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Tucson is a small city in the southern Arizona desert
Tucson (pronounced Too-sawn) is small city located in southern Arizona about 100 miles south of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the Mexican border. It is situated on a flat desert valley nearly surrounded by barren, rugged mountains. Like Phoenix, it has become a retirement community for elderly citizens that appreciate the year-round warm weather and inexpensive living. It is less congested than Phoenix and well situated for tourists wishing to explore the many surrounding attractions.
The climate in Tucson is always dry with temperatures ranging from warm to extremely hot. The city normally receives less than 25 cm of rainfall per year. Daytime temperatures can exceed 45 deg. C during the Summer with a much more pleasant 20 - 25 deg. C during the winter months. High tourist season extends from November through March. Fall and Spring are good times to visit this area if you want to avoid the tourist crowds.
Giant Saguaro cactuses abound in this desert
The surrounding desert is filled with giant Saguaro cactuses that stand up to 10 meters high. (pronounced Sa-war-owe) You can drive through forests of these cactuses or hike the many trails in Saguaro National Park located just outside of the city. The Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum, located about 15 miles west of the city near Old Tucson at the southern entry to Saguaro National Park, is a great place to experience the flora and fauna of the surrounding desert. It is open 8:30AM until 6PM daily and admission costs about $9.
Mike Meets Wyatt in Tombstone
©USATourist.com
Old Tucson is a simulated western town originally constructed as a film set for cowboy movies. Today it is a theme park with entertainment, restaurants, gift shops and many actors dressed in western costumes. It is open daily from 10AM until 5PM. Admission is about $15. It can be great fun to experience this tourist oriented cowboy theme park, but I think Tombstone is much more authentic.
Tombstone is an authentic old-west town
Tombstone, Arizona is an hour-and-half drive from Tucson across the desert and into the sparsely populated rangelands that still support numerous cattle ranches. It is an authentic, old-west, gold-mining town best known as the site of the "Gunfight at the OK Corral". Main street has been restored as it was in 1881 when Wyatt and Virgil Earp along with Doc Holliday killed Billy Clanton and the McLaury brothers in the famous shootout at the OK Corral. Most of the old buildings now contain restaurants, gift shops and tourist attractions, and the OK Corral has been enclosed and converted to a museum. Along the streets, actors in western costumes promote gunfight shows, old-west museums, saloons and stagecoach tours of the town. You can visit "Boot Hill", the graveyard at the edge of the town where 250 residents of Tombstone were buried, most of them murdered, killed by Apache Indians, shot in gunfights, lynched or legally hanged. Billy Clanton and the McLaury brothers are buried there. Tombstone is very tourist oriented, but it is an authentic old west town well worth seeing. There is no admission charge to visit the town or Boot Hill.
Written by: Mike Leco
Top Photo: Tucson Skyline by Steve Renzi © Metropolitan Tucson Convention & Visitors Bureau
