Napa Valley, CA - March 2013

Napa Valley, CA - March 2013

So, we went to California, did not inhale, but did a bit of tasting.

We were in the area to visit Nola's sister Kim and her son Micah. But, then....there was wine! So, we toured a bit while we tasted and ate too much and talked incessantly. 

The weather was grand and so were the flavors from all of those fine vineyards. Napa Valley is like most places we see now: first time we have been there. Thus, the views are all new and wonderful!

 

 

Pacos NHS Ruins, Pecos, NM - April 2013

Pacos NHS Ruins, Pecos, NM - April 2013

We had a wonderful week in Santa Fe, New Mexico! The weather was as great as the scenery, and the Pacos NHS ruins were as stunning as all of the ruins we have seen. But the beauty of the early American ruin locations is that they are all unique in so many ways.

Make sure you "click" on the panoramic shots!

http://www.nps.gov/history/NR/travel/cultural_diversity/Pecos_National_Historic_Park.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecos_National_Historical_Park

An entrance to a kiva, pit-houses used

for religious and ceremonial purposes 

 Inside a kiva

 Ruins of dwellings

 

Church courtyard

Kiva left, church right

Okay, I saw some really cool cactus in bloom!!

Sue me!

 Crumbling walls, and the view they had back then

 

Church courtyard

 

The architecture of the passageways; awesome arches

 

 

 

 

Eldorado Gold Mine, Nelson, NV - February 2013

Eldorado Gold Mine, Nelson, NV - February 2013

In an out-of-the-way place, where folks hang on to an existence purely because they love the place and what they do there, the Eldorado Mine is one of the finest nostalgic, scenic, and historic places we have been to so far.

In short, YA GOTTA SEE THIS PLACE!!!!

http://www.eldoradocanyonminetours.com/

Quoting from their website (as I cannot say more than their fine words already have):

Man per man and mile per mile Eldorado Canyon has a wider range of historical events than anywhere in the Wild West.

                   Old west history don't get no better than this...

 _ Spanish explorers in the 1700's. (Mexican treasure maps)

 -- In 1880's more men lived in Eldorado Canyon than all of the Las Vegas valley.            

 -- Steamboats ran the Colorado River for over 40 years.

-- The canyon was full of deserters during the Civil War.

-- Two of the most famous renegade Indians were raised in the canyon.
(Avote killing 5 men,  and Queho killing over 20.)                     
-- 1874 claim jumping that resulted in numerous murders & hauntings of the Techatticup Mine.
-- Camp Eldorado 1867. (A forty-nine man Military Post.)
-- John Moss and the Mojave Chief Irataba.
-- The Ives Expedition, 1858. ,