Two Churches and a Western Fail

A wide gap between adventure exploring in AZ makes for some dull days, so Tulip and I decided to change that! We packed ourselves up and headed to Tucson! Tulip had read about some lovely churches in the area and we decided to check them out.

We had some different scenery as we drove south. We started to see green grass take the place of the desert landscape and some familiar looking trees. Made us think of back home a little bit! 

Picacho Peak State Park was another pretty sight.

Our first stop in Tucson was the Cathedral of Saint Augustine. There was a lot going on in town that day including the big gem show... or so all the signs said, and all the large groups of people were walking that way. 

I didn't think the outside much matched the inside of the church, but it was very big on the inside! 

Our next stop was San Xavier del Bac, a Spanish Catholic Mission church built between 1783-1797. Extensive renovations have restored this beautiful church to much of it's original beauty.

Holy water dispenser

As the clouds rolled in the day was still young, so we decide to make one more stop.... Tombstone! One of my favorite movies and a bucket list item since moving to Arizona. I had set my expectations too high, Tombstone was not what I had imagined.

City Hall

What I found when I arrived was a far departure from the picture I had in my head. I was hoping for a more historical destination, instead I was met with a giant tourist trap. (sad face)

I was at the least expecting the downtown 'historic' area to at least look like something out of a movie set. There were a lot of people walking around in historic attire (you could rent costumes to walk around for the day) and stagecoach wagons for tours of the town.

Sign at the OK Corral

You had to pay to enter any of the historical sites, which I understand to help maintain what exists, but I was a little bummed out that basically every historical place was made up into an amusement like attraction. Pay $10 to see the OK corral and watch a gunfight.. bah humbug! 

View looking down the street of the 'historic' district

The Tombstone courthouse was a nice piece of history to see with several nice displays inside. We went about an hour before closing so some of the upstairs exhibits had closed for the evening.

Our final stop on the way out of town was at the historic Boothill Graveyard, where some of the residents of Tombstone came after they died with their boots on. Residents of the cemetery include those who died in the famous shootout at the OK Corral.

As an Arizona resident I felt I had an obligation to visit Tombstone and I would go back with out of state visitors who wanted to see it for themselves, Tulip and I however recommend having another destination in mind and make it a two-for day. Afterall, I did get this cool Harley shirt at the Harley store in Tombstone.

The Tuskegee Airmen Exhibit

Today Dad and I took a little road trip over to the old Air Force base to their museum, they were hosting The Rise Above traveling exhibit which features a restored WWII P-51C Mustang commemorating the Red Tail paint scheme used by the Tuskegee Airmen. 

The Tuskegee Airmen were the first all African-American aviator group in WWII. The Rise Above traveling exhibit consists of a 35 seat traveling theater set up in a semi rig. Once aboard you watch a 30 minute movie that tells the history of the airmen, telling the story of how they overcame segregation in the military and how they overcame diversity and became heros. The message of this event is foremost to keep the memory of the Tuskegee Airmen alive as well as reminding us that all it takes is a dream and a desire and you can overcome anything to reach your goals. 

Also on display was a P-40E Warhawk

 

The P-51C Mustang

For $2000 you could take a ride in the Mustang, expensive yes but considering the restoration and upkeep of a WWII era plane it's not unreal. Just as we were getting ready to leave someone was taking a flight, so we were able to hear it start up and take off, pretty neat.

The Mustang on display has actually had to go through two restorations. After it had been restored the first time, during a 2004 air show fly by the plane lost it's engine power and crashed. Sadly the pilot lost his life. But following the Tuskegee way, in the face of adversity, the decision was made to again restore the P-51. You can learn more about the two restorations on the redtail.org site.

I hope you'll take a second to Google the Tuskegee Airmen, or check out the Red Tail website. If for nothing else just to learn a little bit about our nation's military past. You can also see the movie Red Tails, which gives you an idea about what it was like for the airmen during their combat missions.

Weekend Rewind: Back in Time to WWII

Is anyone else tired of all the stormy storms and constant rain? I'd expect this from April but not May into June, it's almost official summer time which means we should have bountiful sunshine, what the H?! But sometimes rain and storms lead to some beautiful skies. After A.Drama and I spent our Saturday evening at Walmart and had a lovely Arby's dinner, we got stuck in a downpour but managed to see a lovely double rainbow and caught a lovely sunset.

Today we took a muddy trip back in time, where history came alive! We traveled a few cities over to visit a living history reenactment and veterans tribute. Later in the day there were different battle reenactments but dad just wanted to check out the vehicles.

The Allied forces vehicles

The German Camp

The Allied Camps

Dad and NiBo in the tall grass

Something here does not belong

very very muddy

You always kind of think you have a general idea of what it was like.... yeah no way. It was very cool too see German soldiers riding their motorcycles through the mud up to their camp, it gives you a small small glimpse into what it may have been like.

And while we were in the big big city, we stopped at Bass Pro Shops Hooray!