Wednesday, February 24, 2010

my western weekend adventures


Soon-to-be Roomies!

Just another pretty face!

Money wall

Old Tucson church

Goldfield

Old Tucson Studios

A train ride & ice cream

Waiting to take the 3:10 train ride to Contention

Padre & I Which one is the cactus?
Old Tucson Stunt Show
Apparently I'm a horse thief... A Titanic kind of moment

{1. Superstition Mountains 2. Jerrica & I 3. Dad at Tortilla Flat 4. Dollar bills on the walls of the restaurant at Tortilla Flat; we decorated our own as well 5. Church at Old Tucson 6. Goldfield Ghost Town with booths serving chili 7. Old Tucson 8. Gwen & I eating ice cream on the train 9. Sitting at the (fake) train station at Old Tucson where the original 3:10 to Yuma was filmed 10. Dad & I at Goldfield ghost town 11. Jerrica with cactus 12. Worker at Old Tucson; sweet man 13. Old Tucson stunt show 14. Me aka Horse Thief 15. A Titanic moment with Gwen at Old Tucson}
This past weekend was an adventure. Jerrica arrived from Nashville and Friday was spent antique shopping and hunting for records. Money was spent on Louie Armstrong, Peter Pan and Grease; sheet music was purchased from the downtown music store; and we had dinner with a friend I hadn't seen in six years.

Friday was a day of endless chili, dollars bills and drops of rain. The desert was a beautiful shade of green and the clouds floated below the mountain tops. Jerrica, the parents and I traveled to Tortilla Flat. Population: six. After taking our picture with a toilet seat (see above), we had lunch at a restaurant with walls covered in dollar bills. We traveled to Goldfield Ghost Town, where we purchased a $1 foam cup and went around to dozens of booths serving chili. A charity chili festival? We were in luck. The day ended with pie at Village Inn after seeing Shutter Island with Gwen.

On Sunday Gwen, Jerrica & I took a two-hour road trip to Old Tucson. We walked the dusty streets, where many westerns were filmed back in the day. The same streets where my childhood hero (and favorite actor of all time), John Wayne, once stood. Sadly much of the original sets were burnt down in the 1990s. Today other western-themed buildings stand in their place. Still neat. We saw a gun show, stunt show, short comedy, a short John Wayne film and can-can dancers. We took a "haunted" gold mine tour, rode the train and acted like outlaws throughout the day. Gwenie wore her Little Mermaid backpack; I wore my Jonas backpack. We were 10 again. Once we were home, we watched Rio Bravo, starring John Wayne, Dean Martin, Walter Brennan and Ricky Nelson. And I've been listening to the above song ever since.

10 comments :

  1. Seriously wonderful photographs. It looks like you had lots of fun.

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  2. Wow beautyfyll picutres!

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  3. Oh wow, Old Tucson, I was there once as a little kid, and they started shooting, not for real of course but I thought it was real and said to my mom "we gotta get out of here" and just dragged her away. I was like 3 years old and not scared, but just trying to protect the family. That story still makes me smile, good memories...

    Didn't the place burn down and got rebuilt? I heard something like that last time I was in the US.

    Anyway, i'm glad you had a good time. I enjoyed the pictures very much! Thanks for posting them!

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  4. Oh my goodness, this sounds amazing!! What an amazing time, I'm glad you were just silly and happy.

    Haunted gold mine tours? Where do I sign?!

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  5. Gosh, I love you America. I really, really want to be a cowgirl in the MidWest. Glad you had such a wonderful time!

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  6. Judging by all of your wonderful photos and whatnot, it definitely sounds like you had a marvelous time during your adventures! I love the toilet seat one, hahaha :D Also, your Little Mermaid and Jonas backpacks sound amazing ;D You're never too old to act like a kid again!

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  7. this is such a great place for photos !
    would be good for cowboy themed stuff :D

    many thanks for the sweet comments .
    visit - follow - comment me
    GLISTERS & BLISTERS
    DONT FORGET TO ENTER MY GIVEAWAY IF YOU'RE AN INDONESIAN RESIDENT HERE!

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  8. Looked like an amazing time, great pictures!

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  9. Ohh I'm glad you had fun ! Love all of the photos , so lovely :D Have a nice weekend dear ! xxoxoxo

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