Friday was a busy day as we wanted to get in as much as we could as it was my last full day.
I stayed with Marti in Tucson and she took us to Kartchner Caverns State Park where she used to work.
Helen and I proudly standing in front of the sign. How lucky were we to get to go here?
As you are not allowed to take anything into the caves or touch anything there are things to see, touch and oops in my case climb inside the information centre.
Here I am seeing if I can get to the top.
Yeah! Made it, look at me!
Now how do I get down from here...
There were some interesting exhibits.
Rocks to climb through
One of the men who found the caves.
Looking to see the routes they took.
This made me giggle as we have a Whetstone near us and it doesn't look anything like this!
Bats inhabit the caves for a certain time each year.
I have a look at these ones.
They are quite tiny,,
Reading...
Yikes, I hope these aren't quite this big!
We actually did the caves just after lunch...we did intend to do them in the morning, but all the tours were booked up, so we went on to Tombstone and looked round there first before coming back to the Caverns.
Our first stop in Tombsone was Boothill Graveyard.
Well this certainly looks interesting!
Helen and I set off to explore the graveyard.
Look this poor person was murdered Helen points out.
Oh dear, and this one was hanged...I wonder what he did?
The gunfight at OK Corral victims.
Sad...
We continue to go through and look at all the different ways people died...
It was certainly a sobering thought of how difficult and hard life was.
On some there were rhymes...
I think they thought they were poets!
Looks like they must have got into an argument playing cards...didn't know it could be so dangerous!
Certainly a very sobering place to go, but very fascinating indeed.
Visiting this place was really interesting but it was marred by one very unpleasant older lady.
She worked in the shop/information centre. We wanted to buy a souvenir brochure after our visit, having already bought several other things from a polite young girl before we walked round the graveyard. Now this brochure had a sign up that said $3 Donation (may have been $2)...so in reality, donation means optional surely? Anyway we were more than happy to give a $3 donation as it as very interesting and tend to try to collect souvenirs in this form of each place we visit. However when we asked to look the brochure so we could buy it, this older woman held it in front of us, beyond arms reach...this was rather odd and of course being short sighted Mum couldn't see it properly at that distance, so she asked if she could please have it to have a look, in order to purchase it and the woman refused and just held it further away! This type of behaviour seems very strange for someone working in a place like this...they either want to 'sell' these for a DONATION or not! We tried to explain we would be buying it if she could please hand it to us...but the woman would not oblige. Needless to say this resulted in us not being able to purchase (give a donation for) this brochure. I think the woman must have been in the wrong job (or wrong time period) and was a bit power hungry... what a shame this happened as she really was very unpleasant, but fortunately we had met so many other VERY HELPFUL and pleasant people during our time in Arizona we knew this to be the exception not the norm.
Ironically all the brochure information is available on line anyway, so not sure what she had to gain by withholding this brochure! I think it should be reviewed whether she is the right person for that job!
Anyway enough said, but in the hope that this review, might somehow reach those responsible for the hiring of staff and volunteers at Boothill Graveyard this needed to be aired as I would hate to think that due to this woman's behaviour people are having their visits there spoilt and the place is losing out on donations towards the upkeep of the place.
Oh dear what a mean lady. We hope she didn't spoil your day as the place seems very interesting.
ReplyDeleteOur Dad reckons that the brochure may have been just an ink typed piece of info - the type you usually get on a leaflet for free, and they were trying to get more of a donation than it was worth. He said he'd been caught by private museums that do that when he was still living over in the US. Sad really, as most people there ar so friendly......... maybe she was related to one of the lynch mob that got John Heath??!!
Hope you and Helen are enjoying doing fun stuff in England, like we did.
Bye for now,
Emrys
We were a bit gob-smacked by her as you can probably tell Emrys. However, it didn't ruin our day, we had such fun and it was all so interesting. Yes it was just an ink typed piece of information, nothing glossy or anything. Yes I think she probably was! Ha ha!
DeleteYes Helen and I are having a good time, although it seems to be raining a lot again, just like it was when you were here. It has rained all day again today...although Mum has been a bit off colour today so we couldn't have gone out anyway.
okay this lady seems to need a SHEILA intervention in customer service !! so wish I was still with you guys Henry as she would have happily handed the brochure over to your mum .......or she would wished she would have !!!! I think a letter written by your mum to the Boothill Graveyard society is in order it is the only way MEAN people learn not to do it again !!! sorry your last day was marred by this jerk
ReplyDeleteIndeed Sheila, I am sure you would have handled her admirably! ;-) It really was quite startling behaviour.
DeleteWe still had a great day though, the sun was shining, fabulous hosts, and very interesting places to visit, what more could you ask for?
My comment got lost! I said something like: thanks for that very interesting post, Henry - I'll probably never get to Arizona but now I feel I've actually been there.
ReplyDeleteAnd the woman in the shop reminded me of those two at the rose garden yesterday who thought we were taking photos for financial gain! - Jocelyn
A very fascinating place indeed, so glad you enjoyed the post.
DeleteAh she was much worse than those two yesterday Jocelyn!
Wonderful pictures and definitely an insight into desert/cowboy life and how hard it was to survive. My, how dry it is out there and still some plants are alive. The kids look like they had fun and learned a great deal of history. There are definitely 'snarky' people out there: my husband was sitting in the Portland, Oregon train depot (v.v. large and empty) at 6:30 a.m. on Thursday morning and was asked to leave....he is still shocked over that situation....although we figured it out it was because the area is constantly assaulted by the homeless. He was going to take pics for a book he is writing and this was a shock to him because he thought the train depot was a public place~
ReplyDeleteVery very dry indeed, the landscape was just so different to what we are used to. It was funny because there was a man in the Graveyard who came up to us when we were taking pictures and said 'How old do you think you are?' To which I replied 'Eight years Old' He snorted and replied, "Try adding on another 20 years!" I laughed... "Oh I DO LIKE you I said" haha....he wandered off. I don't mind being 28! ;-)
DeleteGreat photo's and its a pity the lady in the shop was not very nice. xx
ReplyDeleteWish i could have been there with you. At least you made me feel i was! SO sorry you didnt get treated well by the brochure hoarder!! What a shame! Lovely pics Lorraine x
ReplyDeleteLovely photos Lorraine! I really like reading the tomb stone inscriptions. Sadly, there are unhappy people in the world that think we grow too old for play. I am very grateful to spend my time with people that choose to embrace it. Thank you for a really great post! :) xxx
ReplyDelete