be tried for murder. (You can buy a reproduction of the Epitaph for the day of the hearing testimony.) Do you think they'll be giving tours of the Bundy Drive residence in 120 years?
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And of course we always end up on Boot Hill. Everyone from the town seems to be buried here, from the socialites to prostitutes, from the lawmen to the hanged criminals. Most of the inscriptions say "shot" or "stabbed." Nice view, though.
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