Tombstone

It's hard to believe that it was over a year ago that we drove down to Tombstone and then back up to see San Xavier del Bac, or "The White Dove of the Desert".  It was one of those impromptu trips where we woke up in the morning and decided to go!  It was quite a drive, doing it all in one day, but what a fun day it was. :)

"A" Mountain

Cool cloud formations

We're here!

Court House now a State Park museum. The kids earned their Jr. Ranger badge here.

 

 They look a little too happy for the gallows.

 

 Court room

After leaving Tombstone we headed back north to the mission.

 

On our way to San Xavier del Bac Mission

Can you imagine traveling through the hot, dry desert and seeing this in the distance.  What a welcome site it must have brought to many travelers.

 

It's incredibly ornate

Pretty details on the windows

The mission was amazing. Almost every surface had some type of ornamentation, whether it was painted or guilded, or plastered in some design, the whole place was just beautiful.  They still hold Mass here regularly. :)  We went to the museum next door where there were artifacts and the history of the museum.

Illuminated Writing 

My two oldest had learned about Illuminated writing through their school work so it was neat to see some original work.

Cool wood roof on the patio

R and J sitting in a window well.  (they're wearing their Jr. Ranger badges ;) )

You can see how thick the walls are from this picture.

Some Indian Fry Bread on the way out - Yum!

We left the mission and headed back north into Tucson for dinner. A funny thing about our drive back up the freeway is every exit off the freeway to go into Tucson proper was closed!  We got a big chuckle out of that.  It was as if they were saying, "Sorry, Tucson is closed for the evening." I'm sure there were ways into the city if you knew your way around off the freeway, but we don't and we didn't put much effort into trying.  So, just north of town we saw a restaurant and stopped.  I can't remember where we ate now.  I think it was a Texas Roadhouse? It was good and filled a need - Food for our "starving" children. ;)

 While we were in Tombstone we bought, My Darling Clementine and the kids watched it on the ride home.  They loved the movie! 

 By the time we were heading by Picacho Peak, the sun was setting.  It was a beautiful sunset and a perfect ending to a really fun, impromptu vacation.