One more Tucson post, for now. We went to visit Old Tucson, which is a movie set/movie museum/amusement park of sorts. If you've ever watched the original "Wild, Wild West", "The High Chapparal", "The Big Valley", "Bonanza", "The Little House on the Prairie" or almost any John Wayne movie, you've seen something filmed at Old Tucson. The place was set up in 1939 (IIRC) and was used for movie shooting for many years; there was a bad fire in the mid-1990's, but they've rebuilt where necessary and have museums with mementos that did not burn in the fire. They still shoot movies there: 3 this year, and 3 scheduled for next year. They have at least one 'living museum' sort of person, who does leatherwork - keeping the tack in shape for the horses that draw wagons through town, and keeping costumes in order. She enjoyed telling us about their research to be true to the time of a particular show, and how those in the know enjoy catching anachronisms in movie costumes.
You can see fairly well documented information about the history of the Wild West, along with replicas or original artifacts. There's some wonderful Indian beadwork and jewelry associated with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and Chief Sitting Bull. Now I can't remember whether any of it came from the characters in question or from that time, but it's impressive either way. You can see costumes and posters from TV shows and movies shot there. You can visit a railroad museum with a telegraph (try your hand at Morse Code here, pick up the message there) and photos of early mining camps in the area.
It's an interesting place to wander, and it has its share of kitsch. Instead of stop signs where visitors should not trespass, they have signs like "Whoa, Pardner!" They have a Saloon/Dance Hall where the performers are presumably earning their chops for careers dancing or singing. They're pretty good, but tend to overact. There are staged shootouts and skits on the streets.
The staff try to steer you in the direction to see said shootouts, with a caution to 'be careful'. We wandered through the Chinese Alley and were warned, after we got through (with nobody in sight) that we were lucky to get through without trouble. Darn, I'd been hoping to find someone to explain the exotic (fake) foods in the market stalls. The gentleman telling us that was trying to get us to come pan for gold. 
Some of the places are shops where you can buy merchandise, food or drink, but others are show pieces. We were taken with their 'winery' and liquor store.
The sign below made us wonder whether some of the product really does go to the places in question (all of which are real food and drink vendors there) but we suspect it was more for show; the ramp didn't seem really set up for regular commerce.
We wandered around trying to decide where to eat. There was a pizza place with some excellent-looking sandwiches, wings and the like.
In the end, we went for Big Jake's.
At first we assumed that the restaurant was supposed to belong to John Wayne, but as we wandered and looked we learned that "Big Jake" is the name of the smoker. Maybe it was named for a John Wayne character.
At any rate, we do love our 'cue and smoked meats, so in we went. We settled on a sampler platter to share.
This monster plate included 2 sausages, enough brisket for a meal in itself, a half-rack of ribs, cole slaw and a biscuit. It was more than even two of us should have managed, but we tried. My picture of the ribs didn't do them justice (too blurry). They were maybe a touch too chewy, but the bones came out dry and the flavor was excellent. The brisket was perfect even before adding sauce, and the sausage was the stuff we'd love to learn to make. We took home leftovers. I don't remember whether they lasted the night.
We waddled back home to our campsite and took a roundabout route so that the mile's walk came closer to 2 miles. It wasn't enough to offset the calories, but it was an enjoyable walk.
