Goldfield, Nevada

I left my faculty luncheon just a tad early to make it to the airport after the last day of school (tears!). We ran down to Vegas and then drove toward Tonopah, Nevada. We were just checking out the little towns along the way like Indian Springs and Beatty. Tonopah is where I went to church when I lived in Goldfield. Bless those people for keeping me sane! This is the view outside of our hotel. It's all about mining.

The next morning we headed back toward Goldfield and stopped off at the cemetery. It's historic. Goldfield at one time was Nevada's largest city. You know, back in the boom time. Not anymore.



My old school. We used to be the Mustangs...wonder why they changed it to Eagles. Those eighth graders were like baptism by fire. Some of them came on a dirt road from 32 miles away. I had five girls and five boys. I learned a thing or two in that school. Also, standing on that gravel playground one day during recess, a stealth bomber flew right by, nice and low. The kids and I were all amazed! I did not appreciate the horny toads and tarantulas my students found outside, but life was never dull with that class. One day, we took the whole entire school, K-8 swimming at Furnace Creek in Death Valley. The secretary planned it!



This is where I lived while teaching eighth grade in Goldfield, Nevada. Uh huh. This trailer was owned by Esmeralda County School District, just for teachers like me. I had the place to myself, all three bedrooms and two bathrooms. However, I wasn't able to furnish it with much. K was shocked to learn that I slept on the livingroom floor the whole time. No air mattress, no bed. Hey, you do what you have to. I don't know if the district still owns it, but it doesn't look like the owner has tried to maintain it at all. I was surprised to find it still sitting there, because it was older-ish when I lived in it, though clean enough and comfortable enough. Yep, my old stompin' grounds!



Once we relived J's glory days in Goldfield, we headed for Death Valley National Park. Our first stop in the park was Scotty's Castle. We didn't really have time to take a tour, but we walked around the grounds and bought a couple of postcards. Actually, we had lunch at their picnic site which is probably the nicest spot in Death Valley. Someone planted a bunch of palm trees long ago and the breeze and the shade made for a lovely lunch. We did get to hear some of the organ music.



On the way to Furnace Creek, we took this little loop through the Borax. I'll leave you with a couple of scenery shots from that loop. So long, Death Valley! We drove through Pahrump back to Las Vegas and found ourselves at a buffet at The Orleans. From there, we returned the Dodge Charger to Enterprise (are you getting all these details, Web Stalkers???), and took the shuttle from Remote Parking to the airport. This trip was our first experience ever with Southwest Airlines and it was all fine, but we really don't care for the lining up/open seating thing.