Life in the Town of Tombstone, AZ

I love the movie Tombstone, and finding out that you can visit the town it was based on meant it went on my bucket list…and sat there for awhile since it hasn’t been on our travel path! This year, when our route would take us through southern Arizona, it got added to the wish list!

After traveling from southern California to Arizona (in case you missed it, HERE’S LAST WEEK’S Blog with the details), we spent several days in Tombstone. It was good to have a few days planned since I found out that elevations over 4,000 feet made me sick, as did the dramatic elevation changes from our two days of driving–I ended up sick for a couple days while I acclimated.

We were staying just north of town, and we wandered the city area several times, and it was close enough for BJ to visit during his daily runs, too! We explored the many historic buildings, and played tourist and watched the OK Corral shootout reenactment, which is always fun!

We found the newly opened Cowboy Coffee Bar, run by some gentleman that have roots in the area five generations back.

We also did a walking Ghost Tour, although the one we had was much more history than ghosts–which was fine with us! It was so interesting to learn that the town had such a short lifespan during the silver rush and ended early since the railroad just didn’t make it there in time. We also learned that the town’s history goes far beyond Wyatt Earp and his crew.

We were on a tight budget after a long travel season, so didn’t do as much in town as we’d like to. The town itself if free to visit, and each excursion or activity is pay to play. Rates run from $10-$30 per person, depending on what it is, and some are bundled, which was nice. They even have a gun belt you can rent and wear around town to look like a real gunslinger–the kids we saw dressed up were so cute!

So if you have a bigger budget, you can get a much more immersive experience, or, like us, explore town at your own pace and learn from the plaques around. They only get about 500,000 visitors a year, so it isn’t extremely busy, just be mindful of the weather since it is desert and higher elevation.

We found the tours and details about the town on the Discover Tombstone website, linked here, but there are several websites available with information.

We stayed at the Tombstone RV Park, just outside of town, since it had roomier sites, full hookups, reasonable rates, and lots of amenities.

If you want to be in the downtown area, there are some other options, including stage coaches and a downtown RV park, and there’s even a Harvest Hosts location in town, if you’re up for dry camping.

Although our time was short, we have some great memories from our visit!

We’ll see you in the next blog as we make our way from Arizona to Texas!

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