Day Ten: Tourists in Costumes

If this picture had sound effects the effect would be SNORING. This is my second loudest snorer (the first being his father, of course.) And he loves his sleeping bag because he can put his animals in the nightstand by his head:

This morning we had a reservation for a 10:30 tour at the Queen Mine in Bisbee. 

It's a bit funny to compare the different crowds at the various hotels. At every other HIE, I've been amazed at how well stocked the breakfasts are. The sausage/bacon never gets too low before it's replaced, for example. The crowd size varies considerably. The Grand Canyon HIE had a very large breakfast area with two of everything and a machine for milk not just the cartons in the refrigerators. That room was packed beyond capacity every morning, too! 

(Some of the view from the hotel, also from the breakfast room, but without the ugly wall)

This hotel's breakfast was not very crowded at all - plenty of tables for everyone. But the service - wow. The bacon was just about gone when we got there and no one came to replace it the entire time we ate. It was just funny to see because it wasn't at all typical from our experiences.

Anyway. I'm one of those people who hates to be late. I hate it. I'm the type of person who is even rudely early sometimes. Not all the time but regularly. I figured we needed to be at the copper mine by about 9:45 to be on the safe side. I think we were there by 9:30 or even earlier. Ooops. 

Daddy Doc was looking at the museum gift shop's collection of "Buy These Rocks!" Geology is one of the skills developed in the Webelos Scout program so I knew that was probably why he was interested. I showed him where they had those boxes that contain 16-20 samples of various minerals in them. DD made some purchases... CS bought a little key chain that looked like a hard hat and lights up. 

At about 10:15, the previous tour came in and the mine tour guides started to distribute our hats, jackets, belts and lights. We were in line first, of course. (That's what happens when you're just that early and the museum isn't that big...) The big boys were eager to get dressed. CS was a little more reluctant but it was more about the "strangers" than the outfitting. He was fine with DaddyDoc helping. When everyone was outfitted, we all found a seat on the little train and headed into the mine.

The mine really is chilly - the signs say that it's 47°! I'd made everyone wear jeans and bring sweatshirts in addition to their jackets. It's a good thing we did, too! Our tour guide was a gentleman named Joe who'd worked in the mines for 10 years from about 1965 until the mine closed in 1975. The boys really enjoyed the tour. Joe explained to us how they drilled into the walls, set the dynamite, and gathered the ore. Setting the dynamite was actually the last part of their day - they'd set it so that the next shift would come in and "clean up" the previous shift's rock before setting off the dynamite for the next shift to pick up. In 100 years, they only had 16 deaths at the mine - I thought that sounded pretty decent. 

Yes, ladies and gentlemen: I took a picture of the mine toilet. Isn't that what we DO?

File this under "PerkyMommy can't make this stuff up" - I met someone on the tour that knows of Daddy Doc's BIL. Tour Guide asked if anyone was from Washington or Oregon. She said Idaho near the border. I made idle chit-chat - Oh what part of Idaho? Turns out it's near where DD's sister and BIL live so I mention bow hunting, her whole family has bows, we chit chat about that and I mention that BIL gets his for free because he submits photos and stories to the catalogs. She asked what his name is and when I told her, she said "Oh, yeah, I have seen his name before." Get.Out. Can't make this stuff up...

Afterwards, we drove around for a bit but we were on a schedule to be back in Tombstone between 1:00 and 1:30. The town of Bisbee is very quaint but several of the local cafes actually close for the summer! We found the Bisbee Grille "Convention Center" and had a very nice lunch there. MG ordered the club from the adult menu, the same thing DD ordered. I had something called the Greek Pizza which I thought was very good - even better than I'd expected. I might try to make it sometime at home. So that I'll remember, it was: Basil Pesto on a pita bread with sun dried tomatoes, feta cheese, red onions and chopped artichoke hearts. There was also shredded parmesian cheese on it. It was served with a small greek salad.

When DD had to do a bathroom run, he read a display that said with the rising cost of copper, they are considering to resume mining in Bisbee because it would be profitable again. The current state of this plan would have mining resume by 2010.

CS colored in his menu and SBS said "Are you going to give that to GrandmaChurchLady?" and CS said "YES!" So I offered to take a picture of it to send to GCL:

When we were finished, we booked it back to Tombstone. We parked in a public lot and DD went ahead to get in line to buy tickets to see the Gunfight at the OK Corral. This only happens once a day at 2:00 pm, so if you miss it, you miss it. 

The ticket prices were actually rather reasonable (especially compared to Biosphere!) They included a 30-minute movie and a "free" copy of a historical newspaper from the time of the actually gunfight in October of 1881, in addition to access to a museum and the gunfight reenactment.

So what to say about the OK Corral...

First of all, we're probably not the best judges of this event that there are because we're not really fans of the western novels or movies or history. 

Second, for those of you who don't know: I don't like to get wet. I don't like snowball fights. I don't like water-gun fights, water balloon fights, etc. I only like to go swimming when I'm within a reasonable distance to a shower and a change of clothes. Being raised in and living in Southern California, this usually works out pretty fine for me. (I will say that I don't usually use an umbrella unless it's raining pretty hard - but that's because I usually find them a nuisance to deal with when I'm OUT of the water.)

So we walked around the museum a bit. (That part was interesting.) We listened to a historian retell the story of the OK Corral and try to tell some of the background leading up to the gunfight and the politics of the two sides and so forth. Now, during this time I was getting rather annoyed. There was no distinct way to line up for the show. We were there well in advance of the show starting (of course,) and people were coming in after us, pushing past us. Uhm, excuse me? Stand back there. When the time came to go inside the show area, a massive crowd started to push towards the one door while one girl collected tickets and let everyone in - attempting to do this one at a time. I made sure that the older couple I'd seen in the area before us went in first, but then I just pushed on in. 

As the show started, the thunder was getting louder and we could see lightning. One of the actors announced that unless it rained 'hard' the show would go on. If it started to rain too hard, they'd just skip to the gun fight.

Then for 45 minutes we sat there watching the actors tell the story of Doc Holliday and the Earp Brothers versus the McLaurys and the Clantons. I guess you'd call them actors, anyway. They were, uhm, ok. But it felt tedious and long. Oh, so long. I kept wondering WHEN the gunfight would just start, anyway?

And then it started to sprinkle. Oh, great. I can't say it ever got hard but it was definitely sprinkling.

Finally the gunfight started - the one guy ran away, two guys went down, and a third guy was still standing. Doc Holliday's gun was clicking but it wasn't going off. When it was over, the three "dead" actors stayed on the ground until everyone left the area. There was one kid wearing a Civil War uniform who didn't want to leave and one of the Earp brothers was being polite but sort of trying to give him the hint. It was odd to see a boy about MG's age in a civil war uniform. (Especially because it was a big deal in the play that the characters seemed to be Southerners and this kid was in a union uniform...)

Yep, they're dead. They didn't really show that the guy in the front actually took awhile to die and was in a lot of pain and had two shots of morphine for the pain but it didn't really help. Yeah, this town is FULL of death which just isn't what you'd call my "favorite" topic...

We left and headed to get our free newspaper. SBS announced he had to pee. CS did NOT want to walk anymore. It got a little wearisome. The actors were supposed to be "available" to talk to and take pictures of, etc, at a local saloon. MG really wanted to go but when we walked by, I didn't seen anyone really in the saloon. We saw Doc Holliday in the middle of the street, so I got a black sharpie out of my backpack and MG went to ask him for an autograph. (MG really wanted to get actor's autographs.) Meanwhile, there was a guy in a full-on costume walking up and down the street with a child in a period costume and a woman who appeared to be his wife in regular ol' tourist clothes. It was really odd to see a tourist in costume. Daddy Doc and I commented to each other that this was just obviously not our "thang." That's ok. We didn't come here FOR Tombstone. It was that Tombstone was just a good center of operations for the things we wanted to do in this area. It served that purpose just fine.

Hey, lookie at THIS handsome belt buckle... "Happy Birthday To You... Happy Birthday To You..." Maybe we should pick it up for someone special... It's so big and pretty and sparkly and all...

We stopped at a little shop to get a snack - each boy picked out a frozen ice cream/popsicle thing. Then we walked to see Wyatt Earp's house which didn't really look like HIS house from the outside - it was supposed to now be an art gallery. Huh.

At this point, DD walked back to where our car was so we didn't have to backtrack. The boys and I continued to walk for a couple of blocks. DD caught up to us with the PerkyMomMobile so we climbed in and continued to the Boothill Graveyard.

Ok, I confess: we just weren't in LOVE with Tombstone enough to have to PAY to see the graveyard. We'd skipped the Vincent Price narrated Historama of Tombstone movie because we just weren't sure we were up to 30 more minutes of the history of Tombstone. (We've bought a little booklet and have lots of little handouts. That works.) Daddy Doc ran into the gift shop to see how much the graveyard was going to cost. PHEW! Free but they asked for a $2 donation which would give us a guidebook to the gravesites. 2 bucks we would do.

During this walk was when the notorious "Mommy Fell" incident. We had already seen most of the gravesites by then anyway so we left. At first DD thought the lens was damaged but it appears to have recovered, thankfully. We drove back to our hotel. When I took off my jeans, my left knee and shin had broken skin. Oh - I have to tell this story...

When I fell, MG was very upset about it. He ran over to my side to see if I was ok. Meanwhile, SBS was standing there pointing to a set of stairs saying "Why didn't you use the STAIRS, Mom??" (FYI: This area was mostly flat and so the stairs were a little out of place an unusual in general.) MG was not amused by SBS's apparent lack of enough concern. "MOM'S HURT!! STOP IT! Mom, are you OK???" He was all ready to be Mr. Boy Scout and help Mom or get Mom help. When I was ready to stand up, MG and DD both grabbed an arm to pull me up. 

So back at the hotel, DD got some neosporin out of his backpack first aid kit and MG put it on my "wounds" while SBS did get a little upset that MG didn't save one for him. They hurt a little and my right shoulder blade is feeling a bit sore but fortunately my ankle (the one that tripped) and my wrist seem to be ok.

Watching a little Disney Channel in the room:

The pool was locked when we got back to the hotel, we presumed because of the lightning we could see in the distance. MG wondered if it might open at some point so I encouraged him to go ask the front desk. I love this age because they're old enough for me to make them go do the things I don't like doing. Like asking questions. Sure enough, the guy at the desk said that if they didn't see any lightning, he could reopen it. They didn't so he did. The big boys convinced CS that they'd give him piggy back rides and he wouldn't have to leave the steps without a piggy back ride if he didn't want to, so he went along with them into the pool. (He would end up swimming a bunch anyway - MG talked to him just like the swim lesson teachers do...)

They swam for about 40 minutes before I called them in to change for dinner. 

Now, when we came back to our room, the housekeeper had not taken her tip. I was very annoyed, actually, for two reasons: 1- I'd left a really good tip today and 2- It wasn't a tip so much as a bribe: Be extra good to us. 

I took the tip to the front desk and they got me an envelope and figured out who our maid had been.

Then I asked for a dinner recommendation, which the clerk gave me.

Then I told him: I am not complaining but my room smells funny and I really don't want you to think we smoked in it and have you charge me the cleaning fee, please.

So - back to the story - at dinner time we decided to try the suggestion he made of a "Mexican-American" place that's the newest restaurant in town. He wrote it onto a map but didn't explain that it was actually OFF the ramp. Fortunately, we kept driving and found it. 

I don't know if it's our attitude that makes our meals good or if it's our attitude that gets us good recommendations or if it's both or what. This restaurant is an addition to a bar that has been a local hangout in town for quite a few years. Tonight it was really slow but the waitress was really happy to see us. The restaurant is on the site of an old train station, so the walls are covered with railroad signs, train art, etc. The boys wanted to see the bar area and they let the boys in if I went with them, but they couldn't play pool or darts. So we checked it out to satisfy their curiosity. The owner is also the owner of the local masonry company so there's lots of rock, bricks and cement walls (yeah, cement walls inside of the restaurant.)

Mr. Genius decided that he wanted a half-rack of ribs. I looked at him and said "Do you know what that IS?" He said "Yeah! And I like them!" I'm seriously considering starting a foundation NOW to cover the cost of our Costco and grocery store bills for the next decade. The little boys both wanted the nachos off the appetizer menu. I ordered the three enchiladas suiza and Daddy Doc ordered the flautas - which is such a no-brainer it's not funny. Here's a clue for anyone interested: If there are flautas on a menu, there's a 95% chance that DD will order them. He also had a Killians Red beer. (All of the restaurants around here serve Pepsi products. - happy sigh...)

The waitress was an absolute chatterbox. She's going to be a grandma next month, she has two boys of her own, the hot salsa today was REALLY hot so be careful, the green tortilla chips are a new jalapeno chip but they're not spicy, they taste pretty good, but the regular chips they make there on site. Everyone in town is so nice. The girl in the back has a 14-month-old and has given this waitress a TON of ADORABLE clothes and amazing supplies for her to-be-born granddaughter. She put a napkin in MG's shirt for him, another on his lap and brought him a pile of wet wipes, she brought me a carafe of Diet Pepsi instead of just refilling my cup (why more people don't do this is BEYOND me.) Oh and when MG ordered his ribs, she offered him the world in side options so he chose... french fries and onion rings as his two sides. Way to get in some veggies, MG.

I have to say that the onion rings were the best beer batter onion rings I think any of us have ever tasted. OMG. They were to.die.for. So good! My enchiladas weren't as flavorful as I'd hoped they'd be but it gave me a chance to stop eating when I was full and not feel like I HAD to clean my plate. (Which was really good since that plate of onion rings was just off my left side...) 

When CS was finished and I was finished, he came over to sit on my lap. This is a bit of a ritual for him. I remember seeing other moms with their youngest children and not "getting" it. I get it now. The baby never gets kicked off mom's lap because a new kid needs to be nursed. The baby never gets too big to carry because mommy's pregnant or mommy has to carry the new baby. The baby gets to stay a baby longer. And this kid is my cuddliest kid and I joke with him that he has a daily required allowance of cuddles. If he doesn't get enough cuddles in a day, he comes over to me, climbs on my lap, and demands them.

So while he was doing this I said to him "Say to daddy 'I'm hugging Mommy, neener neener!'" and he DID it. 

Ok, now I have to back up again. Instead of using a bluetooth, I use MG. He tells DD what I want DD to hear on the cell when I'm driving. To try to drive our kids nuts, I'll say things like "Tell Daddy I Love Him Wuv-Him Wuv Him!" and MG will say in a total monotone bored voice "Mom loves you wuvs you wuvs you. Anything else, Mom?" Two weeks ago, I made him say "Tell Daddy I send him a kiss on his soft juicy lips!" I've pretty much given up because MG is smart enough to know that the more grossed out he acts, the more I'll continue - so he just goes along with it and refuses to play. Boogerhead.

So tonight, CS is on my lap and he says "Da-ddy!!! I'm going to kiss her juicy lips!" And he gave me a regular ol' CS kisses his mommy kiss.

Now, please don't think this sounds twisted. It was actually HYSTERICAL. 

I mean, think about it: This 4-year-old had internalized that he was supposed to do something that would make his Daddy feel jealous and he remembered the juicy lips line. DaddyDoc just started LAUGHING. Of course, that made it worse so CS said "I'm going to kiss her sweet juicy lips again!" and he just turned and gave me a really fast Mommy/Son kiss. I had to make DD stop laughing and stop encouraging him.

By the way, MG only left 1 rib on his plate. 

Once again we got a 10% discount for being guests in a local hotel. Then we got a kind of cute "cinnamon taco" fortune cookie for the road. 

When we got back to the hotel, the sunset was spectacular so Daddy Doc ran ahead while we got out of the car, to fetch the camera and try to capture some shots. I found out that this HIE keeps their breakfast area open so I got a cup of hot water to make a cup of tea with a Trader Joe's Organic Tea Bag that I happen to have in my purse. (That's the one with lemongrass in it - super yum - plus they pack it in sealed plastic so it's easy to have in my purse when I want it.)

Tomorrow we have to be out of here EARLY for our tour of the local caverns. We're going to pack as much as we can in the car tonight to prepare.