Wickenburg weekend!

First stop was to go to our laundromat so Jeff could do a collection and make sure all was well. It looked really nice and clean inside. It was good for me to see it again. Makes me appreciate it more. Jeff has been doing a great job running and maintaining it. Then it was off to Wickenburg. We actually camped out in the middle of the desert, between the Vulture Mine and Wickenburg. It was a beautiful site and super quite at night. There were actually a lot of people camping all over the desert because it was Wickenburg's "Gold Rush Days." We barbecued both nights. First night hot dogs and chips; and our second night we had huge ribeye steaks and potatoes! Oh man, the juiciest steak I have ever barbecued; and we cooked the potatoes on the charcoal grill too. Fantastic! On Saturday we woke up and got ready and took a walk around the surrounding area, where we camped. Then we went to the Vulture Mine and Ghost town. It was so great to see... about six years ago since we were last there. A lot of the structures have fallen down since then, but still amazing to see. That is one of the best ghost towns in Arizona; a lot of stuff still all around, inside and outside of the buildings. The first structure is the Assay building. That was available to walk through six years ago; but it is seriously falling apart, so they had to block it off. The big "Glory Hole" mine shaft (photo with the collapsing mine shaft structure) goes 3000 feet deep at a constant 35 degree angle all the way down; and there were 7 men and 12 donkeys that died down there. The mine caved in on them (bodies never recovered), and the men were actually trying to rob the mine. They had it coming, but those poor donkeys! The "hanging tree" has seen 18 men hung on it. That is a lot of hangings! It looks old and creepy. That structure right next to the tree where it shows the frame of the door, was Henry Wickenburg's first house. How convenient, next to the hanging tree. I took a picture of a cafe style building, where all the miners would go to eat. That is the original stove and pans on top. Also the pantry hutch is original, ,and the sink. Pretty awesome. We had a blast walking all around the town. As you can also see, pictures of a blacksmith shop, machine shop, a "ball mill" that made steel balls to grind up the ore. We then headed into the town to try to walk around, but there were so many people, we just wanted to leave. We will come back again anyway, to see the shops and historic parts in the old downtown. So then we headed over to a nature conservatory that has the Hassayampa River flowing through it (that would be the water pictures with the most clear water flowing). That is so gorgeous down there. We had a full busy weekend with lots of sightseeing and walking. Now we are home :o)

Samantha could not make it out here after all, because she got sick. So hopefully another time soon!

Enjoy this post!