So, what do you want from your Tombstone?

We're back on I-10, just driving out of Tombstone. Unfortunately none of us have passports so Nogales was out of the question - not that we had time anyway. We barely got to see Boot Hill. But we did hit nearly every major attraction in Tombstone, including some-not-so-major-for-good-reason (see yesterday's dinner).
Far and away the highlight was the Bird Cage Theater, which by an accident of history was boarded up and untouched for 50 years after 1889, then when it was reopened it was preserved exactly as it was. Everything down to the bulletholes is still there. This was the craziest gambling joint, vaudeville theater and bordello in the West, open continuously for 9 years, so it's got a lot of history. See! The room where Wyatt Earp banged his prostitute girlfriend! The private box where Russian Bill sat every night for 2 years at $25 a night! The high-rollers table, exactly as the cowboys left it!
It's cooler than it sounds, even. It really felt more like stumbling into a long-forgotten building than a museum. The parts where you couldn't go were just left alone, crumbling and faded. Made for some really fantastic pictures, too.

We're on the road and just drove through the airplane graveyard at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson. Thousands of mothballed planes as far as the eye can see. Incredible. Best. Detour. Ever. Hard to take photos at 40MPH but we'll see what I got. Wow. That was a lot of Harriers.

Anyway, Tombstone. After a place like the Bird Cage that quite literally reeked of authenticity, the rest of the town was a little less stunning. Still very good, very historical, but a little more touristy. Scoped out Big Nose Kate's, the Crystal Palace, got our picture taken at Diamond Jim's, etc. etc. It was surprisingly windy, with high clouds. Very hardscrabble high desert town. Definitely increased my respect for the cowboys that made their lives here. You start to understand why gambling and prostitution were such big deals. You spend 35 years mining by candlelight and living in your 15'x10' home, and you really need an escape.

Also, the food in Tombstone is a lot more Midwest than Frontier West. Lunch today was good but very middle america with longhorns on the walls. We got a clue and ordered burgers.

Breezed through Boot Hill, saw Les More's famous epitaph (Two slugs from a .44...) and where the Clanton brothers lie, then had to head on out. We're about 15 minutes from U of A, late to watch one of their dance rehearsals. It's a little weird going to the same place twice on a vacation, but this is a fairly big deal for Whitney so okay. Hopefully I can track down some internet so I can pick up Becky's restaurant recommendations. No more midwest food for me, I want something authentic. Better go now, almost there.

Reading at night

We're out of U of A for the second time. Apparantly the rehearsal was fantastic and Whit is very pumped up to go there now. Dad and I were less involved but did get to wander around the fabulous theater/studio building they have there, which is all black steel and glass, very modern and tasteful.
We did need to track down some internet before the rehearsal finished, so us guys left to see what they had on this campus. We worked our way West down the main drag and came across the Science & Engineering and Oriental Studies library. No, I am not making this up. The geeks and animu nerds have their own library. Perfect, I said, nerd central. They'll have lots of internet here! And sure enough, open terminals. We couldn't print anything but the connection was fast. I picked up Becky's restaurant recommendations along with the rest of my email, which was considerable. Rumor has it Bellingham misses me.

We concluded we needed another day to be excited about mexican food again, plus the recommended place in Phoenix was real close to where we're staying, so we settled for eating on campus at UoA. I had Panda Express, and made sure there was at least one asian guy working among the mexicans.
Ironically, there are no mexican places, even chains, on campus at UoA. I guess they don't want to compete with the authentic places within walking distance.

Also, familialarity with how WWU's campus works gave me a surprising amount of good instincts for navigating this campus, even though I know nothing about it. I was a little surprised. We also noticed a number of restaurants and trends around the campus that we'd seen at UW and WWU but nowhere else, such as Pita Pit and street parking with permits, and reached the conclusion that state colleges are really all the same but with different people. They all face the same issues regarding parking and entertaining a large number of (ironically) carless people in the middle of the city, and being inviting to kids 18-25.