Oatman, the charming town overrun by donkeys!
Oh boy, what an entertaining stop on our Route 66 road trip. Oatman is an old mining town that was nearly deserted after mining ceased and a new highway was built. It was long known as a ghost town until tourism brought it back to life.
Upon arriving in town and opening our car doors, we were greeted by a herd of donkeys. These donkeys are descendants of the ones used by miners as work animals, left behind when the town was abandoned. Nowadays, the donkeys are part of the town’s regular scenery, freely roaming the streets as if they own the place.
The donkeys are very gentle and used to tourists; you can feed them by purchasing a small bag of donkey food from the town store. When they hear the rustle of the bag, the donkeys come trotting over quite eagerly. This was one of the most enjoyable experiences of our visit. While feeding the donkeys, you can pet them and even snap a cute selfie. Whether the donkey’s expression is a smile or a grimace, that’s for everyone to decide ๐
The town exudes an old-world charm and inevitably brings to mind scenes from old Western movies. The main street where the town is essentially located features shops, a post office, a saloon, and more.
One interesting spot is the Oatman Hotel. This old hotel building, now functioning as a restaurant/bar and gift shop, is unique because of its interior. The restaurant’s walls are lined with one-dollar bills, on which visitors have been leaving messages for years. Famous names like Ronald Reagan have been spotted here, so of course, we left our own message on a dollar bill and pinned it to the wall. So, remember to bring a dollar bill for this visit and leave your mark in the “guestbook.”
The town also hosts daily Wild West gunfights. During the event held twice a day, spectators are asked to step aside from the street and make way for the duel.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t happening during our visit for some reason, but it would have been really fun to see the performance, adding another layer of excitement to the town visit.
However, this didn’t detract from or leave our visit incomplete in any way because Oatman was truly an entertaining experience and one of the best memories of the entire trip!
So, Oatman is definitely not to be missed; we absolutely recommend stopping here for at least an hour or two.
