In 2013 I went to visit my best friend who moved to Arizona.  While I was there she took me to the small town of Oatman, Arizona.  She knew too well I would LOVE it there – it used to be a gold mining town along Route 66, now it’s a tourist attraction where they have “wild west” shootouts.  Jen knew I would be most interested in seeing the wild burros that come in from the desert where the tourists can feed them.  At night the burros go back into the desert.

Beware – some of the roads we travelled on to get there were not paved and had a TON of bumps and deep holes along the way – be sure you have a spare tire and know how to change a flat – there is not a lot of traffic on these roads!  We actually did get a flat on the way back. and while we were changing it some nice people from AZDOT (Arizona Dept of Transportation) just HAPPENED to be driving the road we were stuck on and helped us out – we were doing ok, but they definitely were able to change it way faster than we could!

The town itself is extremely small with a few touristy shops (have a look at some of the *ahem* interesting names of the shops – trust me when you read ’em you’ll know what I mean!)- almost all of them sell food to feed the burros.  There is not a lot of parking, just sort of find a spot along the road and walk around the town.  When we first got there, we walked up and down the entire street and didn’t see any burros.  I was disappointed and worried that we drove all that way and they wouldn’t be around.  Then off in the distance you could see them wandering in from the desert – it was the coolest thing!  The burros were extremely friendly – like all wild animals there is always a risk of injury, but they were completely content to let us scratch them on the head and back.  Even the young ones were not shy – and yes I did take a selfie with one of the young ones – it was just following me around – we became pals! LOL  🙂

Click here for more history and information on Oatman, AZ.

Oatman sort of reminds me of Assateague Island, but in the desert…and with burros instead of horses.  Anyone else been to any cool places like this?  Let me know so I can go check it out!!!!  🙂