Arizona - Scottsdale Oldtown

The Old Town in Scottsdale is a fun place to walk through.  It tries to retain that feel of the Old West with wooden plank flooring and gnarled wooden poles.  Rusty Spur Saloon dates back to the 1920s and is advertised as the "last real cowboy saloon in Scottsdale".  A "cowboy" and his horse are parked in front to extend the illusion.  I heard the cowboy declare in mock jealousy, "Sure, everyone wants to pat the horse ...".

The Scottsdale Historical Museum was a good place to get some perspective on the history and culture of Scottsdale in the late 1800s.  Housed in the old Red Brick Schoolhouse, there is a mockup of a classroom and a list of Teachers' Rules to Live By.  Examples include "After 10 hours in school, teachers may spend the remaining time reading the bible", and "Any teacher who uses liquor of any form, frequents pool halls, or gets shaved in a barber shop will give reasons to suspect his honesty". 

No vacation would be complete for Rich without wandering through an old church.  The Old Adobe Mission is the oldest church in Scottsdale and was totally hand-made by the congregation including the bricks and the stainglass windows.  The church went out of use in the 1950s and was going torn down but now has been saved and is being restored.  The stainglass windows went missing for many years but were recently found stored away in some local resident's basement.

And of course, there are plenty of souvenir shops  as well as public scupltures of Southwest art.