Tombstone and THE THING

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Two completely opposite tourist traps, that were both a lot of fun. First, we went to the town of Tombstone where the famous gunfight took place and Wyatt Earp was the only man who walked away unharmed. We walked around the little town, where even the Bank of America was built with old-fashioned wooden teller counters. There were lots of junk shops, and plently of natives in wild west garb trying to lure us into this or that saloon for gunfights and beer. We settled on Big Nose Kate's Saloon, had some lunch complete with entertainment, and went the the OK Corral to check out the museum and the reenactment.

Oh, the reenactment. It was so painfully terrible it was funny. We had hoped for a bunch of costumed cowboys and sherrifs dramatically reenacting the gunfight in and out of period-style buildings, yelling at each other and going about it as if it really were the old gunfight. Nope! It was a brightly painted, almost cartoon-like and scaled down set, where a bunch of men stopped after every line to pull a face at the audience, ask what their next line might be, or wonder why their gun wasn't firing (so at times they simply shouted "bang!"). Oh dear. And it kept going on and on, past the gunfight, to the days when each of the characters got in other fights with other people. And then they finally opened the doors of our little outdoor theater and we were free!!! Freedom!

Overall, Tombstone was pretty awesome, because the whole town was proud of being infamous and worked hard to keep everything old fashioned and fun for tourists. Fun!

On the road again, and on our way up to Albuquerque, New Mexico, we stopped to see "The Thing?". There were billboards advertising it for about 100 miles, all of them also trying to lure you in with pictures of ice cream because the stop also had a diary queen and a gas station. What is the thing, you ask? I'm so glad you did!

First, the thing rests at a glorified gas station. There's a giant gift shop, the by now mouth watering dairy queen, and a door where the $1 admission is posted in yellow letters above. We paid our fee and were told "follow the yellow footprints. it's in the third building." We wandered through a museum of sorts, walking in and out of sheds following the footprints and finding things like old cars, wooden sculptures, and old phonographs. it was kind of like an antique shop meets souvineer stand, all behind a wire fence within 3 metal barns. In the third shed we saw THE THING!!!??!...(insert corny halloween music here) A mysterious mummified body whose real identity is UnKnOwN....haha. it was another awesome detour, just because of its oddity and kitchiness. We even took pictures, so you can see "The THING?" for yourselves. And maybe, just maybe your life will be complete. 😊

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Comments

[Lolo from Belgium]

Hello
Hey, I read day after day what your are posting. You 2 seams visiting great things all over the USA. Have fun... take care. miss ya

[Linda]

The Thing!
How fun! You fell for it! Should've asked me...I've been there already...I would've saved u $2-hehehe! But it's all good, better for u to experience it for yourself...Glad u two are having fun! Love ya!