SharivilleLife stories from Shari

Mar. 13, 2010  Saturday

Well here I sit, totally tired.  We started out the day attempting to go to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum.  We even got there before noon, which is pretty good for us.  The place was jammed. Even the overflow parking was being used.  There was a line a mile long just to get into the place.  So we decided to wait until Mon. as the weekend was here. With us we never pay attention to what day it is, that’s the beauty of retirement, until we are forced to as in today.  So we made other plans and went to Old Tucson.  What a great idea that was.  It was busy, but not like the museum.  Its also more money, we got a two for one ticket from the resort here for the museum,we will use it on Mon.

Old Tucson is actually an old movie studio lot.  It’s where many many westerns  were filmed.  So we spent the afternoon touring the place and found it to be fun, interesting and historical. All the tours and exhibits were included in the gate fee.  We ate lunch at Big Jakes BBQ . I had the best ribs, they were so tender they just fell off the bone, with cole slaw and beans and a biscuit and honey, Jerry had a pulled pork sandwich with beans and the best BBQ sauce.  From there it was over to see a film on remembering John Wayne.  It was nostalgic.  Then we took in a comedy stunt show, ” the Treasure of Santa Maria.” really funny. Then of course we had to hit the ice cream parlor, you know how it is, my favorite dessert and all.  I can’t believe they were out of Rocky Road my fav, so I settled for Cherry.  Jerry had his fav, chocolate.  Then another film, ” Where Legends Walk,’ all about some of the movies that were made there on the lot.  Between shows and events there were all sorts of western memorabilia to see all over the lot.  We took some picts and really enjoyed the 72 degree weather.  There was just enough breeze  to make it comfortable in the outdoor shows.  We took the historic tour of Old Tucson, the guide was very knowledgeable.  Some of the boo boos made in some of the movies were pointed out like the 8 communication towers on one of the mountains in the background of an old west western, or the Christmas lights they forget to take down on one of the main buildings in a certain 1800s movie. Funny funny.  We also went into The Grand Palace Saloon to see Miss Kitty’s Can-Can Revue.  That was really a nice show.  Jerry had his picture taken with a couple of the Can Can girls. He was pleased.  We ended the day with a “gunfight,” not a real one of course.  It was The Wild, Wild West-night of the Deadly Tycoon, very action packed and funny.  We were pooped.  Got our exercise today, and got some education too.

For the fans of John Wayne, and we are, did you know that 3 of his movies were made entirely right here in Tucson, at this very  lot we visited. He made over 150 movies as the star and did even more with bit parts.  It was a good feeling to walk the same area where he made, McLintock in 1963, and El Dorado in 1967, and Rio Lobo in 1071. There is a famous mountain here that is in many many movies done here not just westerns.  Its called golden Gate Peak, don’t know where they got that name for here.  All in all it was a very fine day, we didn’t get lost, and that’s always good.   More tomorrow.  Hugs, Shari and Jerry.