Tag: self guided tour

Posted in: Animal Sightings, Exploring Florida, Hiking, Museums & Tours, School, Sightseeing

Fort Zachary Taylor State Park (Key West, Florida): Swimming and Cannons

Written by tepetravels 1 Comment on Fort Zachary Taylor State Park (Key West, Florida): Swimming and Cannons

We went to Fort Zachary Taylor State Park to enjoy the beach. The park does charge admission ($6 per car of 2-8 people, plus a $0.50 charge for each person, so it was $8 for the 4 of us).

The beach parking lot was an easy walk to the restrooms and beach area. The water was gorgeous with its various shades of blues. The sun was shining and it was a great morning. There was sand towards the water, but a lot of the beach was rockier than we expected. Key West does have a coral reef which protects the island from having bigger waves, which probably also keeps it from getting a lot of fine sand. The water was also a little cold, even though the temperatures had been in the upper 80’s!

The boys enjoyed swimming, but Ben and I mostly waded. I enjoyed sitting at a picnic table in the shade watching the small lizards climbing the trees and the kids playing in the water. We didn’t have a bucket, but the boys made a double walled sand moat for a cone shaped sand “castle”.

After swimming and getting changed, we headed towards the front of the park and explored the Fort area. The fort was pretty cool. It had cannons, a self-guided tour (pamphlet and audio option), and lots of neat information.

On our way out, we had our only iguana sighting! He/she was on the side of the Fort.

The Fort had such a neat shape to it, but it was hard to capture on camera without having a drone. I would definitely check it out if you are at the park, especially if you have any history buffs in your group!

Note: Get there early in the day. We left around lunch time and the beach parking lot was full. There were still some spots in the lot by the Fort, but it looked like the gate was turning cars away.

DETAILS:*

  • TICKETS: No tickets, but park admission fees. Single occupancy car/motorcycle $4.50, Car with 2-8 passengers $6 plus $0.50/person, pedestrian or bicycles or extra passengers $2.50.
  • HOURS: 8:00 am to sundown, Fort closes at 5:00pm
  • PARKING: Parking near beach and fort
  • BATHROOM: Yes
  • TIME RECOMMENDED: 1-3 hours, depending on how long you like to swim. We spent an hour at the Fort.
  • *Details correct at the time of posting, but please double check before you go.
Posted in: Exploring Arizona, Museums & Tours, Sightseeing, YouTube Video Link

The Bird Cage Theater (Tombstone, Arizona)

Written by tepetravels 1 Comment on The Bird Cage Theater (Tombstone, Arizona)

There were many things to do in Tombstone, besides walking around and shopping. There were a few different kinds of tours. We wanted to take in all of them, but honestly didn’t want to spend that much money.

To see the two tours that we were interested in, we split up. Ben and Will did the Bird Cage Theater self-guided walking tour. It was $28 for the two of them.

The Bird Cage was built in 1881 and is the only original building in Tombstone. It wasn’t destroyed in either of the town’s fires.

The Bird Cage theater was an entertainment venue that provided all of the entertainment that you could want in the Old West. Part bar, part brothel, part theater (variety shows, singers and dancers) and part gambling hall (faro and poker) it must have been quite the site in it’s heyday. Even 139ish years later, it is remarkable.

The front room had a large painting of a belly dancer, complete with bullet holes and a knife slash from drunken rowdy patrons. The theater lays claim to some 154 bullet holes throughout. Will couldn’t find them all, but had fun trying. To the left in the front room is is the original wooden bar (it’s gorgeous).

They have converted the main area of the theater and backstage into a museum of relevant time based artifacts. You can see historic rifles, dentistry equipment, gambling devices, chamber pots, mining equipment, and so much more. The museum even contains the last known model of the hearse pictured below, The Black Moriah, currently valued at over $2,000,000 due to its rarity.

One of the craziest parts of this tour was Ben learned what a “crib” is. They had 14 box seating type areas overlooking the theater where soiled doves would entertain their gentlemen callers. Each crib had curtains that could be drawn as needed for some privacy. Everyone in Tombstone seemed to understand these terms. But we had no idea. Ben doesn’t like being embarrassed or ignorant and thus came back from the tour with a new history book from there bookstore (Upstairs Girls: Prostitution in the American West by Michael Rutter*). It was certainly an interesting read. Although it will likely not make the bookcase when we get home.

The Bird Cage served the longest running poker game in history (8+ years!). The buy-in was $1,000 (approximately $25,000 in current value). They continuously had at least 4 players at the table for that whole time. The current museum claims to have the room laid out with the mirrors and poker tables in the same locations as they originally were. Not sure how that would work as the player to the dealers right would have had quite the advantage seeing a sloppy player’s hole cards in the mirror.

Ben and Will had a great time learning about the old west, since it was a self guided tour and they both like to read. Nick and my tour was over and Nick fell asleep waiting for them in the courtyard outside the Theater museum. They certainly got their money’s worth.

VIDEO: Walking Through The Bird Cage Theater. I would have had a better video, but when I was working on fixing Ben’s phone I accidentally deleted the longer video from the main front room. *Verbal permission given to use video and photographs by the shop on 11/2/2020.

*Affiliate link

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