Sunday, February 17, 2013

Where? and more than that...WHY?

Death Valley, California via Beatty, Nevada for a week of gawking, laughing, and taking many hundreds of photographs of places and things rarely seen.  The last time that I remember being here was with Bob and Marsha about 15 years ago in the dead of winter.  Now there were 4 of us again, Audrey, Kelly, Furry and I.  Yes, we took the Queen of Kats with us to roll in the dirt and sand.  We had a great time, better, I think anyway, that we thought we would.  Audrey, however, was suffering through a cold/virus that left her with a lingering weariness and sore throat (no fever thank Gawd), but otherwise frisky enough to get up and go every morning at 7am sharp! Now for a picture or two...
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Panorama of Beatty, NV in the near distance, quite a sweet place actually, good food too!
 Then a pile of tin roofing pulled off of Mr. Beatty's 1st house.
 Mr. Beatty's original home being rebuilt by local folks from the original rocks!
 No, we didn't stay here, closed in the Winter it was.  Nice early 50's example.
 
 
 
Now...I'm not saying that Beatty, Nevada is a Pretty place...it's a REAL place with real people living their lives like every American does...to their own drummer of the desert.  The closest "city" is south of here...Pahrump  (Pah-Rump), famous for it's brothels in days past, now? Who knows?  Beatty has no grocery store but they would really like one as the trip to Pahrump takes about 1 Hr and 15 minutes (75 miles one-way!).  They have a Denny's, a nice folk Museum, The Happy Burro Bar, a big Casino (Denny's is inside), a gas station or two, a candy store extra-ordinaire and other small businesses to round out their local commerce.  Population about 600 according to the local's we spoke to in the Happy Burro.  Spread out on about a 1 square mile site 10 miles outside the National Park boundry.  Rhyolite ghost town is a nice visit too and it's about 5 miles back on the road to the park. 
 
Clouds dropping snow on the Black Mtns near Rhyolite.




Red Rock Canyon near Owens Lake, CA.
My long-day shadow.
Panorama along Highway 190 near Owens Lake, CA.
The shore of Owens Lake, CA