November 2004 - CA AZ NV
This is what happens when you go looking for a photo and then spend an hour cleaning up the folder. You come across real treasures!
On this trip we were based in Palm Springs for a week and then Lake Havasu AZ (post coming later) for a week, in timeshare.
PALM SPRINGS
We'd been coming to Palm Springs since 1991.
Gay Parade
YUMA AZ
Around the time the railroad arrived, a full century after its founding by Spanish missionaries, Yuma was the site of Arizona Territory’s main prison.
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Convicts struggled in the 120°F heat to build the stone and adobe prison, which earned a reputation as the “Hellhole of Arizona,” due in large part to the summer heat and the brutality of its regime, though park rangers emphasize the fact that prisoners had access to a library and other facilities unusual at the time. It operated 33 years until it was closed in 1909 and is now preserved as the state-run Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park, the site consists of a few of the cells and the main gate, as well as a small museum.
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From the prison, a rickety pedestrian-only steel bridge (formerly part of US-80) leads across the Colorado River to California and the St. Thomas Indian Mission church on the Quechan Fort Yuma Indian Reservation.
We also visited Oatman AZ.
Oatman was named in honor of Olive Oatman, who as a young girl, was kidnapped by an Apache tribe, sold toMojave Indians and later rescued in a trade in 1857 near the current site of the town. Oatman was served by a narrow gauge rail line between 1903 and 1905 that ran 17 miles to the Colorado River near Needles, California.
But both the population and mining booms were short-lived. In 1921, a fire burned down many of the smaller shacks in town, and three years later, the main mining company, United Eastern Mines, shut down operations for good.
Oatman survived by catering to travelers on old U.S. Route 66. But in the 1960s, when the route became what is now Interstate 40, Oatman almost died.
The burros are tame and can be fed.
The Oatman Hotel, built in 1902, is the oldest two-story adobe structure in Mojave County and has housed many miners, movie stars, politicians and other scoundrels. The town was used as the location for several movies such as How The West Was Won, Foxfire and Edge of Eternity.
Clark Gable and Carol Lombard honeymooned at the Oatman Hotel March 18, 1939.
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From the prison, a rickety pedestrian-only steel bridge (formerly part of US-80) leads across the Colorado River to California and the St. Thomas Indian Mission church on the Quechan Fort Yuma Indian Reservation.
Oatman was named in honor of Olive Oatman, who as a young girl, was kidnapped by an Apache tribe, sold toMojave Indians and later rescued in a trade in 1857 near the current site of the town. Oatman was served by a narrow gauge rail line between 1903 and 1905 that ran 17 miles to the Colorado River near Needles, California.
But both the population and mining booms were short-lived. In 1921, a fire burned down many of the smaller shacks in town, and three years later, the main mining company, United Eastern Mines, shut down operations for good.
Oatman survived by catering to travelers on old U.S. Route 66. But in the 1960s, when the route became what is now Interstate 40, Oatman almost died.
The burros are tame and can be fed.
The Oatman Hotel, built in 1902, is the oldest two-story adobe structure in Mojave County and has housed many miners, movie stars, politicians and other scoundrels. The town was used as the location for several movies such as How The West Was Won, Foxfire and Edge of Eternity.
Clark Gable and Carol Lombard honeymooned at the Oatman Hotel March 18, 1939.
Then we went to Kingman AZ.
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Who knew back then that when we retired we would often pass this town on our way to and from Las Vegas.
We made our first of many visits to the Hoover Dam and our second visit to Las Vegas, the first was in 1991!
LAS VEGAS
The New Frontier (formerly Last Frontier and The Frontier) was a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip. It was the second resort that opened on the Las Vegas Strip and operated continuously from October 30, 1942 until it closed on July 16, 2007. The building was demolished on November 13, 2007.The land is now owned by Crown Resorts who abandoned their project to build the Alon Las Vegas in May 2017 and put it up for sale.
Sadly, gone also.
LOS ANGELES
We were heading to the airport and only spent some time around Olvera St. near Chinatown and Union Station.
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Who knew back then that when we retired we would often pass this town on our way to and from Las Vegas.
We made our first of many visits to the Hoover Dam and our second visit to Las Vegas, the first was in 1991!
LAS VEGAS
The New Frontier (formerly Last Frontier and The Frontier) was a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip. It was the second resort that opened on the Las Vegas Strip and operated continuously from October 30, 1942 until it closed on July 16, 2007. The building was demolished on November 13, 2007.The land is now owned by Crown Resorts who abandoned their project to build the Alon Las Vegas in May 2017 and put it up for sale.
Sadly, gone also.
LOS ANGELES
We were heading to the airport and only spent some time around Olvera St. near Chinatown and Union Station.
The burros are a sweet sight!
ReplyDelete...Jackie, you have seen more American treasures than I have, I'm jealous. Thanks for sharing this wonderful collection. Where are we going next?
ReplyDelete