Although Fort Sumter is part of the National Park Service, there was not an admission fee. However, the only way to get to the fort is by boat, and the ferry ride does cost money.
The boat ride was similar to other boat tours we had taken. They pointed out other sites and talked about the history of Fort Sumter. There was a Park volunteer on the ride to and from that handed out maps and the Junior Ranger programs and badges.
We had a windy, cold, drizzly kind of day, so the water was a little rougher. Once we were docked, there was a ranger led talk that lasted about 15 minutes and went over the history of why Fort Sumter was built and its role in the Civil War. Even after the Civil War, they upgraded the Battery to keep it as a coastal defense. After the talk, we were free to read all the signs and explore around the fort. However, we only had an hour once we docked before the ship left again. It definitely felt rushed. We definitely could have spent a little more time reading and learning, at least another 1/2 hour to an hour would have been nice.
DETAILS:*
TICKETS: Fort Sumter, $0. Boat rides were $30/adults, $18 ages 4-11. (Our total for 4 adults was $127.20, as there was an additional $7.20 fee on the online booking receipt.) COVID Restrictions: masks required
HOURS: Visitor Center 9:00am-5:00pm (in Charleston). Boat rides vary per season and per location When we went boats departed Liberty Square (Charleston, SC) at 9:30am, 12:15pm, 3:00pm, and Patriots Point (Mount Pleasant, SC) at 10:45 am and 1:45 pm.
PARKING: Pay parking on street or nearby lots. It was $5 for the day at Patriot’s Point, which was where we departed from.
BATHROOM: Yes
TIME RECOMMENDED: 1-2 hours
*Details correct at the time of posting, but please double check before you go.
While Ben and Will were exploring the Bird Cage, Nick and I took the Stagecoach tour. It cost $15 for the two of us (plus a tip).
The tour began at a single person booth next to the sidewalk. It was very easy to miss! There was a step ladder to get up into the coach. Inside, there were two seats on either end and one in the middle. Nick and I had the whole coach to ourselves! It was a little bumpy, but not bad. I imagine the original seats must have been a very bumpy ride.
It was really neat to see the town and hear some interesting history about Tombstone and its buildings. We even went on a couple of side streets and saw the courthouse (which is not on the main street, and we would have missed seeing otherwise). The driver had a headset on and there were speakers inside the coach, which made it was easy to hear him.
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.
Old Tucson used to have a gunfight show. Ben was really looking forward to that, and was very disappointed to learn that Old Tucson was closed. However, we learned that Tombstone still had a daily gunfight show! The OK Corral Gunfight show happens three times daily. Tickets cost $10/person and includes the gun show, the Historama show (a mostly audio show), and a free paper at the Tombstone Epitaph (the newspaper).
You entered the OK Corral building from Allen Street (the main street). To the right was the Historama show, straight ahead was a shop and the place to buy your tickets. Continue straight back and you enter the outdoor space behind the building. There is a lot to see in this space. There were different historical information signs, buggies, historical photos. You could even try roping a steer! There was also a reenactment of the gunfight with statues and a voice recording.
Entering the live show area, there is a town scene to the left and bleachers/risers with a nice awning to the right.
The show is about the famous gunfight at the OK Corral between the Earps and the Clantons/McLaurys. The gunfight does include shooting blanks, so certain parts got a little loud. It also encouraged audience participation with cheers when the good guys came on and boos for the bad guys. We all really enjoyed the show!
We stopped by the Epitaph for our free newspaper. I really enjoyed walking through and seeing all the printing equipment and type sets.
The Historama show (about Tombstone’s history) runs on the hour, so we wandered back to the OK Corral for that show. We were the only ones in the room! There was a stage at the front of the room. A curtain drew back and we saw a diorama. It was cone shaped to look like a mountain. It had three different scenes on it, complete with figures and lights. It rotated to show different scenes and highlighted in lights what the audio was portraying. There was a screen that came down and showed images as well when the diorama was turning.
*I asked for and received permission to use the pictures/video I took of the show from the shop on 11/2/2020.
Our first big adventure in Tucson was going to see Tombstone. We drove out to the town, which was about an about an hour drive from the RV park. There was a lot of on-street parking and a few public parking lots scattered around the edges of the town. From what I saw, it looked like mostly free parking, which is always nice.
We all loved Tombstone. I enjoyed it a lot more than Deadwood. There were more historical buildings, historical markers and signs. It seemed a lot more family friendly, as there was so much to do and see (and not a casino in sight!). The Chamber of Commerce and Tombstone Visitor Center had free maps of the town.
There were a few shows and tours around town. We crammed a lot into one day, so we’re going to do a short series of Tombstone posts!
The main street of Tombstone is Allen Street. The historical main street was closed off at either end so cars could not drive down the street (although in a few spots they could cross over the main street).
There were a lot of neat shops in the area and we picked up a few things for Christmas, as well as some postcards.
We enjoyed a delicious dinner at Big Nose Kate’s Saloon. The bar and restaurant are on the main floor. In the middle of the floor, there was a really cool spiral staircase going to the basement. There was a small shop down there with souvenir type things. The food prices were a little high on some things, but not too bad considering it is a tourist stop. A lemonade (came in a Solo cup, but had a refill) was $2.50, a large beer was $8 (offered a large or the “sippy cup” size), sampler appetizer platter was $15.99.
There was so much history to learn about, it was fun for all of us. I loved that the kids were having so much fun, that they were actually reading signs and learning. (To be fair, Will always wants to read the signs.) I would definitely recommend checking out Tombstone if you are in the area. (I will say that when we were there, most things closed at 5:00pm. We could have spent a lot more time there.)
We had always turned left out of the campground to head into Moab. This time Ben wanted to turn right and see what was the other way.
After driving for a little bit, we came across the Hole N” The Rock. It’s hard to miss with a Jeep sitting on top of the rock and huge white letters painted on the rock face. We stopped in and walked around the outside. They have a petting zoo, a couple of stores (souvenir/gift shop type of stores), and a few wacky outside decorations. There is also the “hole in the rock”, which is a house built into the rock. It started as a homesteading site in the 1940’s. A couple dug out their home in the side of the sandstone. They created a diner that catered to local miners and later added a gift shop. There is a 12 minute tour of the inside of the house for $6.50/person.
They didn’t have electricity in the house until the 1960’s! The inside is incredible, and just goes to show what people can do when they don’t have video games (Ben’s pep talk to the boys to encourage them to do more instead of playing on electronics.). The house is quirky and honestly, they must have been bored out of their minds with no electricity to get it all done. The bathtub itself is carved out of the rock, which is pretty cool to see.
I would say it is worth the side trip if you are near Moab (it is maybe 15-20 minutes from town). We did not go to the petting zoo, just took the house tour and browsed the stores and the outside grounds.
After the tour, we went back towards Moab and stopped at Lop’s Pop Stop (a soda stand). The boys tried Gummy Bear water (made with fruit juice and puree) and I tried a Happy Camper soda.
We were getting a little hungry and saw a local diner (Milt’s Stop & Eat) that was crowded, so we gave it a try. We ordered an onion ring, fries, cheeseburgers, and one cheeseburger with fried bacon and an egg on top. Everything was very tasty. We continued further into town and stumbled upon a local outdoor market. They had puppies to pet, so I got my dog fix in! We got some groceries and headed home.
Today was a play around day, nothing too strenuous. I looked up some more quirky things to see near Rapid City, SD. (Rapid City because it was a bigger town close to the campground (40 minutes away) and had a Walmart for groceries.)
First stop: World’s Largest Quarter-Pounder outside a Rapid City McDonald’s. Of course, we had to get quarter pounders to pose with it! It’s been years since I’ve had McDonald’s burgers.
What the inscription means per Google translate box
Tire Man: A man made of red, white and blue painted tires at a car shop. This was just a quick stop, jump in and out for the picture.
Dinosaur Park (free). This isn’t a huge park, although it is on top of a hill and there are some steps. The park also has a visitor center, but we didn’t go in. The dinosaurs are made from concrete. There are still signs labeling the dinosaurs, but some of them were hard to read. The park was made in 1936. The boys got a kick out of seeing the dinosaurs.
More of the Will and Large Objects series.
Before heading to get groceries, we stopped at Mostly Chocolates, a drive through coffee and chocolate menu! How could you go wrong? I got a mocha and dark chocolate pecan caramels.
We stopped for groceries. It’s always a challenge to go grocery shopping. There are signs in South Dakota “recommending” wearing masks, but very few people are. The grocery store is normally a big grocery game of frogger. Today was really bad, so we actually left before we bought everything we wanted.
Sunday, fun day! Well…a little bit of fun mixed in with a lot of driving.
Tonight as I am writing this, I am exhausted. It was a long day of driving, with some tourist stops thrown in. I got a few blog posts started tonight as well. I had made notes, but hadn’t had a chance to sit down and write things out for posting until now.
Another early morning travel day, this time we finished up heading towards Mt. Rushmore. We had things mostly packed last night and were just going to empty the fresh water tanks (since we would have full hookups) and the black and grey tanks. The black tank valve handle had been in the same position since we bought it. It could be pulled open, but not shut any further, so we thought that was the closed position. Nope. Big stinky nope. Poor Ben. He got sprayed with the black tank before managing to somehow get the valve actually shut all the way. We had the water hose out, so he could spray down and change clothes, but what a shitty start to the day. (Pun intended.)
After cleaning up the area and Ben, we were finally on our way. We had lots of hours of driving to get in so we could arrive at our next stop. The whole point of this trip is to learn and to see things we haven’t seen before, so we did make a couple of stops along the way.
Our first touristy stop was at the Corn Palace. Yes, you read that right. The Corn Palace. It’s another quirky place we found online. It has an interesting history, with American entrepreneurial spirit behind it. Today, it is a permanent building in the downtown of this small town and is decorated each year with a new design. The decoration is made out of corn! Different colors of dried corn are used to create patterns and murals. It was rather busy on the inside (again with limited mask wearing), so we mostly admired the outside. There is a video presentation, but with so many people crowding around, we didn’t stay to watch it.
Among our hours and hours of driving, we had seen signs for Wall Drug. (I think we started seeing signs in Iowa.) We had seen probably a hundred signs?! They ranged from banal (Wall Drug ahead) to outrageous (YOLO Wall Drug). In a testament to the tough character of the people of South Dakota, Wall Drug’s marketing never stopped. For literally hundreds of miles in either direction, they broke up the somewhat boring drive with focused, fairly low cost advertising. Along with being funny, you just have to respect the tenacity.
It turned out Wall Drug was on our way to the next campground. So, another win for Wall Drug advertising. We decided to stop and we were glad we did.
It was crazy! We tried to see as much as we could in an hour, but we probably could have spent the better part of a day there. There were a bunch of little shops (bookstores, camping supplies, fudge, ice cream, cafe, souvenir, etc.), a chapel, a splash pad…There was free water near the splash pad, a tribute going back to when the store offered free ice water to travelers in the 30’s. It wasn’t ice cold, but it was cool. We bought some donuts and a slice of cherry pie to share. We also tried the $0.05 coffee. It was actually good coffee! Ben liked it so much, he bought another cup. 🙂
RVer NOTE: Stop for gas before the Wall exit if you have a larger RV and/or are towing and need to refuel. There were two gas stations right near the highway exit/entrance, but neither were set up for larger vehicles. The next exit had 1 broken diesel pump. Finally at exits 60 or 61, we found diesel and spaces large enough for us.
We got to see part of the Badlands on our drive. The change in scenery was amazing and beautiful. Ben and I were talking about the settlers who came through. To get all the way there and see just more vast open space, somebody must have just said “Nope. I’m done. Not going anymore.” The sheer amount of openness is daunting to think about crossing on a horse or on foot.
We checked into our campground and Ben finally got to put up his netted pop-up room/clam shell/tent. We got situated, set up, and ready to relax. Our spot is great. It has an amazing view of the mountains and it’s nicely shaded. The laundry room isn’t too far and the pool is open. The boys are excited to go swimming.
