Tombstone Bound

Again I am falling behind on keeping our travel blog up-to-date and I apologize. In October (16th, 17th, 18th, 19th), Robert and I had planned to go on a photography outing with several other people from my photography group to Bodie Ghost Town. Unfortunately, that trip would have cost a bit more money than we could afford. Instead we opted to drive to Tombstone, Arizona to attend Helldorado Days. I think it was the better choice in both the money-saving and entertainment departments.

If you’re not familiar with Helldorado Days, it’s a festival celebrating the Old West and what better place to have it than in Tombstone. Of course we drove and in comparison to some of our other trips, this one seemed rather short with only 5-6 hours of driving time. On the way we detoured off I-8 and headed south on Hwy 85 to the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Unfortunately we didn’t have the time to take a tour of the area, so I snapped a few pictures from the Visitor’s Center’s parking lot and from a less-than-spectacular viewpoint. From the park we headed east on Hwy 86 into Tucson. We were staying just north of Tucson in Marana.

Saturday was spent in Tombstone for Helldorado Days. We really enjoyed it and next year would like to return. Sunday we visited the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, which is a zoo, natural history museum and botanical garden. It was nice except it was HOT. Yes, it was a dry heat, but it didn’t really make a difference. Hot is hot. We then drove through Saguaro National Park and did a bit of hiking. We hung out until sunset so I could get some pictures of the cactus silhouetted against the colorful sky. My pictures didn’t turn out as good as I would have liked, but it was nice to spend some quiet time with Robert.