Saturday, April 11, 2015

Oatman, Arizona

Oatman, Arizona is an old mining town between Kingman and Lake Havasu City, reached via old Route 66.  Walking Main Street is like returning to the Old West...in fact scenes from How the West Was Won were filmed there.  The Oatman Hotel, where Clark Gable and Carole Lombard spent their honeymoon in 1939, is still there, and serves as a sort of museum. Old buildings now serve as tourist shops and art galleries; gun fights between gold robbers and the sheriff still occur on Main Street (courtesy of actors who perform there); the saloons still serve drinks and food. 

However, the main attraction in town are the wild burros. These burros are thought to be descendents of burros who worked the mines, then were released when mines folded and miners left the area. Now they wander into town from the nearby hills and meander among the tourists. Hay pellets sold by several of the business folks will have these "wild burros" eating out of your hand in no time! 

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