We began our second day adventure with Tucson, Arizona after a drive through the Sonoran Desert. The closer we got to the city of Tucson, the more cacti began to fill the scenery around us. This being so, and Tucson being home to both sectors of Saguaro National Park we decided to make a cacti stop in the Western section of Saguaro National Park.
This park is filled with unbelievable amounts of cacti, tall and towering, the stand like sentries over the dry land of the Tucson desert. Driving into the park we climb a hill that at its peak allows for a grand view of a huge valley blanketed with this type of cactus. This landscape, unique to Tucson was quite a sight to behold driving around that top corner of the peak. The quirky twisted and jumbled arms of the Saguaro cacti are amusing and beautiful. Some even looked as if they were hugging themselves. Others had beautiful flowers standing on the tips of their arms. It was quite a nice park.
This nice stop made up for our morning, which, before we reached the park, seemed would spell a disastrous day. We had a late start because we missed the alarm and got all turned around in the city itself. Along with injured ankles which were swollen, it was a worrisome morning that quickly turned around and became a long but interesting day. Especially with our epic old western stop at Tombstone, Arizona.
The sight of the OK Corral gun fight which is starred in many famous movies like the awesome old western movie with Val Kilmer and several other great actors called Tombstone which is about the story of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday in the rough and tough town. This was such a great little authentic piece of old western history where reenactments are held as well as actors in character all the time wandering the dusty streets and saloons. It was “the town too tough to die”.
We spent a lot of our time in the Boothill Graveyard, which holds many famous and infamous residents of Tombstone. On the graves where the ways they died and it was truly fascinating to look into this little piece of history.
After Tombstone we headed out to visit a little national park I had never heard of before that was actually quite interesting. The park, Chiricahua National Park feels a little like a mixture of Bryce National Park and Yosemite National Park. Primarily a hiking destination we sadly didn’t get to go very in depth because it was just too hot to go hiking. However it looked really interesting and I wish we had come at a cooler time so we could go into Echo Canyon. With huge monolith like structures that look like the hoodoos of Bryce and deep valleys filled with strange and intriguing rock formations, it was a fascinating stop.
This was a last stop of the day as we made our way out of Arizona and into New Mexico where we would be staying the night with my lovely relatives in Las Cruces.
Tags: arizona, boothill graveyard, cactus, chiricahua, doc holiday, gunfight, las cruces, monoliths, new mexico, ok corral, saguaro, saguaro NAtional Park, southwestern, tombstone, wyatt earp