The Roads of Life Revisited
With the kids birthday coming up, Keith wanted to celebrate their birthday with their mom. So the day before their birthday, I drove him down to let him stay the week.
Since the kids were going to be busy with getting their decorations up and to celebrate with their friends on their birthday, I made different plans.
I stayed in Mesquite that night, and then planned on driving another way so I would stay in Ely, Nevada the next night, and then officially home the third day. I wasn’t visiting anyone, just taking a different way home to see this great big colorful world by site seeing and capturing photos along the way… and boy did I see some interesting things that I will definitely need to revisit!
Like I said, I spent the night in Mesquite. Before the sun went down, I drove north into Arizona along the old Highway 91 and across the Sand Hollow Wash Bridge to capture sunset photos. It was my muse.
In the morning when heading out, I stopped by to give the kids their birthday cards from family and to wish them a Happy Birthday. I didn’t stay long because they still had a few things to do before their parties… but we did take a quick family photo for keepsake. That is their grandma’s dog, if you are wondering.
My first stop was the Meadow Massacre Memorial. To read what happened there gives you chills as you are in the area. I stopped at the main memorial location, thinking it all happened there. Turns out, this memorial is on a hill top and you can look down to the locations below where the events took place and the memorials for both Men and Women.
Since I didn’t have time to check them out this time (plus a dirt road to the Men’s Memorial), I continued driving onward.
I continued on the road until I reached the Utah-Nevada border for a few photos, then continued on my way.
My first big stop in Nevada was at the Moon Caves in the Cathedral Gorge State Park next to Highway 93 (the loneliest road in America… and boy are they are not joking). This place is just north of Panaca, NV, and if you didn’t know they were there, you would drive right by them.
Because of the heat (even with hat on) and lunchtime coming soon, I didn’t spend too long walking around and through all the narrow canyons slots.
One thing I found interesting is that the further you walk into some of the slots/canyons, the temperature just suddenly drops (60-70° F), as if I was walking through a random cold spot. It also felt so good since that days temperature was over 100°.
Plus, if you want to walk/squeeze through them and to reach the end of each one, you need to be healthy because some spots I barely squeezed through them without damaging anything.
SLIDESHOW
After admiring these dirt creations, I continued on my way to Pioche, NV. I ended up stopping to take photos of a former mine head at the top of the street (south part of town).
Supposedly one of the hotels in town is haunted (it was seen on Ghost Adventures), but I never stopped inside.
I tried to get lunch at the popular little diner in town, but since they had equipment failure, they had to close for the day… darn. So I grabbed supplies to make sandwiches from the little grocery store next door and carried on my way on the road.
Tip (for those of you who are mainly digital now) if you ever travel Highway 93, or visit anyplace with little to no internet/data connection while traveling… make sure you have some music available (streaming may not be available), and Google Maps lets you download offline map data of the area you are visiting if you ever need to find your way back to safety. Luckily, I was okay.
On my way to Ely, I spotted a farm with a classic wind mill and pulled over to get photographs up close. I love how the birds are just sitting there chilling, while rays shine down in the back ground and on Ward Mountain.
I continued on my way into Ely, checked into my motel, and then headed over to the Nevada Northern Railway Museum to try and get photos.
I haven’t been here since age 15 during a family trip. I swear my parents took a picture of us four kids (my 3 other siblings and I) while we were at the NNRY (their letters for station), I’d love to see that photo again. Plus, this is where my streak of catching items with a claw machine all began when I won my bro a plush at the motel we stayed at.
Flash back to now… There was a fundraiser event going on near the loading docks, plus with only one train engine nearby, I didn’t get the types of photos I was hoping I would get like other locomotive photos I’ve seen.
I did notice that there is excursions to ride in a car while being pulled by original locomotives while seeing the area, but I would love to do that with my kids.
Quick note about the third photo: I took this picture by taking it through a window pane. It shows a flashback to June 1983, the month the railroad ran it’s last train before the town acquired the railway area after to help with tourism.
By this time, I was starving, and so I grabbed fast food on my way out to the Ward Charcoal Ovens a few miles south of Ely. I reached the ovens and snapped a few daytime photos.
Because storm clouds were heading my way from the west, it blocked my chance of capturing very colorful clouds over the area I was at during the sunset hour that night.
After an hour of walking around, capturing photos, even experimented with creating a 3D renderings of Oven #4… I headed back to Ely since it was getting dark. If there were no clouds/storms that night, I would have stayed to get night photos of the ovens and stars… maybe, one day.
The final part of this trip and the end of month excitement in Southern Utah again in the next post…
And remember, I don’t post all the pictures here. You can always see these photos and a few more photos on my photographs page.
