Oatman, AZ

On Wednesday, the 22nd, we went to Oatman. It's a little town similar to Tombstone, but smaller. The main street was paved, but the sidewalks were wooden, and there was a variety of little shops. The big draw, however, was the wild burros who have occupied the shopping district! Many of the shops sold bags of burro food and carrots to feed them, and the burros weren't shy about approaching you! Some even stood in the middle of the road and wouldn't let traffic pass until they were good and ready. The little ones had stickers on their heads warning people not to feed them because they weren't old enough to digest what was offered. A couple of the babies just laid down to nap in the street. There were gunfights, a music man, a restaurant wallpapered in $1.00 bills, and just a good time! We also traveled a little ways out in the desert to see what was at one time a bordello! (I think my brother-in-law may be leading us astray :)!)

Note the sticker on baby's head! 

Music Man

Interesting wallpaper!

Bordello

After we left Oatman, we decided to travel across the Black Mountains to return to our campground. We passed several mining operations, and a few inactive mines on our way. The road across the mountains is the old Route 66. Amazing to us was that it was the main way to get from one coast to the other "back in the day"! As you'll see in the pics, it was very narrow, and very winding. At one point, we saw some desert big horn sheep, and we stopped somewhere near the top of Ash Mountain, which got it's name from people bringing ashes of loved ones and scattering them on the mountainside.

Route 66 from Ash Mountain

Ash Mountain

I can't believe I'm taking pictures of signs! My dad used to do that when we were on vacation, and I thought he was crazy! LOL :)