I have zero expectations when we arrive at old Tucson. I didn’t even know it was a movie studio set. I thought it was an older part of town. We are only here because our waitress at dinner said we should come.

I am taken aback by the haunted house advertisements and the excessive fake spider webs. What is this place? Why did we pay $50.00 for a guided tour? I feel cheated before we even enter. I may be the youngest person on the tour and even I am retired.

We are met by a historian dressed in cowboy costume. Yes, he is an actual historian who serves as consultant for the Westerns that are shot on this lot. He is also a movie buff. Best of all he is delightfully entertaining. I felt myself relaxing into his stories. This man knows his Westerns.

As we walk the dusty streets, I begin to smile. I have watched a lot of Westerns. My grandpa had all of John Wayne’s movies on vhs. There was always one playing, unless Grandma had managed to find a Cardinal’s baseball game. My other Grandpa was more likely watch Gunsmoke or Little House on the Prairie. You might say I was raised on Westerns. To this day, I turn on Wagon Train or another classic while I do laundry.

As we walked, I realized most of the shows I remembered were filmed here. Built in 1939 for the movie Arizona (1940), it has been used for the filming location of many movies and television westerns since then, such as Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), Rio Bravo (1959), El Dorado(1966), Little House on the Prairie TV series of the 1970s–1980s, the film Three Amigos!(1986), The High Chaparral (1967 to 1971) and the popular film Tombstone (1993). Our guide shared that over 500 productions were shot on these streets.

I stood under the porch where Glenn Ford pulled his six shooter. I walked where John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara fought. I saw the church where a massacre at a wedding started a march toward the ok corral. As I walked I realized that the bridge and the buildings were in almost all the movies I have watched. How did I not notice they were the same? I guess there is something to be said for movie magic.

I found myself quoting lines from movies as we walked. Of course I had to do the Three Amigo salute in the town square. I turned circles on the town board walk looking for the bad guys. I was distracted by the fact that Bonanza, Wagon Train, Rawhide, and Gunsmoke were all shot here. I mean … I was standing in the Long Branch! Grandpa would have passed out already. So many memories.

Before I knew it, it was time to go. I was wistful. I could see the church and the water tank in the distance. We passed the train depot where countless scenes have played out. I was not ready to leave and yet all good things must come to an end.

There was only one thing left to do. I must go back to the RV and find Young Guns and the Sacketts and at least one John Wayne. My husband will have to endure a Western movie marathon. I have a whole childhood to recapture. He likely won’t understand. But like John Wayne says in McClintock, “Pilgrim, don’t tell me. Show me.” Maybe I can win over my favorite greenhorn if I show him enough movies. If not, at least I have Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott to keep me company.