Small Towns of Texas

Posted on December 11, 2022 by admin

Smithville, Texas

One of my favorite things to do is to step back in time by visiting historic small towns. Texas has many small towns scattered across the state. They were often established along rivers or railway lines. Such was the case with Smithville, Texas. Although a doctor founded the town and built the first house and store, the town was named after William Smith, who arrived several years later. The town population grew quickly when a local businessman made a deal with a railroad by gifting land to build a depot at a new town site. Almost overnight, the town blossomed and flourished.

Smithville is located just off Highway 71, about halfway between Austin and Columbus, Texas. When we visited there, our first stop was the Railroad Museum at the end of the main street where we learned about the disaster of 1911.

Smithville Visitor Center and Railroad Museum

Smithville town clock at the Railroad Museum, looking down Main Street.

On February 8, 1911, a switch engine’s boiler exploded. The engine was building up steam in preparation to make a run to another town. The explosion sent the roof sheet metal of the firebox hurtling a distance of three blocks where it landed in the street. Smaller pieces flew twice that distance. Four people were killed and twelve more were injured.

Today a Railroad Park surrounds the Museum showcasing railroad cars from the past. In the garden is a sculpture with a piece of the iron from the engine that exploded.

As we drove around the town, we saw many old stately homes. One of the homes had a carriage step by the street. Carriage steps were to help people getting in and out of their carriages or on and off a horse.

There were plenty of old style houses around the town. The ones with columns and covered porches were especially beautiful. While some had neatly kept yards, others looked neglected.

The house shown below is where the movie “Hope Floats”, a 1998 drama starring Sandra Bullock, was filmed. Smithville prides itself on being a film-friendly destination. They even publish a map for tourists showing the locations where dozens of movies were filmed.

Fayetteville, Texas

About halfway between Houston and Austin is the town of Fayetteville in the county of Fayette. It is not, however, the county seat. It was named after Fayetteville, North Carolina, a town which we’ve also passed through in our travels.

The county of Fayette is named after General Lafayette, the Revolutionary War hero. Its county seat, La Grange, is named after General Lafayette’s castle in France, Chateau de la Grange-Bleneau. The Marquis de Lafayette fought with the Americans and aided the cause of the American Revolution. La Grange is where we do most of our grocery shopping when we’re staying in Columbus, Texas.

At the center of Fayetteville is the historical courthouse and town square. The day we visited, the town was getting ready for their chili feed the next day. The courthouse is a two-story structure. The first floor is the original courthouse, while the second floor houses the old jail.

Jury box and witness stand in Fayetteville Courthouse

Much of Fayetteville’s population is from German and Czech ancestors. The Texas BBQ menus almost always offer sausages as well as the usual brisket and ribs. This is from the Czech and German influence.

Large oak in town square. Local businesses line the surrounding streets.

Looking across town square from courthouse.

We wandered into an art gallery off the town square. Fayetteville is kind of an artsy place. They have programs encouraging children of the county and other counties to explore the arts. The featured artist in the gallery at the time was a renowned forensic reconstruction artist. Her paintings and sculptures were on display.

The high school sits at the edge of town. In front of the current high school sits the newly refurbished 110 year old schoolhouse. A new library resides in the downstairs and upstairs houses the district administrative offices.

As we drove out of the town, we saw this pretty church with a silver steeple. It was locked, so we couldn’t see the interior.

We drove on some back roads through some other small towns including Industry and New Ulm. These towns were very small with perhaps a store and a few houses. Ellinger was another small town which was on our way home. It has a very busy Czech restaurant and bakery where we stopped and bought some of their delicious kolatches. (pastries with fruit fillings) It is on the highway between Columbus and La Grange.

I feel at home in small towns, having lived on the outskirts of one for many years in California. The people are usually friendly even if they know you’re not a local. The pace of life is slower. The roads are narrower. The views are peaceful. Cows graze in the fields. Barns and farmhouses bring thoughts and memories to mind of childhood visits to farms of relatives in Indiana. In short, it’s a relaxing way to spend an afternoon.

These are just a few of the small towns we have visited in Texas. With 254 counties, there are many more interesting small towns scattered across the vast state, enough to keep us busy for a long, long time!

South Dakota Air and Space Museum & Badlands National Park

Posted on March 28, 2022 by admin

South Dakota Air and Space Museum

The South Dakota Air and Space Museum sits just outside Ellsworth Air Force Base.

When I was in grade school during the Cuban missile crisis, our school practiced air-raid drills. When we heard the alarm go off, we were to duck under our desks. One day the alarm went off and our teacher told us to duck under our desks, but it was a fire alarm–not an air-raid. It was just a practice drill, but the teacher eventually realized her mistake and led us all outside to “safety”.

As a child, I was aware of the cold war after the Cuban missile crisis. I watched episodes of “The Man from U.N.C.L.E” which was a fictional TV series about two spies who somehow always thwarted the bad guys from taking over the world. I read stories about the Iron Curtain and escapes from East Berlin. What I was not aware of, was what our government was doing to defend us.

During the Cold War, Ellsworth Air Force Base was a crucial part of our country’s readiness and defense force. It was the home of the Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles like the Titan I and the Minuteman missiles, and and arsenal of bombers such as the B-29.

Today visitors can tour a missile silo that was used to train maintenance personnel, but you must reserve well ahead of your visit since only 6 people are allowed at one time on a tour and it is booked far in advance. For that reason, we didn’t get to go on that tour. The missile sites are now preserved as the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site.

However, we enjoyed an extensive time visiting inside and outside the South Dakota Air and Space Museum which included a Titan I missile.

The Titan I missiles took 15 minutes to fully deploy because they couldn’t be fueled up until right before launch. This was not speedy enough for countering a nuclear attack. So therefore, they were replaced three years later with Titan II and the more reliable Minuteman missiles. Each silo contained three missiles.

Besides intercontinental ballistic missiles, the United States also had bombers (such as the B-29 Superfortress) ready to deploy in case of attack. Later these huge planes were used for aerial tankers and weather reconnaissance until they were retired.

B-52 Stratotanker and B-52 Stratofortress (in background)

Inside the museum are four large galleries of artifacts of military and civilian aerospace history of the last century. My favorite display was about Nellie Zabel Wilhite, South Dakota’s first female pilot. She was also the first deaf person to earn her pilot’s license. The museum houses the wing and tires from her first airplane along with a photo of her in front of her plane in 1934. Despite some harrowing flights and at one time being a barnstormer, she lived to age 98. I’m always inspired by people who make history despite their handicaps.

Wings and tires from Nellie Zabel Wilhite’s plane

The museum is open year round (although the indoor galleries are closed during January and February) and the tours of Ellsworth AFB and the Missile Silo are offered from mid-May through mid-September. Admission to the museum is free, but there is a small charge for the bus tours to the Missile Silo.

Badlands National Park

Not many miles from the Black Hills, the prairie stretches for miles until unexpectedly you come across Badlands National Park. Recently designated a national park in 1978, the nearly 250,000 acres of geologic formations, fossil beds and wildlife made this a place we had to visit. It reminded me somewhat of the Painted Desert in northern Arizona with its colorful rock layers. My favorite view was this scenic overlook where you can see for miles.

Down in the canyons are trees and grasslands.

In the Badlands many fossils of ancient mammals have been found which are probably related to our present-day bison and bighorn sheep.

We started out looking out over the canyons, but soon we were driving in among the rock formations.

In this photo below, you can see a dry river bed. Two forces made these formations, deposition and erosion. Layers of sediment formed the rock layers which were deposited by a number of natural forces which range from shallow inland seas to rivers to wind. Then the Cheyenne and White rivers carved their way through the landscape. If the rocks erode at the rate of one inch per year as estimated, what we see today may be quite different the next time we visit!

It reminds me of Psalm 24: 1-2.

“The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness of it,
The world, and those who dwell in it.
For He has founded it upon the seas
And established it upon the streams and the rivers.” Amplified Bible

Our national parks are a treasure of unique and beautiful places. I am thankful for those who had foresight to set aside these places for generations of people to enjoy.

Glacier National Park

Posted on September 17, 2021 by admin

August, 2021

Glacier NP is one of those “can’t miss” places to see. It was one of our main destinations this year. Little did we know that when we started planning our itinerary back in February of 2021, that campgrounds near the park would already be filled up til mid-August. That meant that we needed to kill some time before we could get to Glacier National Park.

We decided to spend June and July and the first part of August seeing parts of Oregon and Washington, and I’m so glad we did. We had fun, cool weather (for the most part) and we got to see some beautiful sights.

Now, you can’t just drive into Glacier NP anymore. You have to have a Park pass (we had a Senior National Parks Pass) PLUS you need a ticket for Going to the Sun Road. That ticket is good for 7 days, but you have to go online ahead of time to reserve your time. This limits the number of people who can enter the park on any given day. Since there is only one road going through the park, it gets a lot of traffic.

The day we finally got to visit Glacier NP was a rainy day. Though the rain kept some people away, it was still hard to find a parking spot at the scenic turn-outs. So we just drove.

Up, up the mountain we drove, on curvy, windy, roads with only a short rock wall separating us from the edge of the cliff and valley below. Ray was driving, and I took photos out the window. It made me nervous to look straight down. Ray was in the driver’s seat so he wasn’t scared. Later, when I was driving up the same road and Ray was in the passenger seat, he said he felt a little scared too.

The Road to the Sun in Glacier NP is not for anyone afraid of heights!

The road is very narrow, and at times it seemed like we would scrape the other cars as they passed by. We finally found a turnout where I could get some photos of the valley.

Going to the Sun Road winds through the valley of Glacier NP along McDonald Creek.

Along the way, we saw some waterfalls with a boulder that looked like it could roll right down.

Waterfall on the Going to the Sun Road, Glacier NP.

I was really disappointed that there were no glaciers to see. We saw what looked like patches of snow. I wouldn’t really classify them as glaciers. The valleys were carved by glaciers years ago so the name is still appropriate.

Some small patches of snow from glaciers are seen here.

As we climbed higher and higher in elevation, the clouds settled down over the top of the mountains and it got foggy and misty. The highest point was Logan Pass where Logan Visitor Center is located. The parking lot was full, so we drove a short ways and stopped at a turnout at Lunch Creek where we ate our picnic lunch.

From there we could see another waterfall and the remains of a glacier.

We got there just in time before the mist enveloped us. We decided to turn around and go back the way we came instead of driving through the entire park that day. It was a good choice. By the time we drove back through the valley, we were able to find parking at some of the viewpoints that had previously been too packed to stop.

Colorful rocks cover the bottom and line the sides of McDonald Creek.

My grandfather’s name was Lake Macdonald, so of course I wanted to see Lake McDonald. (spelled differently). The rocks on the bottom of the lake and on the shore are a beautiful array of colors.

Colorful rocks on the shore of Lake McDonald

We visited the park a total of three different days. The weather never did get sunny. One of those days I hiked to McDonald Falls.

As we drove upstream alongside McDonald Creek, we found another waterfall and interesting views.

Blue-green waters of the melted glaciers at McDonald Creek

On our third day in Glacier NP, we drove completely through the park, barely stopping except to eat our lunch. At Logan Pass, the road winds down to the small town of St. Mary.

We drove from one end of the park to the other, and then drove around the outside of the park on the south side back to where we started. It was also a beautiful drive, but long.

Coming down the other side of Logan Pass

The other side of Logan Pass is much different in that it suffered damage from recent forest fires that changed the look of the landscape. There is a lake on that side too–St. Mary Lake which is about 1500′ higher in elevation than Lake McDonald.

Fire damage and St. Mary Lake in background.

Even with the recent rains, the smoke from fires in the western states came back quickly to make a haze over the mountains. We had planned to stay a few days in St. Mary, but due to the smoke, we decided to leave early. Our pass for Going to the Sun Road had expired, and we were ready to move on.

Crescent Bar

Posted on September 14, 2021 by admin

Quincy, Washington

August, 2021

As we were making our way across Washington, we stopped for a couple of nights in Silver Creek, and then went on to on to Crescent Bar which is outside Quincy, Washington. From Silver Creek to Quincy was 213 miles–a longer drive than usual for us, as we try to keep it to 3 hours or less.

View from Paradise RV Campground in Silver Creek, WA.

From Silver Creek, we drove Highway 12 through the most beautiful country. High mountains lined either side as we drove through thickly wooded forest with an occasional small town. The primary industry is lumber. We passed some sawmills with stacks of 2×4’s and other sizes of lumber. We were very near Mt. Rainer, but we couldn’t see it because of the mountains that blocked our view.

As we went further east, the terrain became dryer and the land changed to hay farms, dairies, apple orchards and Christmas tree farms all watered by irrigation. Our campground was on a cliff overlooking the Columbia River. The Columbia river makes a huge bend in the shape of a crescent. It is probably a mile or more across. There were mountains on the other side that made a beautiful background for sunsets. It was, however, very smokey when we got there. But later, a windy day and some rain cleared the sky.

Crescent Bar on the Columbia River

Japanese Peace Garden, Moses Lake, WA

We took a drive to Moses Lake, a town about 40 miles away, to see the Japanese Peace Garden. I couldn’t find any information about its history, who created it or why. It would have been a nice quiet place to enjoy if it hadn’t been so hot. We walked through quickly and got back into the car to cool off.

The brook winds through the Peace Garden

Another side trip we took while in Quincy, Washington, was a trip to Grand Coulee Dam about 75 miles away. The drive there was along a canyon with the Grand Coulee lake beside the road.

One of the scenic spots along the way was Dry Falls Visitor Center. The Visitor Center was closed, but the view of the dry falls was worth taking a photo. This area was once a huge waterfall when water broke through a glacial ice dam. The lake behind the dam was approximately the volume of Lake Ontario. The waterfall would have been 5 times the width of Niagara Falls and twice the height. Today, the falls are dry, hence the name.

Grand Coulee Dam, Washington

We got to Grand Coulee Dam just before sunset. After dark, there is a laser light show that tells the story of the dam and the surrounding area.

After dark, the spillway gates open and start spilling water until all the gates are completely spilling, creating a backdrop for the light show. Here they are before they start to spill.

I was unable to capture photos of the light show. I got some short videos, but they really don’t do it justice. Even though we arrived home late that night after the light show, it was an interesting side trip worth the time.

A Museum and a National Historical Park

Posted on August 27, 2021 by admin

July, 2021

Columbia River Maritime Museum

While we were staying in Seaside, Oregon, we went to The Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon. As we entered the museum, we saw a large map of the shipwrecks at the mouth of the Columbia River.

We watched a 3D surround sound documentary of “Aircraft Carrier–City at Sea” in the Theater. Then we wandered around the exhibits and learned about the extreme conditions of the Columbia River Bar, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Columbia River Bar Pilots.

U.S. Coast Guard Rescue display at Columbia River Maritime Museum.

Display in Columbia River Maritime Museum.

The museum tells the history of the Columbia River from the times of the Indians and their dugout canoes to the present day. The museum is very expansive and takes 2 or 3 hours to see everything. We took a break for lunch and walked across the street to a food truck to get lunch and then came back to see more.

Outside the museum is docked the Lightship Columbia, a National Historic Landmark. It is an actual lightship that used to guide ships to safety at the mouth of the Columbia River. I was able to go aboard and see the sailors living quarters. The lightship is a floating lighthouse manned by a crew of 17 men working two to four week rotations, with 10 men on duty at a time. It was in use from 1951 to 1979.

The Columbia Lightship–part of The Columbia River Maritime Museum.

We learned at the museum that ships today must have a specially trained pilot to guide them through the mouth of the Columbia River where it meets the Pacific Ocean. This pilot will come aboard their ship and guide the ships through the treacherous waters and sand bars at the mouth of the river. We saw several large cargo ships waiting their turn.

Cargo ships on Columbia River await their turn to go through the dangerous waters at the mouth of the Columbia River.

Lewis and Clark Natl. Historical Pk.

Lewis and Clark have always been two of my favorite explorers ever since I read “Streams to the River, River to the Sea” by Scott O’Dell. The story of their amazing adventure is told in part at the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park near Astoria, Oregon, off Highway 101. Besides having another national park to check off of our list, it gave us a day of learning about the history of our country and some exercise as we hiked the trails near the visitor center.

We stopped at the Visitor Center where we saw a short film about the story of the winter fort of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in1805 – 1806. They named it Fort Clatsop after the nation of Indians who resided nearby.

Replica of Fort Clatsop, the winter fort of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

At the fort we watched a demonstration of the loading and shooting of a black powder rifle.

We walked down a pathway to the place on the river where Lewis and Clark could possibly have docked their dugout canoes.

Lewis and Clark National Historical Park actually has several different site locations. Many of the other sites are only minutes away. We decided save some of those different locations for another visit at another time. In all, we had an enjoyable day visiting this park.

Seaside, Oregon

Posted on August 26, 2021 by admin

It was just a short drive north on Highway 101 from South Beach to Seaside, Oregon, where we stayed in another Thousand Trails RV Resort called Seaside RV Resort. We had to backtrack south to see the Tillamook Lighthouse which is not really near Tillamook. It was really only a few miles south of Seaside, Oregon.

The Tillamook Lighthouse is on an island. It was quite windy and hazy making it hard to get a good photo.

The view from the Tillamook lookout was beautiful. If you look carefully, you can see Haystack Rock.

Scene from Tillamook Lighthouse viewpoint.

In this closer view Haystack Rock is in the distance. Later, we drove to Canon Beach where I got a closer look. Haystack Rock is home to many birds who make their nest in the nooks and crannies of the rock, even burrowing into the dirt to make their nests.

Haystack Rock in the distance at Canon Beach, Oregon.

When the tide is out, many people like to explore the tide pools around the rock.

A long drive south to Tillamook took us closer to Cape Meares Lighthouse. The road there is very narrow and windy, but we finally found the end.

There are two pathways to the lighthouse. It was windy and very misty. We opted for the pathway through the trees. The air was so moist, the trees “rained” on us as the moisture collected on the leaves and foliage.

Although Cape Meares Lighthouse is the shortest lighthouse on the Oregon Coast, it put out a powerful beam that could be seen twelve miles out at sea. Each lighthouse had its own signature beam of light. Cape Meares was 30 seconds of fixed white light from the primary lens followed by a red flash of five seconds from the bull’s-eye lens once every minute.

Cape Meares Lighthouse information booth.

The photo below shows the nine historic lighthouses on the Oregon Coast and whether they are still active.

With the cold windy weather, we were glad to get back to our truck to get warm.

Oregon Lighthouses

Posted on August 25, 2021 by admin

July 2021

We stayed in South Beach, Oregon (near Newport, OR) for twelve days in Thousand Trails Whaler’s Rest RV Resort. My goal was to see and photograph as many lighthouses along the Oregon coast as I could.

Our campground was just a short distance away from the beach, but because of the thick trees and bushes and Highway 101 in between, it wasn’t an easy access. The weather was cloudy and overcast in the mornings. By noon, however, the sun was shining. So that’s when we decided to go looking for lighthouses.

Our first lighthouse and my favorite, (Yaquina Head) was close to Newport just a few miles from the campground. It was easily accessible and very easy to photograph. We saw some sea lions sunning themselves on the rocks below.

Yaquina Head Lighthouse near Newport, Oregon.

Yaquina Head Lighthouse, Newport, Oregon.

Near Yaquina Head Lighthouse is Yakina Bay Lighthouse. We visited it after all the other lighthouses on another day, but I include it here because it is in order going south on Highway 101. This one was a bit of a disappointment because the shutters were all closed over the windows making it look boarded up. There was a fence around it and an ugly tower next to it.

While we were there at Yakina Bay Lighthouse, we got a good view of Yakina Bay Bridge.

Our next next search for lighthouses took us south on Highway 101 as far as Cape Blanco, near Port Orford, Oregon.

The first lighthouse we saw was Heceta Head Lighthouse near Florence, Oregon. (All of these lighthouses are just off Highway 101 in Oregon.) We had a bit of a hike uphill to see this lighthouse. Here it is from below.

Heceta Lighthouse near Florence, Oregon off Highway 101.

We were also able to see the lighthouse keeper’s house.

The lighthouse is visible from Highway 101 further on.

We also saw many historic bridges designed by Conde McCullough from the 1930’s. Cape Creek Bridge near Heceta Head Lighthouse was built in 1932. It is a double-tiered structure with Roman arches and spans Cape Creek next to the Cape Creek Tunnel.

Our next lighthouse, Umpqua River Lighthouse, is located near the city of Reedsport. It isn’t quite as scenic because it was surrounded by a chain-link fence with a roadway running in front of it and mailboxes blocking the view.

Umpqua River Lighthouse, near Reedsport, Oregon.

The next lighthouse going south is Cape Arago near Coos Bay. We were unable to find it, but we saw it from a distance from Sunset Bay State Park. However, I felt it was too hazy and distant to get a good photo. It is not accessible by land because it is on an island in the bay, and the closest place to get a good photo is Lighthouse Way which is a private drive. The photo is not mine, but one from the web.

We drove across several bridges on Highway 101 on our quest for lighthouses. One of my favorites is the bridge across Coos Bay. The Coos Bay Bridge is an historic bridge that has a series of arches that come to a point at the top, giving you the feeling of driving though a cathedral. I didn’t get a photo of it, but I borrowed one from the web.

The next lighthouse south on Highway 101 in Oregon is the Coquille River Lighthouse near Bandon, Oregon.

We had a round about way of finding this lighthouse. We first saw it across the river. Then we found a way to drive up closer and walk up.

The furthest lighthouse was over 250 miles from our campground. Cape Blanco Lighthouse is near Port Orford, Oregon. It was getting dark and the fog and clouds were rolling in from the ocean. The road to the lighthouse was closed by a gate. It turns out, the only day of the week that it is closed was the day we happened to visit it.

Cape Blanco Lighthouse near Port Orford, Oregon.

We drove back and got to our trailer around midnight, but we felt we were pretty successful in our mission.

We saw more lighthouses but that will be in the next blog.

Mount Hood, Oregon

Posted on August 24, 2021 by admin

July, 2021

On our way to the coast of Oregon, we stayed in Baker City, Oregon; Kennewick, Washington; and Welches, Oregon (Mount Hood area).

From Kennewick, Washington, we drove along the Columbia River on Highway 14. There is a highway on the Oregon side also, but we preferred the less traveled two lane road along the Washington side of the river.

The Columbia River looking toward the Oregon side from Highway 14.

The bare hills and steep canyon walls were impressive. The dry barrenness gave way to trees and greenery as we approached the coastal rain belt. At one point we rounded a bend and in the distance loomed Mount Hood, snow capped and majestic. I’ve seen plenty of mountains, but there is no way to describe this huge mountain that juts up out of nowhere capped with snow in the middle of July. It’s just epic!

We stayed in one of our Thousand Trails Campgrounds in Welches, Oregon, a little town on the southwest side of Mount Hood. Our campsite was among the trees and lush vegetation. Beautiful ferns were everywhere in between campsites. We were grateful for the tree cover since the temperatures were unusually high–up into the 100’s for a few days.

Wildflowers and berry bushes were everywhere.

In the evenings, we liked to take walks. One evening we followed a path among the trees.

About 15 miles from our campground was Lake Trillium. The first time we went to see the lake, it was crowded with people swimming, fishing, and kayaking. I got a few photos, but the sky was hazy, and the water was choppy, so we decided to go back another time. The second time, we went on a weekday evening right before sunset and had better results.

We found a pathway around the lake.

We even saw a mother duck and ducklings.

Mother duck and her ducklings at Trillium Lake

The lake is calmer and the reflection of the mountain is nice.

This is my favorite photo from that evening.

We enjoyed our stay in the Mount Hood area, but it was time to head to the coast for some cooler weather.

Nevada Northern Railway

Posted on August 9, 2021 by admin

June 11, 2021

After leaving Arizona, we made our way north by way of eastern Nevada, going through Caliente, Ely and Wells, NV.

On the way there, we drove along the backside of Great Basin National Park. I could see Wheeler Peak in the distance. We drove to the top of it when we visited the park last year. The 13,000’ peak still had snow on it.

In Ely, we stopped for four nights so we could ride the Nevada Northern Railway and visit the Museum. The Railway is a National Historic Landmark and the museum complex includes a rail yard on 56 acres with 63 structures to explore.

We enjoyed a 90 minute ride in an old passenger car pulled by a steam locomotive.

The train depot for the Northern Nevada Railway.

The elevation of Ely is 6,437 feet. In winter, this snowplow was used to clear the snow off the tracks.

Water tower for Northern Nevada Railway.

The ride took us through the hills around Ely to a large copper mine and back. Along the way we learned about local history.

We view the historic town of Ely, Nevada, on our train ride out to the mine.

As we head out of town and uphill, the smoke gets blacker.

Copper was used for wiring homes for electricity in the late 1890s. This was once a thriving mine and is still being mined today.

Humorous grave yard on the way to the Robinson copper mine.

On the way back, we were told that sometimes the train gets held up by bandits, but we didn’t see any that day. We did, however, see the graveyard and fake western town nearby.

On our way there and back, this fellow with his little dog on the back rode along the highway parallel to the railroad track.

As we arrived back at the depot, we see the rainbow at our journey’s end as the locomotive lets off steam.

Arizona, Texas and California

Posted on August 5, 2021 by admin

March, April and May 2021

While we were in the Cottonwood area, we visited a few other places nearby. Jerome, 9 miles away, is a ghost town that has come back to life. It is now a tourist trap. Jerome State Historic Park is worth visiting.

The “ghost town” of Jerome is coming alive once more.

We drove the windy road through Jerome to Prescott, Arizona, where I spent one summer of my life as a kitchen helper at Prescott Pines Campground. The campground is a few miles outside of town. In many ways it looked the same, just updated.

The chapel at Prescott Pines Campground where I worked as kitchen staff in 1972.

While we were in Cottonwood, we flew to Texas for a week-long stay with my dad while my sister was on vacation. We visited Round Rock, Texas, a pretty little town and the home of the beautiful historic Woodbine Mansion which is now a wedding venue.

Another day, we visited the Texas Military Museum in Austin. It was large, so we saw just a small portion of it. We plan to visit it again someday.

When we got back to Cottonwood, it was time to head back to California for the birth of our 10^th grandchild. We used our Harvest Host membership for the first time and stayed overnight in the parking lot of Peggy Sue’s 50’s Diner about 10 miles from Barstow, California.

Inside gift shop at Peggy Sue’s 50s Diner

We stayed at our Thousand Trails Encore park in Oceano until our grandchild was born, helping the family with meals and laundry and other such things. Getting to be around the grandkids is always fun, but we made sure we took time for a side trip to Morro Bay for a lunch near the water.

With the new baby welcomed, we made one last visit to our storage unit before heading north for our summer travels. The campground where we like to stay is in Oakhurst, CA. There is a beautiful little waterfall and wildflowers just behind the campsites and plenty of shade.

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