Stanton, Mountain View and Wickenburg

This past Monday we drove to Stanton, a ghost town that is being restored by the mining company that purchased it. Our purpose for going there was to visit Jean and Willard, members of the Class of '05. Willard is very much into looking for gold among other items and the mining company has a full hookup campground at the ghost town, so they choose to spend their winters there, among all the gold diggers and rockhounders. Wouldn't be a bad place except the road back is about 6 miles of very rough washboard dirt road. I don't think I want to take the MS back that road.

We had a very enjoyable day with Jean and Willard. They showed us all around the ghost town and Willard kept us entertained and educated with the history of the town and the scrupulous characters who lived there - especially Charlie Stanton, who the town is now named after. Here are some pictures of Stanton.....

This was the hotel - it had seven rooms if I remember right...



This was one of the stage coach stops, there were two in town, but it is said that this one had the best food! It's now the campground office.....



A leaning outhouse.....



After a delicious lunch of ham sandwiches, baked beans, potato salad, and cherry cobbler for dessert, Willard show us his equipment that he uses looking for gold. I have to tell you that he has done well in finding some very nice nuggets. We also had a visit from the communities oldest resident, I think his name was Ben and he is 91. What a hoot! He claims he's seen his book of life and it has 432 pages filled with information from this life and his past lives. Like I said, he is a hoot!

Here's Willard......



While we were sitting around talking, Willard spotted a Roadrunner. Well I grabbed my camera and tried to get it's picture. Elusive little devil, but I did finally get one where you can see him!

Look on the road between the trees......



We want to thank Jean and Willard for a wonderful day and great hospitality.

Tuesday we took a drive on Hwy 89 to Yarnell. Wow, what a ride it was. The road is built on the side of a mountain and is actually split with the south bound lanes being higher up than the north bound ones.

A view showing the "up" and "down" lanes....



Another view.....



A view from close to the top - the white spot way off is North Ranch - the Escapees park that we are staying at.....



Yarnell is a spot on the road, one of those that if you blink you'll miss it. Saw two interesting buildings there. You can see them in the following pictures......

Buzzards Roost.......



And I wonder what they might be????



Wednesday we went to Wickenburg. After stopping the Chamber of Commerce office for some info, we visiting the museum in town. For a small town, it was a very nice museum. A lot of items pertaining to the old west, a area with rocks and minerals, an exhibit of Grand Canyon art and in the basement, a replica of what Wickenburg would have been like back in the 1800's.

I didn't take any pictures - why - I don't know! We ate lunch in town which didn't sit well with me so we came back home without doing anymore touring. I wanted to go to Vulture Mine, but will have to make it some other time.

Tomorrow we are moving to Big River, CA which is across the river from Parker, AZ. It is supposed to be warmer there and Dean and I are both ready for warm. It's going down to 29 tonight - burrrrr......

Picture of a Palm Tree - Or Is It?

Saw several of these "perfect" palm trees around the Mesa area.

Does anyone know what kind of plant this is? Thought the flower was different, at least to me.

A Day Around Scottsdale and vicinity

This past Tuesday, Dean and I went to visit some friends of my fathers, Art and Maryanne Rhoades. They moved from Harrisburg, PA to Scottsdale around 20 years ago for health reasons. I remember them from my much younger years.

We were given a half day tour around Scottsdale including lunch at Neiman Marcus. Saw a robe there that I really liked - had a fur like material on the inside and satin outside. It was only $280.00. Dean told me to buy two - LOL.

For those who check my blog back in PA and know them, here is a picture of Art and Maryanne.


This park is dedicated to Barry Goldwater. There were many city parks that had ponds, running tracks and more. Seems they are into saving green space in Scottsdale, besides the golf courses.



In the late afternoon, we drove to Fountain Hills, another suburb where the lots can cost 1 million without a house. One of the highlights in Fountain Hills is the fountain in the city park. It is one of the largest in the world shooting water 560 feet into the air. It is turned on every hour on the hour and stays on for about 20 min., depending on the wind. We were lucky as there was just a light breeze so it stayed on for the full 20 min.

Because of the time of day and the fact that it was partly overcast, we could actually see a rainbow at the top of the plume. Quite a sight. See pictures below....





In the evening we went to Bishops Family Restaurant in Phoenix which is set up like a cafeteria, but is actually a buffet except you are served. We enjoyed good food and listening to tales of Art and my Dad as kids.

Yesterday, Thursday, Dean and I went to Organ Pipe Pizza. This restaurant is very unique as they have a old theater Wurlitzer organ that is played while you enjoy your pizza or pasta. There are over 6000 pipes to this organ, all located in the building. A truly different dining experience and I recommend it to anyone that comes to Mesa. One hint - arrive early. They open at 4 pm and we arrived at 4:15 to a long line. No problem though, we did get in and had good seats.

Unfortunately, the pictures didn't turn out very well. It was to dark. I was able to lighten one of the organ so here it is.....

Superstition Mountain, Apache Trail and Tortilla Flats

I failed to mention that Goldfield (see entry below) is at the base of Superstition Mountain. It is said that during a severe flood, Indians climbed up the mountain, but became so scared that they turned to stone, thus what I call the stone fingers of the mountain.

Here are a few views of Superstition Mountain... these views are of the west/north west side..









These views are of the north side....





We decided when we left Goldfield to drive part of the Apache Trail. This two lane road can be described as anything but flat and straight. I drove more hairpin curves yesterday in a couple of hours than I remember driving the rest of my life. On top of that, no guard rails. What fun. The really strange thing is that we passed two campgrounds, one at Canyon Lake and the second one was at Tortilla Flats. I don't think that I'd take our MS back this road, but the campground did look nice for those daring enough to do it.

The scenery on this drive was some of the prettiest I've seen so far. Every turn offered a different view, be it rolling hills, or mountains, or a lake or valleys. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves....

Canyon Lake views.......









Just some pretty views........






Sure hope that rock don't fall on our truck.....



Pictures from Tortilla Flats ......



Lost Dutchman Mine.....



Schoolhouse....now a museum..



Town....



This cutie (the dog) rolled in on a motorcycle with his owner - he had sunglasses and a rag cap or whatever they are call, on - to cute.



Well, that about wraps this entry up. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Not sure what will be next, check back. Till then.......

Goldfield the Ghost Town

Friday evening I was surfing the internet looking for festivals in the Mesa area and found just the one for Dean and I to go to on Saturday. It was the Chili Cook Off at Goldfield - a ghost town!
We arrived around 10:30 in the morning and already there were many people milling around, getting samples of chili. For $4.00 you could purchase a cup and spoon then make your way to the 15 or so booths that were cooking chili for a sample. There were two top winners to be picked, one was the Peoples Choice and the second was the Best Chili picked by judges - this was a sanctioned cook off. Of course we made the rounds and after sampling all the different chili being made, and believe me they were different, we went back to what was our favorite one for another sample to make sure, then voted. I don't know if they won or not, as the winners were not going to be announced until mid-afternoon. When we finished, I can tell you that we tasted some chili that was hot, some that was mild, some sweet and some that can only be described as different. Our favorite chili had shredded beef in it and was not spicy though it did tingle the tongue.

Here are some pictures from Goldfield...... a very lively ghost town.........



The train station and the local bordello - do you see one of the "girls"?



Looking up the main street of town - the tents are where the chili was being cooked.



And looking down the main street......



Dean tried to make off with one of the "girls" but got caught by the Sheriff.....



The newest building in town, the church (the old one burnt down) and one of the old buildings .. looks like it's about ready to fall down!



We took a much needed break for a cool drink. This is the back porch of the Mammoth Saloon. Beautiful weather, cool drink and good music - what more could you want. You can also see the corner of Superstition Mountain in the background.



The mine entrance - they did find gold here.....



How about a fixer-upper.....



Interestingly, Goldfield only lasted until 1897, when the gold ore ran out. The miners moved on and a ghost town was born.

When we left Goldfield in the early afternoon we drove the Apache Trail to Tortilla Flats, but I'm going to make another entry for that part of our day.

Womanless Beauty Pagent

Yesterday was Valentine's Day and the Class of '05 celebrated in style by going to lunch at the Golden Corral. There were about 22 of us in attendance and we had a good time eating (of course) and talking and compairing notes on places of interest. Me - I forgot my camera!

In the afternoon we attended a talk given by Nick Russell (Gypsy Journal author) on finding interesting and unusual places on the backroads of America. It was a very interesting talk and certainly did prove that if you just look you will find some interesting stories where you least expect them.

Last night was the Womanless Beauty Pagent or the Gypsy Dollies or many other names - LOL. One of our own classmates was in the contest. I'm posting a couple of pictures here - see if you can spot HIM.

The contestants.........







And the WINNER IS........... THELMA........



I'll just close by saying a good time was had by all, especially him, or her, or, well whatever!!!