The Town Too Tough To Die

Was out the door by 7:30 this morning, ready to see what Tombstone had to offer. Because I needed to be back in Phoenix for the Suns vs Trailblazers I gave myself until 12pm to see as much as possible.

Armed with a map and scribblings from the guy at the hotel I went in search of breakfast first. The OK Cafe was the recommendation so I headed a couple of blocks west and found it on a quiet corner. I ordered the bacon and eggs on toast with some coffee. One thing I’ve noticed over here is that you tend to pay for coffee once then can drink it all day if you want as they keep coming around topping up your cup. Probably not very good for you but still a nice touch.

After breakfast I was a little early for everything to open so I decided to go for a wander around the town to get my bearings and snap a few pics. Walking down the main street I noticed a number of small convertibles gathering. Turns out there was a Pontiac Roadster meet up in town. There were some nice cars there, but not exactly what your looking for when you want to be transported back in time 130 years. Fortunately they kept to a smallish area so they weren’t too much of a disruption.

The Courthouse Museum was the first thing in town to open so I headed over there. The museum did a pretty good job of chronicling the towns early history and was in great shape. A number of rooms (including the main courtroom) had been restored to look as they did in the late 1800’s.

Next stop was the site of the OK Corral. Inside was a Historama exhibit created back in the 60’s when Historama’s were trendy. The guy who created it was mates with Vincent Price and asked him if he’d do the narration for it, which was very cool. This was less about the shootout at the OK Corral and more about the town being totally destroyed by fire over and over then being rebuilt each time. This is why it’s been called “The Town Too Tough To Die”.

Leaving the theatre I moved on next door to the OK Corral museum. Here they detailed pretty much everything there is to know about the famous shootout between the Earp Brothers, Doc Holiday and the Clanton’s and McLaury’s. Set up out the back there were these mannequins in the roughly configuration of the actual gunfighters. When you pressed a button they moved their arms up and down whilst yelling at each other. Very cheesy but highly entertaining.

Running out of time I hit the road and headed for the Boothill Graveyard. There were a lot of well know personalities from the area buried here including the men that didn’t survive the gunfight at the Corral. I was a little disappointed there weren’t more comical headstones. I know graveyards in general aren’t really there for a laugh but I’d always thought this is where all the jokey inscriptions lived that were ripped off back home at Movieworld. Anyway I grabbed a brochure that told a little story about each person buried there which was pretty interesting.

Had no trouble on the drive back to Phoenix and I only needed to stop for gas. Found the hotel easy enough, really nice place. My room is essentially split into two. One is a lounge area with a table, couch and counter. This is there first place I’ve stayed where I could sit upright with a computer which was a real blessing. The second room was the bedroom with a massive comfy bed and a 50 Plasma with HD cable. Outside the room was just as nice with a great pool and a rooftop bar which has great views of the surrounding area.

Stayed at the hotel long enough to grab a shower then it was off to the US Airways Centre to see the Suns vs Trailblazers. Found a park easy enough and had no issues getting my ticket. The stadium is a lot more vertical than Madison Square Garden, with the seating sort of like the nosebleeds at the MCG. My seat whilst a fair way back gave me a very good view of the action because I was looking down at it.

The game itself was a pretty one sided affair with Portland never really looking like they wanted to win it. Nash, Amare and Hill played well and Shaq had a monster night. Whenever Raja Bell nails a shot a bell chimes which I found pretty amusing. For the Blazers it was all Roy, Blake and Aldridge. This was the first time I’d seen Oden and he was ok while Amare was matching up on him but once the Suns moved Shaq onto him he folded like a cheap suit. As big as he is, Shaq is bigger and out muscled him in the post over and over. He ended up with 5 fouls and almost throwing a tantrum before being benched. I know he’s really young but he needs to get his emotions in check because Shaq was thriving on it.

After the game I headed back to the hotel to watch some TV and crash.