Ghost Town #2

This is the old mining town of Berlin. In the late 1800's they mined

gold. This ghost town is one of many in Nevada
A stark reminder of a hard life.



Two or three miles down the road is Ichthyosaur state park. Millions of years ago when Nevada
was at the equator, these fish (50-70 ft long) swam in the ocean. Somehow they died and geologists have found at least 39 in this area. There is a small quarry here that shows some of the bones. Most of the other bones they found were excavated in an archaeological dig and then covered back up. It's pretty weird to see skeleton's of fish out in the desert!

We liked the old truck

Since the price of gold has gone up so high, a company is mining again right outside of the park.

Ghost town #1

This picture is overlooking the ghost town of Bannack.
I got a kick out of the different wall papers that are still on the walls. This must have been how the "respectable" women showed their personalities. They didn't go out of their houses unescorted. Out of the 200-300 men in the town, there were only about 20 "respectable" women.

This is the jail. It has a heavy thick door and rings in the floor to chain up the prisoner.

This is the original courthouse, later turned into a hotel

Ah, the winding staircase

The bankers house

I like visiting ghost towns and seeing what the miners and their families lived in and try to get a small taste what life was like for them many years ago. We found this one and I would go visit again. There are over 50 buildings that you can go into. My favorite house was the bankers. It had 11 rooms in it and a winding staircase. Fixed up, I could live in it today :-)

My favorite mountains

The first time I saw the Tetons it was in the spring and I thought I was in heaven. There was still snow on the peaks, the sky was blue as blue can be and the grasses and meadows were vivid green.
This moose has the biggest web I have ever seen. Two big boys right together!

Cabin in the Tetons. Bruce and John

This was also a big boy!

I love the jagged look of these peaks

On Oct 30, a hunter was mauled by a grizzly in this area. He had his pepper spray and did all of the right things and the bear left him. The man was pretty scraped up but didn't die.

We decided that this famous barn was famous because of the mountains behind it not necessarily because of the barn itself.They haven't had much snow yet, so the elk haven't moved down. The hunters aren't too happy and the ski resorts aren't either. They are making snow!

You can go into this little church. Bruce joked as he sat in the pew that it was the first time in quite awhile that he had sat in a church.