Monday 22nd
Our weekend of Bluegrass fun is now over, we had a great time, renewed some old friendships and made some new ones.
We have stayed on at Turlock so that we could take a side trip back to Jamestown. We first visited here in October of 2011, but did not have the time to visit Railtown. This is a railway museum way up in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, in Gold Country. Not only is it a working railway museum it is also the location of many films that used railways in them. High Noon being one of list of 106 films shot here.
The most famous one for us was Back To The Future 3, released in 1990. All the real life train sequences were filmed here. However that is not all, the train used in the film was the Sierra No 3 Loco, which is still here. We opted to take the tour, which we found fascinating, John our tour guide was happy to tell us all sorts of things about the railway and we were happy to ask questions. There were four of us on the tour, which usually lasts an hour. We started at 12.20 and finished at 4.25.
The highlight for us was to not only see the Sierra No 3, but to be able to climb up into the cab and stand where Doc and Clara had been. We also saw some of the props, the different chimney stacks they used (complete and after the little explosion on the train).
We had a wonderful time and learned a lot about american railways of the last century.
We drove back down to Turlock in the evening, stopping in Oakdale, which as we all know is the Cowboy Capital Of The World (so they tell us), to eat in a very nice Chinese Restaurant where they serve dishes of gigantic proportion, such that we had to take half of our meal home with us.
Showing posts with label Western. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Western. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Thursday, April 11, 2013
April 7th - Calico
Calico Ghost Town.
We were indeed camped right next to the Ghost Town, however the weather now interfered with our plans. A storm was blowing in. Only wind, but expected to be up to 60 m.p.h gusts. Looking at the weather charts it seemed that the Jet Stream had taken an unexpectedly Southern route, down the west coast, crossing the Mojave Desert and New Mexico and swinging back North up the Great Plains. This meant havoc for the North and West of USA. The west coast got cold. The Southern states (thats us) got gales, the Rockies Mid West and Northern states as far as the Great Lakes got snow. Warm wet air sucked in from the gulf, meeting the cold dry air sucked down from Canada met and dropping up to 30 inches of snow. It won’t last long, but it is big.
By Monday afternoon we were prepared to brave the wind and go up to visit the ghost town which had originally been a Sliver Mining Community. It was very twee, but poorly described. We then noticed that some of the buildings were not original 1880’s. We eventually found out that a guy called Walter Knott bought the town in 1950 and was determined to restore it to its original condition as ghost town, Walter Knott is well know for his amusement park in Anaheim, Knotts Berry Farm, right next to Disneyland. Which incidentally started as a farm in 1920, where Walter developed the Boysenberry. The wayside farm stall then opened a chicken restaurant, which developed entertainment bits, which then became what is claimed to be the first theme park in 1947m, complete with its own ghost town. Its history has some fascinating parallels with Calico and also many of the activities and places that we have seen on our travels in the West. Read about it here……. Knotts Berry Farm History
The county of San Bernardino was given the park and have kept it going ever since, so really it is only a pseudo ghost town with many buildings form the 1950’s, still a good bit of fun with the train, the mine, the main street, the sheriffs office etc. we then went down to Peggy Sue’s Diner for dinner.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
April 1st - Yuma Crossing
Monday
We arrived in Yuma and are staying at a very nice RV park, quite quiet as many of the Canadian Snowbirds have now left to return home for the summer.
Yuma is tucked right into the bottom left hand corner of Arizona. It is there because it is one of the few places where one could reliably cross the Colorado river. It is also the highest navigable point on the Colorado, so food and material could be shipped from the sea some 240 miles to here. These two factors meant that in the 19th Century it became the East West Route of choice to get to California. It also became the army supply depot for the whole South West, stuff was sent round the Horn and then distributed via mule train to the army forts. Once the railroad came the geographical reason for it went away, but it still remains a very important army base. It has the famous Yuma Proving Grounds, where military equipment of all sorts is tested. The original supply base, or Quartermaster Stores, is now a State Park, so we visited it in the morning, which is of course where we found out all this information. We were also fascinated to learn that Yuma is the place where the Colorado was first dammed to provide irrigation for the agriculture. The city proudly boasts that it grows 90% of the leaf salad in the U.S.A. It is the Lettuce Capital of the world!.
Today we had fixed up to visit with some British people we had met in the laundry at Whispering Palms in Tuscon. We arranged to meet in Applebee's, where we had a very pleasant lunch, talking over the travels we had been on. Talking away the day is very tiring so siesta time called.
We arrived in Yuma and are staying at a very nice RV park, quite quiet as many of the Canadian Snowbirds have now left to return home for the summer.
Yuma is tucked right into the bottom left hand corner of Arizona. It is there because it is one of the few places where one could reliably cross the Colorado river. It is also the highest navigable point on the Colorado, so food and material could be shipped from the sea some 240 miles to here. These two factors meant that in the 19th Century it became the East West Route of choice to get to California. It also became the army supply depot for the whole South West, stuff was sent round the Horn and then distributed via mule train to the army forts. Once the railroad came the geographical reason for it went away, but it still remains a very important army base. It has the famous Yuma Proving Grounds, where military equipment of all sorts is tested. The original supply base, or Quartermaster Stores, is now a State Park, so we visited it in the morning, which is of course where we found out all this information. We were also fascinated to learn that Yuma is the place where the Colorado was first dammed to provide irrigation for the agriculture. The city proudly boasts that it grows 90% of the leaf salad in the U.S.A. It is the Lettuce Capital of the world!.
Today we had fixed up to visit with some British people we had met in the laundry at Whispering Palms in Tuscon. We arranged to meet in Applebee's, where we had a very pleasant lunch, talking over the travels we had been on. Talking away the day is very tiring so siesta time called.
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| From Drop Box |
Saturday, March 23, 2013
22nd - Old Tucson Studio
Friday we visited the Old Tucson Studio up in the mountains very near to the Desert Museum.
We arrived fairly early as there was not a cloud in the sky and it promised to be a hot day. The studio was built in 1939 for the film 'Arizona' and for various political and financial reasons was not removed, but other bits were added on. The studios became one of the larger cowboy film studios and even though a lot of it was lost in a fire in 1997 it still has an impressive number of recognizable film sets.
Following a brief orientation tour we set off to see the set of High Chapparal, which Sally remembers from her childhood, meanwhile just across from there is the adobe wall and ruin used to good effect in Rio Bravo.
We stopped in at the Crystal Saloon to see a music hall show, what appears to be a wooden saloon is in fact a steel constructed studio, with a saloon and stage inside it. We enjoyed the short show.
We now walked down Main Street, stopping at the Old Mission, which was used for a lot of films, notably the Three Amigos and Tombstone. While there we watched a demonstration of a restored 1830's gatling gun, very impressive as it fired its 40 rounds in about 5 seconds.
After going to the courthouse to see a short movie showing the many films made there we picnicked outside a saloon and then had a wander past the old mine and schoolhouse before deciding that we had seen enough.
An interesting place, though a little short on information.
We arrived fairly early as there was not a cloud in the sky and it promised to be a hot day. The studio was built in 1939 for the film 'Arizona' and for various political and financial reasons was not removed, but other bits were added on. The studios became one of the larger cowboy film studios and even though a lot of it was lost in a fire in 1997 it still has an impressive number of recognizable film sets.
Following a brief orientation tour we set off to see the set of High Chapparal, which Sally remembers from her childhood, meanwhile just across from there is the adobe wall and ruin used to good effect in Rio Bravo.
We stopped in at the Crystal Saloon to see a music hall show, what appears to be a wooden saloon is in fact a steel constructed studio, with a saloon and stage inside it. We enjoyed the short show.
We now walked down Main Street, stopping at the Old Mission, which was used for a lot of films, notably the Three Amigos and Tombstone. While there we watched a demonstration of a restored 1830's gatling gun, very impressive as it fired its 40 rounds in about 5 seconds.
After going to the courthouse to see a short movie showing the many films made there we picnicked outside a saloon and then had a wander past the old mine and schoolhouse before deciding that we had seen enough.
An interesting place, though a little short on information.
Monday, March 18, 2013
March 17th - Everybody Loves A Parade
Tombstone, The Town Too Tough To Die!
That is its favourite mission statement, you see it everywhere.
This weekend they had a celebration (also St Patricks Day) of the USO, American Armed Forces with all sorts of activities and demonstrations on Saturday but culminating in a parade down Allan Street on Sunday morning. Not wanting to miss w parade we hitched up the trailer, took a lawn chair and found ourselves a nice place at the side of the road, just outside Big Nose Kates Saloon Bar and settle in to wait for the parade.
At 11.00 a rendition of the National Anthem was sung and the parade started. It consisted mostly of motor cycles driven by ex service men, some people riding ponies and a number of locals dressed in 1880's costumes. There was also a monster truck and the local fire department brought up the rear with all lights blazing.
It was great fun to watch (though not in the same league as the Dade City Christmas parade) and this left us in good humour to move on.
We drove a short distance to Sierra Vista, where we stopped for food at Fry's and lunch at Denny's. Sierra Vista is the town which is beside Fort Huachaca, still an army base. However it dates back to the 1860's when the U.S. was at war with the Cochise Indians, this is the era of the Apaches and Geronimo. From Tombstone you could look to the North across the prairy to Cochise Stronghold where Geronimo held out against the army for many years. You could also look South West to Fort Huachaca, where the Army were based and could easily imagine how the two forces would watch each other. The cavalry too strong for Geronimo to defeat. The Indians mountain fortress too impregnable to be taken - stalemate. Finally ended when the honourable and respectable army took all the indian women and children into captivity and held them hostage until the Indians surrendered. Three cheers for the good guys.
We then drove up into the mountains to find the lovely Patagonia Lake State Park, just near the border with Mexico. Very peaceful, even though it is full with families on Spring Break Vacation.
That is its favourite mission statement, you see it everywhere.
This weekend they had a celebration (also St Patricks Day) of the USO, American Armed Forces with all sorts of activities and demonstrations on Saturday but culminating in a parade down Allan Street on Sunday morning. Not wanting to miss w parade we hitched up the trailer, took a lawn chair and found ourselves a nice place at the side of the road, just outside Big Nose Kates Saloon Bar and settle in to wait for the parade.
At 11.00 a rendition of the National Anthem was sung and the parade started. It consisted mostly of motor cycles driven by ex service men, some people riding ponies and a number of locals dressed in 1880's costumes. There was also a monster truck and the local fire department brought up the rear with all lights blazing.
It was great fun to watch (though not in the same league as the Dade City Christmas parade) and this left us in good humour to move on.
We drove a short distance to Sierra Vista, where we stopped for food at Fry's and lunch at Denny's. Sierra Vista is the town which is beside Fort Huachaca, still an army base. However it dates back to the 1860's when the U.S. was at war with the Cochise Indians, this is the era of the Apaches and Geronimo. From Tombstone you could look to the North across the prairy to Cochise Stronghold where Geronimo held out against the army for many years. You could also look South West to Fort Huachaca, where the Army were based and could easily imagine how the two forces would watch each other. The cavalry too strong for Geronimo to defeat. The Indians mountain fortress too impregnable to be taken - stalemate. Finally ended when the honourable and respectable army took all the indian women and children into captivity and held them hostage until the Indians surrendered. Three cheers for the good guys.
We then drove up into the mountains to find the lovely Patagonia Lake State Park, just near the border with Mexico. Very peaceful, even though it is full with families on Spring Break Vacation.
March 16th - Bisbee
Now there is a name for a town - Bisbee!
It was named after a judge in the 1880's, though he never set foot in the town!
What an amazing place, possibly one of the most fascinating places we have visited (and we have visited a few). We drove the short 26 miles from Tombstone on Saturday, not quite knowing what to expect.
This was a real frontier town, it is built at the confluence of a couple of narrow canyons. Houses were crowded into the narrow gulches and built right up the sides of the mountains, the only access was, and still is, by steps, hundreds of them). It's origins are based in the discovery of copper, huge amounts of it, both high grade ore, which was dug out using mines, 2000 miles of mining tunnels are beneath Bisbee and low grade ore which was removed with huge open cast quarries, one of them is deep enough that you could invert Roseberry Topping and place it in there and it still would not fill it. The Copper Queen Mine being the most famous and though it is now quiet though by no means a ghost, town it once had a population of 100,000. Because of the many fires they have had the main streets are now mostly brick built and show Edwardian, but western, architecture.
The gulches are dry except in the rainy season (July August), when the main streets used to become rivers (now have slightly better drainage, though locals do not park their cars on the street in the wet season as they tend to float off down the road during storms).
Its wealth was based on Copper, Wooden houses were tightly packed on terraces where they clung to the mountain sides. Town burning was almost as regular as town flooding! The flooding was a mixed blessing as there was no drainage system, so waste (yes I mean all waste) would be just chucked and allowed to dissipate. The local hotels and bars, of which there were many as much of the population were single miners, used a system whereby they would dump all waste under the building in like a basement. When the rain came they removed the lowest side wall and allowed nature to remove the years sewage. Worked OK with a really good flood, but not so good in drier years. Another problem was the cemetery which was up the canyon affectionately known as Brewery Gulch, nothing wrong with a cemetery problem came with the storms as not only did the water wash away the dirt it also washed away the bodies down the main street.
Once the copper gave out in the 1970's the town nearly died and became almost empty, but was taken over by hippies, many from California, who claimed squatters rights and renovated the buildings and sold them. The hippy atmosphere still remains and is now a arty crafty/antiquey with nice coffee shops and organic food. It is the southern most mile high town in USA and when they talk about being high, they really mean it.
We learned a lot of this history by taking the trolley bus tour, which was excellent value at $6.00 and gave us a real insight into the town.
I must say that I loved this town and would perhaps vote it as one of my favourites, even more so than perhaps Santa Fe in NM.
It was named after a judge in the 1880's, though he never set foot in the town!
What an amazing place, possibly one of the most fascinating places we have visited (and we have visited a few). We drove the short 26 miles from Tombstone on Saturday, not quite knowing what to expect.
This was a real frontier town, it is built at the confluence of a couple of narrow canyons. Houses were crowded into the narrow gulches and built right up the sides of the mountains, the only access was, and still is, by steps, hundreds of them). It's origins are based in the discovery of copper, huge amounts of it, both high grade ore, which was dug out using mines, 2000 miles of mining tunnels are beneath Bisbee and low grade ore which was removed with huge open cast quarries, one of them is deep enough that you could invert Roseberry Topping and place it in there and it still would not fill it. The Copper Queen Mine being the most famous and though it is now quiet though by no means a ghost, town it once had a population of 100,000. Because of the many fires they have had the main streets are now mostly brick built and show Edwardian, but western, architecture.
The gulches are dry except in the rainy season (July August), when the main streets used to become rivers (now have slightly better drainage, though locals do not park their cars on the street in the wet season as they tend to float off down the road during storms).
Its wealth was based on Copper, Wooden houses were tightly packed on terraces where they clung to the mountain sides. Town burning was almost as regular as town flooding! The flooding was a mixed blessing as there was no drainage system, so waste (yes I mean all waste) would be just chucked and allowed to dissipate. The local hotels and bars, of which there were many as much of the population were single miners, used a system whereby they would dump all waste under the building in like a basement. When the rain came they removed the lowest side wall and allowed nature to remove the years sewage. Worked OK with a really good flood, but not so good in drier years. Another problem was the cemetery which was up the canyon affectionately known as Brewery Gulch, nothing wrong with a cemetery problem came with the storms as not only did the water wash away the dirt it also washed away the bodies down the main street.
Once the copper gave out in the 1970's the town nearly died and became almost empty, but was taken over by hippies, many from California, who claimed squatters rights and renovated the buildings and sold them. The hippy atmosphere still remains and is now a arty crafty/antiquey with nice coffee shops and organic food. It is the southern most mile high town in USA and when they talk about being high, they really mean it.
We learned a lot of this history by taking the trolley bus tour, which was excellent value at $6.00 and gave us a real insight into the town.
I must say that I loved this town and would perhaps vote it as one of my favourites, even more so than perhaps Santa Fe in NM.
Tombstone 2
Having surveyed the town of Tombstone we then used Friday seeing the sights there. First of all we took a ride on the Old Butterfield Stage, which was originally used to travel between Tombstone and Yuma, via Nogales. This gave us a gentle tour round the streets of Tombstone and an insight into its history.
Following this we stopped in at the Gunfight At The O.K. Corral for their 12.00 performance. It was fun, though I have seen better acting.
From there we went for lunch at the Longhorn Restaurant again.
The last major stop was to Boot Hill, just out of town. (Dead centre of town). Vry interesting to see the many graves of the 1880's with simple epitaphs like; Died, Murdered, Killed on their head boards (mostly wooden and probably more recent than 1880's).
We returned to our trailer and put our feet up for an hour or two before having a quiet tea.
I have now worked out that Android/Ipad readers can use the link 'View All' to go to the Picasa Albums site to view photos as a slide show.
Following this we stopped in at the Gunfight At The O.K. Corral for their 12.00 performance. It was fun, though I have seen better acting.
From there we went for lunch at the Longhorn Restaurant again.
The last major stop was to Boot Hill, just out of town. (Dead centre of town). Vry interesting to see the many graves of the 1880's with simple epitaphs like; Died, Murdered, Killed on their head boards (mostly wooden and probably more recent than 1880's).
We returned to our trailer and put our feet up for an hour or two before having a quiet tea.
I have now worked out that Android/Ipad readers can use the link 'View All' to go to the Picasa Albums site to view photos as a slide show.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
March 14th - Tombstone
Thursday 14th March
On Tuesday evening we flew into Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, picked up a rental car and were reunited with our truck and trailer. Once I had jump started the truck we had power and everything seemed fine. No Bugs, no water, no worries (a bit of mold in the Fridge, as we had forgotten to leave it open). A good nights sleep and we were ready for the off. Wednesday morning we packed up in Phoenix, returned the rental car and by 10.30 we were passing the campground I had picked out for our first night, however because we were so well up on time we pressed on to our first big destination - Tombstone. Tombstone is out in the desert, right out in the desert, like Bodie in California, if it wasn't for silver mining no one in there right mind would want to live here. It has that unreal quality about it that makes you think you really are in a film, stage coaches coming past, cowboys on the street, street fighting (though we haven't seen that yet, maybe tomorrow), all those names of cowboys that we know from films, but they were really here, really shooting each other. We toured the courthouse and read the story of the O.K. Corral, great fun. we stopped in for lunch at the Longhorn Restaurant and then visited the famous Bird Cage Theatre. we have included some of the pictures. Tomorrow I think we will take a ride on the Butterfield Stage and go see the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
Here is a link for mobile phones:
On Tuesday evening we flew into Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, picked up a rental car and were reunited with our truck and trailer. Once I had jump started the truck we had power and everything seemed fine. No Bugs, no water, no worries (a bit of mold in the Fridge, as we had forgotten to leave it open). A good nights sleep and we were ready for the off. Wednesday morning we packed up in Phoenix, returned the rental car and by 10.30 we were passing the campground I had picked out for our first night, however because we were so well up on time we pressed on to our first big destination - Tombstone. Tombstone is out in the desert, right out in the desert, like Bodie in California, if it wasn't for silver mining no one in there right mind would want to live here. It has that unreal quality about it that makes you think you really are in a film, stage coaches coming past, cowboys on the street, street fighting (though we haven't seen that yet, maybe tomorrow), all those names of cowboys that we know from films, but they were really here, really shooting each other. We toured the courthouse and read the story of the O.K. Corral, great fun. we stopped in for lunch at the Longhorn Restaurant and then visited the famous Bird Cage Theatre. we have included some of the pictures. Tomorrow I think we will take a ride on the Butterfield Stage and go see the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
Here is a link for mobile phones:
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| Tombstone |
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