Epic Road Trip Extravaganza Winter 2010 Gala Celebration Party Oh-Ten Day 7

We awoke several times throughout the night to the pitter-patter of train wheels, the accompanying whistle, and the clang of an old heater trying to turn off. Eventually, the increasingly annoying sound of rain roused us in the morning and we were off once again.

Alamobamba was good to us, all in all, and we left in good spirits despite the weather. Our first stop was the White Sands National Monument, or as Kristen appropriately put it that day, Wet Sands. The cool thing about White Sands, besides the accompanying nuclear testing site, is that it is a 240 square mile pile of white sand dunes plopped oh-so-randomly in...the desert. Yes, sand in the desert. I guess since it's white that it warrants a whole national monument to it.

I think it would have been cooler if it wasn't raining. Don't get me wrong, it was still cool. I don't care what those Africans say about their giant desert.

So, we continued on and not ten minutes after we stepped on sandy dunes, we drove through a friggin' blizzard in the mountains. I told you New Mexico was diverse. The blizzard only lasted ten minutes itself and then it cleared up for about an hour.

Before passing into Arizona, we hit up St. Clair Winery--the largest in New Mexico. Probably because it is only 1 of 2. It was surprisingly good and I'm sending a bottle home to mother. You could say it was good enough to write home about.


So, Arizona has some pretty crazy scenery. I thought that New Mexico and Arizona would be pretty much the same type of arid climate, and that pretty much is true, but Arizona has some weirder rock formations that would give it an edge if the two states ever got into a bar fight.

We hit up Tombstone first, because we had to get our Ol' Western fix. Historic Allen Street fit the bill perfectly, complete with covered wooden walkways and all the cheesy Western shops you could ever want. Since it was so shitty out, the guy gave us a discount on the OK Corral tickets. I can't imagine the disappointment those who paid full price must feel. It was real cheesy. It had anamatronic gun fighters, to give you an idea.
Still, we got to see the exact spot (which, for some reason has been subject to change) where the Earps and Doc Holliday battled it out with them rascally outlaws. Also, we got to see a prostitute's house, or a "crib" as they called it back then. I knew the cool kids were stealing their slang. I just knew it! The hookers were called "soiled doves" which I really got a kick out of.

We had dinner at Big Nose Kate's Saloon, which was an original building where the Earps hung out. Big Nose Kate was Doc Holliday's main squeeze (as well as everyone else's in town, being a soiled dove and all). Anyway, seeing a picture of her, I can't imagine business would be booming. Her pizza was good though. Don't make an innuendo out of that, please.

So we ended our day in Tucson. It took us a while to find a room because there is a damn gem show in town and all the hotels were booked. I now hereby boycott all jewelry sales. I will now turn over any Native American jewelry stands that I may encounter from here on out. Final word.