Tucson, AZ, Part Two – The Nicest Goodwill I’ve Ever Seen and Tombstone

March 11 – 18, 2023

Our trip to Tucson was so amazing, this post would entirely too long if I were to put it all into one. As a result, I will be breaking this trip into multiple posts.

Today, I bring you Part Two – The Nicest Goodwill I’ve Ever Seen and Tombstone

Monday

I was up at 3:30 Monday morning. I tried to shower but after letting the water run for several minutes, it never warmed up. I skipped it, since I’d taken one not 9 hours earlier. I got dressed, grabbed my work laptop and headed to the lobby to check e-mails and get my day started. I poured myself a cup of tepid hotel coffee and when Brandy messaged me that she was awake at 5:30, I headed back to the room.

I worked in the room for the day, taking a break to exercise, another to eat and just generally tried to make myself comfortable until Brandy got back to the room at about 1:00.

Once she was home, we each continued our work days until about 1:30, local time, then we headed out for a grand adventure.

First, we went on a Goodwill tour, hitting four different Goodwill stores in the Tucson area. The office Brandy visited Monday was stark and bare so she decided she was going to shop for some decor to liven the place up. We hit the first two, standard Goodwill stores, but when we got to the third one, one Oracle Rd, it was like I was warped into some alternate reality where Goodwill stores are upscale boutiques.

I have never in a million years seen a Goodwill store like this. It did not feel like any thrift store I have ever been in. The website for the store linked above makes note of the “”new look” Goodwill store” so perhaps the organization is planning on refurbishing all of their stores in such a manner? That’s the sense I get from that phrase, anyway.

We went on then to the last store on the list, then, with the car loaded up with goodies, we headed up to the Tucson Premium Outlets, an outlet mall on the outskirts of town. It has all your standard outlet mall fare- Coach, Saks Fifth Ave, Forever 21, Kate Spade, etc. I bought a pair of Vans in blue, and Brandy picked up a few things for herself. We walked through the entirety of the mall then headed back towards town.

We stopped back by the last Goodwill we were at where we found a Chinese/Japanese fusion buffet called Wok & Roll. We ate a bunch of Chinese food and sushi then afterwards headed to Walgreens for some Emergen-C and Vicks for Brandy, then back to the hotel.

We were both wiped out from our long day so it wasn’t long before we were both passed out.

Tuesday

Tuesday morning was identical to Monday in every way- I woke up, went to the lobby, worked there until Brandy got up then moved to the room to continue working there.

Just before 1:00, I got antsy and decided to take a quick mile walk. It was a mild 72 degrees and sunny so I thought it would be a perfect day to make some serotonin. I finished with a 20 minute walk, then I finished up my work day as Brandy got back to the room. She had a couple more things to finish up then as she closed her laptop, we dressed and began a trip out to Tombstone.

Tombstone, AZ

I had a pretty good idea of what Tombstone was going to be: a small town capitalizing on its fame and turning itself into a tourist trap.

Google Maps said the drive to the town was a little over an hour. The last gunfight reenactment at the OK Corral was at 3:00 so leaving at about 1:40 should give us plenty of time.

We headed down I-10 to the Benson offramp, then headed southeast on highway 80. I kept an eye on our estimated time of arrival and saw we were expected to arrive around 2:45. That should give us plenty of time to get to the 3:00 show.

Then, we hit the road construction. They had a part of the road down to a single lane for both directions to share, with a signal posted at each end. Evidently, we has just missed the green for our direction because we sat at that light for a fairly significant amount of time. Each minute that ticked by while waiting for our turn put us more and more in jeopardy of making the 3:00 show.

Finally, the light turned green but we got stuck behind an RV that consistently did 5 MPH slower than speed limit. I kept an eye on our ETA as it crept closer to that 3:00 deadline.

Finally, at about 2:52, we pulled on to 4th Street, found a parking spot and made a beeline to the OK Corral ticket booth where we saw that the last show of the day was at 3:30.

Not 3:00. Awesome, that gave us time to go to the bathroom.

After a bit of shopping for souvenirs and a trip to the nearby restrooms, we headed back through the gift shop, out the back, through a courtyard, down a narrow alley and into the site of the original gunfight at the OK Corral, which was actually in a vacant lot next to the lodgings where Doc Holiday was roomed at the time. This lot was behind the OK Corral off of Fremont St rather than on Allen Street.

In this vacant lot is set up a handful of mannequins that are to represent the participants of the gunfight. There’s a pre-recorded narration that you can listen to and some of the mannequins have rudimentary animatronics so that their arms raise and lower or their heads swivel. This display is right next to the boarding house previously mentioned that has been set up as a museum.

There is a small theater walled off from the rest of the lot. The doors were closed when we arrived bit opened soon after. We filed in and Brandy and I grabbed seats in the front ro right next to the door to make a quick and easy escape at the end of the show.

“Doc Holiday” came out on his cane and gave a brief overview of the show, warning us of the live guns they were using and to keep our cell phones on silent, then the show started.

It depicted a condensed version of the events that led up to the shootout that culminated with the quick gunfight that killed three cowboys and injured Virgil and Morgan Earp and Doc Holiday.

After the gunfight, “Doc” gave an epilogue about what happened to the four lawmen that escaped death that day.

We made a hasty exit and headed back to the yard of the actual Corral, taking a few pictures along the way. We then fell into the line that had formed as we did so, then exited through the gift shop.

We wound up back on Allen St. We walked up the road to 5th and swung by the Epitaph to pick up a copy of the newspaper with the announcement of the gunfight. While there, I also bought a sarsparilla which, I believe, is the first time I’ve had it. I knew it was supposed to taste like root beer, and it did not disappoint.

We made our way back to the car and started the hour drive back to the hotel. It did wind up taking a little longer to get back as we hit the remnants of an accident as well as Tucson rush hour traffic.

Once back to the hotel, we ordered Rudy’s barbecue via Door Dash but after an hour, we still didn’t have a dasher so I canceled the order and went to pick it up myself.

I got back at around 7:40, so it was pretty late when we ate. Needless to say, we passed out almost immediately after.

Conclusion

Yeah, I know I’m a sucker when it comes to tourist traps. I will do anything and everything, as long as it’s something that interests me. Tombstone was no different. I absolutely want to go back and spend a little more than an hour there.

This trip just kept getting better and better.

Check out pictures from Tombstone and the Goodwill in my Photo Diary.

And stay tuned for Part Three when we made a trip to Saguaro National Park.

Until then!

Phil

This trip was definitely more for me than it was for Brandy. The stay at the Blue Swallow, the hike through Saguaro National Park, definitely not things Brandy had any great desire for. I’m glad she was so agreeable though. It was nice to have her with me while I enjoyed the trip.