Adventures in Rehab... The Salty West

Last weekends adventure... headed out west to salt flats with a friend and her 16 year old son who wanted to take pictures for some some video game graphics. First stop, the tree sculpture along I-80... It's an odd landmark out in the middle of nowhere in barren west desert. I've driven by it many times but never stopped to get a good look before. There is no turn off and I don't think you are supposed to stop but am glad we did. Whizzing by at 70 miles an hour I've never really appreciated the detail of all the mosaics up on the balls Metaphor: The Tree of Utah

Next stop the Bonneville Salt Flats, am expanse of salt crust that is famous for being the place the land speed records are set... though not this time of year as the flats were mostly under water. I guess that is why 'Speed Week' happens in the fall!

I also got a reminder on why I need to work on my photography... all the "whiteness" messed with my exposure... I really need learn to use the manual features of my camera better... and actually used them.

Since we were way out west anyhow, we headed in to Wendover to check out the the Historic Wendover Airfield, a World War II era bomber base. We got there to late to visit the museum, but did climb around inside the old aircraft and walked around all the old ramshackle buildings.

Castles on the hill...

I'm a single gal. Been that way for quite some time. A few years ago my next door neighbor Mabel lost her her boyfriend of 20+ years, and since we found ourselves to be the two single chicks on the street we started doing a weekly girls night out. Dinner, cocktails, other adventures. Mabel is 86, and last fall, after having a few heart issues, moved out of the neighborhood and into a retirement home, a tough thing for a vibrant, active woman. We have continued our girls night, and after dinner often take a ride, which Mabel really enjoys since she doesn't get out as much as she'd like.

This weeks Tuesday night adventure took us south for dinner, and decided to explore the south mountain area a bit... Being from the north end of town the south mountain area is all unknown territory for us. There is huge LDS temple that looms high on the mountainside in the south east corner of the valley, and thinking the gardens there may be nice we headed up there. Turns out there was not much to see at the temple, but as things work here in Salt Lake the higher up the hill you climb the bigger, fancier and more affluent the housing becomes so we decided to do a little real estate tour and see how the other half live. As we drove up to the highest point in the neighborhood, a street that ran up hill behind the temple, we were quite surprised to find a whole street of castles.

Yes, castles. Brand new,(many still for sale), modern day castles. Whoda thunk? A neighborhood full of castles. Brand new medieval Utah. Stone exteriors, turrets, spires. Honestly, I was surprised that nobody had a draw bridge. I wonder if they joust at their block parties? I've seen the occasional castle around town but never a whole street of them. Which got me thinking.... I'm single, and since becoming single have made a lot of single girlfriends. Lets face it, single gals are always on a quest to meet Prince Charming. As quests seem to go, they seem to be long journeys full of strange adventures and pitfalls and only a few lucky ones have success at ferreting out and enrapturing that prince. But now I realize the problem. We must be looking in all the wrong places... clubs, pubs, online dating sites... all in hopes that Prince Charming may find us. Clearly we should be looking in the places where Prince Charming must be... the castle kingdoms of Salt Lake.

Adventures in Rehab 5/4/13... Eureka, Utah 4

One of the few places in downtown Euraks that wasn't part of 'ghost town' Eureka; the Tintic Mining Museum. It was actually a great little museum.

Adventures in Rehab 5/4/13... Eureka, Utah 3

One of the cool places my friend took me was to the private cemetery of the mine owner. I certainly never would have found that on my own... A short drive out of town, up a quiet road, climb over a cable fence, walk through the woods and there it was, the Fitch cemetery. It's a good thing I had a tour guide!!!

I have to wonder about this grave. Unlike the others there was no headstone, just a tiny metal marker. At first I thought maybe it was a baby who died but the plaque said Aubrey Fitch 1852-1927... I have to wonder it he was the blacksheep of the family or something and that is why his marker was so tiny.

The Tintic Mine

The uppermost building is the Tintic Goldminers Inn

Adventures in Rehab 5/4/13... Eureka Utah 2

I consider myself lucky in my ability to connect with interesting people on my travels. Running into the property owners son (I think his name was Rocky) got us inside the cool old Eureka buildings and told some interesting tales and history.

First an old bar. A bar with a well in the middle of it. I have never seen an indoor well. We were told the well wasn't really used for drinking water, but as a place ot hide the moonshine during prohibition. It was also the place where the guns of disarmed drunks ended up. A door in the back of the bar went to a cave in the room that was said to have housed the stills. The rooms were filled with interesting antiques and memorabilia. As we walked out he pointed out the staircase that led from outside to the second floor, and also had a door into the bar. Apparently the upstairs was a brothel, but back in the day women were not allowed into the bar, so the the bar door had to open into the stairwell for easy access to the women upstairs.

The next building we got access to was being remodeled into a gallery that displayed Billy Baum's (who owned the building) artwork, and other historic items and old photographs of the old mining town. Rocky told us interesting stories about the photographs, I wish I could remember them all.

Adventures in Rehab 5/4/13... Eureka Utah

My rehab photography excursion to Eureka ended up being much more interesting than I expected it to be. Believe it or not I actually know someone in Eureka. (Population 674 in 2011 according to the census bureau.) Jayme. a high school student, is a fellow beadmaker who know through our local lampwork group. His parents own the Tintic Goldminers Inn Bed and Breakfast. When I decided to head to Eureka I messaged him to ask for suggestions, and he invited me to come visit the B&B and volunteered to show me around town.

The old mining town of Eureka is quickly becoming ghost town. Most of the buildings are vacant and in disrepair, yet still give off he vibe of town rich in history. We had a lucky day, much to Jayme's surprise, the mining museum was open for us to visit. Then we bumped into some old fellows, son's of Billy Baum, the man who owns and is trying to restore these old buildings, who invited us to poke around inside and treated us to many interesting stories of the history of Eureka. I just love these chance meetings with interesting people. I have more pictures to come, but first some shots of Main Street Eureka.

The 'Topless' Bar... has no roof...