Friday, October 31, 2014

Happy birthday, Nevada

If you have read much of my blog, you will have noticed that I have a real love for Nevada.  Now, I don't mean Las Vegas, but the rural, less populated parts of the state.  My love for the state grew from the year long internship that I did in Virginia City during the late 80s.   This Friday (October 31) will mark the state's anniversary.  On 31 October 1864, just days before the Presidential elections, Nevada was ushered into statehood in time to cast its electoral votes for Lincoln.  In honor of the "Battle Born" state, I submit a collection of my photos which have appeared in my blog over the past ten years.

You can click on the photo to enlarge it and to see the sites.  Here they are from the top middle, working clockwise:

  • Austin,
  • Eureka,
  • locomotive at Northern Nevada Railroad Museum in Ely
  • the Nevada Club in Ely
  • two other shots from the Northern Nevada Railroad.  The ruins are in Treasure City (near Hamilton---another ghost town, south of Eureka
  • me backpacking in the Ruby Mountains
  • Highway 50 (there are two shots of different sections of this road)
  • the train station in Caliente,
  • Boulder Dam 
  • Las Vegas.
  • Rachel
  • the bottle house at Ryolite 
  • a desert rainstorm along US 93
  • the Goldfield Hotel, Goldfield
  • the Mizpah Hotel in Tonopah
  • Joshua Trees
  • Virginia City and Mt. Davidson
  • the Virginia and Truckee Railroad engine in Moundhouse
  • Marlette Lake (near Tahoe)
  • Julie, former bartender at the Union Brewery in Virginia City
  • Pyramid Lake
  • railroad in the Black Rock Desert near Gerlach.  

14 comments:

  1. Interesting! Thanks

    ALOHA from Honolulu
    ComfortSpiral
    =^..^= . <3 . >< } } (°>



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  2. That love of Nevada and the west and southwest in general that comes out in your writings made me wonder at the move to the third corner of a triangle. Still I'pose in your game you go where the Big Boss tells you to go.

    I was kinda amazed that Nevada was the 36th in the list of States by population. Well not so much with Nevada but in the ones below it. I'd never have put any of the New England States below Nevada. 5 btw. No, I'd have put it near the bottom with Montana Idaho Wyoming and Alaska.
    And why is North Carolina so much more populous relative to South Carolina. Can it really be so simple as cigarettes.

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    1. Vince, Nevada has boomed in population over the past few decades (especially the area around Las Vegas). As you can see, there is still a lot of the state that is wild and open. I have found stuff to celebrate and explore in everywhere I've lived and I have lived all over the continental US (when you start looking at schooling and summer jobs). As for NC over SC (I'll try to keep my bias in check), but NC is larger, has a variety of geography and as a state has been open to investing in forward thinking technology (from railroads in the 19th century to creating the "research triangle" which has become a high tech center that links together Duke, NC State and Univ of NC.

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  3. Oh gosh you know I adore Nevada, Red Rock Canyon and especially Virginia City as they are dear to my heart too. It's quite true far too many folks hear Nevada and think Las Vegas. I'm still spreading the word about Red Rock Canyon just minutes from the strip, and will always take folks out there, relatives or friends. Last time we had a girl's trip out there, I took my huge Ghost Town book along (actually just notes from it) and we toured some of the locations. Yep, a few were much more interesting in the book, but it was a riot to actually go check them out. It was a remarkable trip too, we saw a lot of police cars catching folks speeding in from California and we actually saw a pink '58 or older Cadillac with Elvis driving dressed in a white suit! I think he was headed to one of the casinos for a show! But it made our day. Happy Birthday Nevada!

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    1. Early in blog (in 2005), I wrote about climbing Turtlehead in Red Rocks (http://sagecoveredhills.blogspot.com/2005/03/turtlehead.html). It is an interesting state and the year I spent in Virginia City will always be a highlight of my life.

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  4. great selection of photos to celebrate Nevada's birthday

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  5. I know from my journeys across the state that I would get along just fine with Nevada (outside of Vegas anyway) but I haven't spent much time there. For now, I just have to wait for the kids to get older to get back out west.

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  6. cool. i have never been...i have flown over...and been all around but...i have good friends moving back there over christmas....

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  7. I don't know much about Nevada--though now I know its birthday. Happy birthday, Nevada! :)

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  8. What a great reminder that Nevada is SO much more than just Vegas!

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  9. There's so much to see in Nevada! I've only seen a few of those.

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  10. What a lovely state - one in which we mainly associate with Las Vegas. Thanks for the eye opener!

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  11. I've seen a lot of those old posts! I agree with you about Nevada. If you deleted the population of the Las Vegas and Reno metro areas, there would be less than 500,000 people in the entire state. It is wide open and wild country. You and I share a love for the desert and other wild places. If the opportunity ever arose, I think you and I would have great time exploring together.

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