Travel Arizona Tombstone

A Day Trip To Tombstone

If you are a fan of the wild, wild west, you’ve most certainly heard of Tombstone. A few years ago we set out to explore Arizona a little deeper and check out all the things that make Arizona unique. Here I give you a little glimpse into Tombstone Arizona. Three hours SE of where we live in Queen Creek.Travel Arizona Tombstone

If you haven’t heard of Tombstone, please watch this short Historically accurate film before proceeding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIpVWTZYWr8

Now that we got that out of the way, Tombstone is where this epic gun fight between Wyatt Erp and Doc Holliday took place, at the OK Corral. I think it was filmed at Old Tucson Studios outside of Benson. Since you’re all up to speed, I’d like to take you on a tour of this quaint little western town in Southeast Arizona near Benson. Hiding so much more than gun fights and dry desert dirt.

Courthouse State Historic Park

Our first stop was the Courthouse State Historical Park. It was pretty much a museum of Tombstone. Built in 1882, this two story Cochise County courthouse is actually an Arizona State Park. This uniquely shaped building was more than just courthouse, it housed many of the town offices and positions, including a jail! They play a small historical film all about Tombstone in the courtroom. There is a lot of really neat artifacts from their mining days and a great deal about the towns growth. Behind the courthouse you will find some recreated gallows and a jail chamber.

Ok Corral

The Ok Corral was the livery and horse corral during the mining boom of Tombstone. Back in the day, the original Ok Corral was “Enterprise” of horses. Not a lot of folks could afford their own horse and rented them from here in order to travel. It burnt down in 1882 and rebuilt but only regained popularity after Author Stewart Lake wrote the biography, Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal . After the movie Tombstone they turned the place into a show where you can come and watch a live reenactment of that famous gun fight. Totally worth it.

Silver Strike Winery

Finally a little something for Mama. Haha, I am only kidding, both my husband and I enjoyed in some flights of Silver Strike Winery. Named after the Silver mining of Tombstone of course. We really love local wine, one that really stood out to me was their steel barreled wine. I guess I have never really noticed much of the oakey flavor that comes from oak barrels but once you try it up against a steel barrel – wowza! There’s a huge difference, one I didn’t love but my husband did. We bought a few bottle to take home and loved every last drop.

Street Walking

One of my favorite ways to get to know a place is by simply setting out on foot. When I travel alone, one of the first things I do is ask a local what streets are the best for site seeing and eating. Well, in tiny Tombstone that’s Allen Street. There’s live action shows right in the street. Horse and buggy rides, tons of gifts shops, and obviously places to stop like Silver Strike Winery when you’re feeling parched.

We also stopped to try the famous Tombstone sarsaparilla. A round for everyone, and some sloppy wings for the boss.

Tombstone Review

There was so much to do, we honestly should have made this a weekend trip rather than a day trip. There are some really great hikes near Tombstone. Actually now that I think of it there was this really cool old western movie set outside of Benson we stopped at but was closed for tours. I think that may have been Old Tucson Studios! This is why I should be posting these events when they happen. Definitely plan this trip as a weekend trip, you can even layer in a wine tour if you play your cards right. We plan to go again and hit all the things we missed.

If you enjoyed this post you might enjoy our trip to Christopher Creek Payson.

Christopher Creek Northern Arizona