Parks and Paths: From aliens to ghosts!👻

The Last Supper was created by Albert Szukalski in 1984 at the Goldwell Open Air Museum near Rhyolite (ghost town near Beatty, NV). The Belgian artist was known for sculpting "ghosts."

I forgot to mention yesterday that parts of Star Wars IV, A New Hope and Star Wars VI, Return of the Jedi were filmed at Death Valley.

Our first stop on Thursday was Zabriskie Point offering a view of golden colored badlands. A great place to view the sunrise and sunset, although we are old and can't seem to do either! The yellow and brown striped hills have been shaped by the forces of water. Salt flats and the Panamint mountains are in the distance. This stop also offers a couple of hikes.

Thursday was a bit cooler, in the upper 90's.

Like I said, not very crowded, lol.

Just 1/4 of a mile up to the views.

You can see where water runs through the basin.

Salt flat

Our second stop within the park boundaries was the Harmony Borax Works near the Furnace Creek area. Borax was a profitable ore mined here beginning in 1883 until 1888. The area was known for it's 20 mule team that pulled the double wagon through the heat to Mohave. Salt was scraped off and refined by evaporization and crystallization.

Chinese workers lived in shelters and tents in the flats below the mine.

The water boiler.

A 20 mule team double wagon. The number of mules used actually varied and would include a couple of horses. Horses were stronger, mules smarter.

A water tank was pulled behind the wagons.

A salt flat.

Remnants of a building below the mine.

Saw several signs for open range Donkeys, saw none.

Next stop was outside the National Park at a ghost town, Rhyolite. It was a huge mining town in the very early 1900's, but it didn't last long.

Goldwell Open Air Museum. A group of Belgian artists, led by Albert Szukalski, have created several sculptures near Rhyolite.

Ghost Rider, 1984

Sit Here! 2000

Rock Labyrinth

Cairn garden?

Lady Desert: The Venus of Nevada, 1992

Origami bird

Supposedly there are or were? 3 glass houses, yes made of glass bottles, in this town. Tom Kelly's bottle (approximately 51,000 beer bottles) and adobe house was built around 1905 and is the most famous. It was the only one we saw. Can you guess why glass bottles were a good building choice?

It has an interesting history. Kelly never lived there and auctioned it off for $5 in 1906 and it was abandoned when the town was. Two movies, "Airmail" and "Wanderers of the Wasteland," were filmed there and featured the house in 1925 after which it became a museum. A resident caretaker lived their from 1936-1954.

The miniature houses around the yard were added by the family with 8 kids that lived there from sometime after 1954 until 1969.

The three story bank.

H. D. and L. D. Porter General Store

Back of the train station built by the Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad.

Front view. The Spanish style building cost $130,000 to build. In the 1930's it became a casino and bar and then it became a small souvenirs and gift shop that stayed open into the 1970's.