everything that we've found says make your own destiny

Hello, middle of December!

Just wanted to drop in for a quick, picture-update. A few weekends ago David and I hit the AZ highway and headed toward Wickenburg, Arizona. It's a very small, very picturesque/quintessential Western town that's chock-full of cowboys, antique shops and dusty roads!

Our mission? To walk around the tattered grounds of Vulture Mine, one of the best preserved boom towns from the 1800s/early 1900s. It's thought to be haunted and was even featured on the Travel Channel's "Ghost Adventures." (btw - I totally have a crush on Aaron Goodwin).

Because I can, I'm totally counting it as a museum from our 2010 list of things to do! We learned lots of cool historical details and had a blast in the process. I'll intersperse bits of trivia throughout the pics.

Just lying around the old city, half buried...





As I began venturing into this room, I was warned to watch my step. "Lots of snakes in there." Shudder.


Another abandoned car


Vulture Mine was discovered in 1863 by Henry Wickenburg. For the math-tarded (like me), that's 148 years ago! Wowzas.




This is the old Brothel House. The following three pictures were also taken in the brothel.








The kitchen area in the brothel








Me in the brothel...err


Worn down buildings. Fun fact: Vulture Mine produced gold worth more than 200 million dollars! A large portion of said gold was stolen, which leads me to the...


Yes, the hanging tree! This is where 18 robbers were hung for their thievery.


Near the tree. I'm not sure why there's a door there.


I can kind of see why this was the tree they chose. In the desert, there aren't many trees like this -- mostly cacti, palms and a few tiny, twiggy trees.


This is the power plant. It was kind of creepy...


And, of course, mining materials.


This was taken in the main gold mining facility. So were the following four:










This is the machine that reeled the gold up from under the ground!


I forget exactly how far down it went, but it was WAY down there...


This is the main offices/town center. That hole in the ground is where the gold was stored!


Picture from the outside


And another.


Another building -- the following pictures are all from the same building:












(is it bad I want every single one of these "props"?



David's always sillier than me, though:


Whew! That's a lot of pictures! :) I have a few more for you, though. On our way back from Vulture Mine, we drove by this SUPER cool, worn down building. Of course, we had to pull a u-turn so I could get my vintage fix for the day. :D


Seriously, my heart stopped when I saw this glorious, glorious place!


It was called, "HANKS, Open Dayley."

While at first I thought "dayley" was a play on words, the more I read the descriptions on items housed inside on dusty shelves, the more I started to think differently! Speaking of inside, the second we walked through the doors, we heard an old man's voice from the back.

He kept saying, "I'm coming, I'm coming! It takes me a while to get around these days." A few minutes later, a dear man named Hank made an appearance. He told us everything about everything, including his life and how his antique shop used to be his mom's little grocery store. Based on what Hank told us, we guestimated him around 85-95 years old. If we go back, I *promise* I'll get a picture. :)

A few more pictures:







Mmk, that's a lot of pictures. Enjoy! And if I don't drop by before the end of the year, HAPPY NEW YEAR!