6655 SW Wilson Avenue

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Rhyolite, NV

Prospector and Penguin?

Tribute to Shorty Harris (1994) -
by Fred Bervoets

Before entering Death Valley we passed though the ghost town of Rhyolite. It was a booming mining town around the turn of the century.

Ghost Rider -
by Albert Szukalski

These sculptures are part of the Goldwell Open Air Museum and were created by a group of Belgian Artists.

Lady Desert: The Venus of Nevada (1992) -
by Dr. Hugo Heyrman

Rhyolite Last Supper -
by Albert Szukalski

Sit Here! (2000) - by Sophie Siegmann

Rhyolite Train Station

The train station is privately owned and guarded by a tall chain link fence.

Most of the other buildings in town are just ruins (and unfortunately it seems that I didn't take a picture of any of them).

Bottle House - built by Tom Kelly in 1906

Hopefully I will be able to ID some of these plants. Check back over the next few days.

After looking at the sculptures and the ruins of the ghost town we found another geocache in the area and enjoyed more desert wildflowers.

These flowers were extremely tiny. Click here to see them next to a toothpick.

Beatty, NV

We arrived in Las Vegas late Friday night and drove to Beatty, Nevada just north of Death Valley.

We spent the night in the Stagecoach - it had good reviews online but our room was near the laundry facilities or something. Loud machine noises kept us awake, and I accidentally set the time on the alarm clock and we woke up 2 hours earlier than we intended.

Bird in a palm tree outside the Stagecoach.

There were lots of these birds in the trees and on the Stagecoach sign. They were very noisy and made strange sounds.

Beatty has it's own "B" up on the mountain, just like the Hollywood sign.

Desert Paintbrush - Castilleja chromosa

Location of our first Nevada geocache.

Shortly after leaving the hotel we stopped at this rocky area along the roadside to search for a geocache.

View from the top.

Closeup of mountain.

Mormon Tea - Ephedra torreyana

Narrow-Leaf Crypanth -
Crypantha angustifolia -
AKA White Forget-Me-Nots

Gravel Ghost - Atrichoseris platyphylla

Friday, April 4, 2008

Rainbow over PDX

View from I-5 N looking eastward

Actually this rainbow was much better looking in real life. It was actually a double rainbow and we could see both ends touch the ground.

Unfortunately I'm not practiced enough to know the right settings for this weather phenomenon and my camera doesn't have a "rainbow setting". Here's another view.

Oh yeah, I'm making this post using the free wireless we have at the airport. We're on our way to Vegas tonight and we'll be in Death Valley tomorrow.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Afternoon with Amanda

Amanda in front of her house.

I was feeling kind of bad about all the unfinished projects we have at our house, and my friend Amanda said "oh, you should see mine... we're in the middle of all kinds of projects."

Amanda's back yard.

She gave me a tour of the house and the yard, and then we walked over to the pond behind her neighbors house. Unfortunately the ducks and heron were uncooperative so I don't have any photos.

White violets.

Back at the front door, I noticed these violets. I stopped to take a picture and Amanda wondered why I was inspecting "the weeds". I don't know. I just love violets.

Ornamental cherries

There were a bunch of chickadees and other little birds in the trees and the weather was beautiful.

Amanda and I planted a few rows of peas, carrots and radishes in her garden.

Double daffodils

When I left Amanda gave me a big bunch of her daffodils. They really brighten up our living room.

Monday, March 31, 2008

Hiking Springville to Germantown and Back

Our path today.

Aaron and I hiked a total of about 6.6 miles today.

We started out at Old Springville Road and hiked down Hardesty to Leif Erickson. We followed Leif Erickson all the way to Germantown Road. From there we took the new Canon trail up to Wildwood and followed WW all the way back to Springville.