Sharing photos, videos, vintage images I've discovered, and -- occasionally -- commentary and thoughts from retired life and travels.

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Images from Bannack–006

January 25, 2011

Masonic Lodge and School House

The first schools in Bannack were subscription schools – essentially private schools with parents paying tuition for their children to attend.

Masonic Lodge and School House, Bannack State Park, Montana

In 1874, Bannack Masonic Lodge No. 16 built a combination lodge and school building.  The school was a public school serving students in K through 8th grade.  It finally closed in the 1950s.  The school was on the bottom floor and the lodge on the second.

Masonic Lodge and School House, Bannack State Park, Montana

Masonic Lodge and School House, Bannack State Park, Montana

Masonic Lodge and School House, Bannack State Park, Montana

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Bannack, Montana was founded in 1862 after a major gold discovery.  It served as the capital of Montana Territory briefly during the civil war.  The last residents left in the 1970s.

“Images from Bannack” are from July 30, 2010, our third visit to Bannack.

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Images from Bannack – 005

January 22, 2011

Graeter House - Bannack State Park, Montana

Graeter House – (above) Augustus Graeter and his wife, Emily Drury were married in Nebraska in 1860 and arrived in Bannack in 1862. In partnership with A. J. Smith, they constructed the Smith – Graeter Ditch in 1863 to provide water for mining.  The ditch, along with others, helped sustain and contributed to the expansion of mining operations in Bannack.  In 1897, his company built the gold dredge, which operated along Grasshopper Creek until 1902.

Bannack State Park, Montana

Turner House, Bannack State Park, Montana

Turner House – Like most buildings in Bannack, this cabin saw many different uses over the years. This house was last owned by the Turner family before being acquired by the State of Montana.  Arthur Contway purchased the building in the early 1900s and it served as his residence, Post Office, barbershop and had the only telephone in town for some time.

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Bannack, Montana was founded in 1862 after a major gold discovery.  It served as the capital of Montana Territory briefly during the civil war.  The last residents left in the 1970s.

“Images from Bannack” are from July 30, 2010, our third visit to Bannack.

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Images from Bannack–004

January 19, 2011

Bannack State Park, Montana

Bannack State Park, Montana

Bannack State Park, Montana

_______

Bannack, Montana was founded in 1862 after a major gold discovery.  It served as the capital of Montana Territory briefly during the civil war.  The last residents left in the 1970s.

“Images from Bannack” are from July 30, 2010, our third visit to Bannack.

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Images from Bannack–003

January 16, 2011

A view through a Bannack window.

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Wallpaper inside the Bannack State Park visitor center.

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Bannack, Montana was founded in 1862 after a major gold discovery.  It served as the capital of Montana Territory briefly during the civil war.  The last residents left in the 1970s.

“Images from Bannack” are from July 30, 2010, our third visit to Bannack.

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Images from Bannack–002

January 11, 2011

A Sundancer Class C motorhome at Bannack State Park, Montana.

Sundancer Class C at Bannack State Park, Montana

A view from the Bannack State Park visitor parking lot.

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The State Park visitor center building, below,  was once owned and occupied by carpenter George French.

The Bannack State Park visitor center building

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Bannack, Montana was founded in 1862 after a major gold discovery.  It served as the capital of Montana Territory briefly during the civil war.  The last residents left in the 1970s.

“Images from Bannack” are from July 30, 2010, our third visit to Bannack.

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Dodged an icy bullet!

January 29, 2010

We’ve been watching this storm system move our way all week – and we’ve been getting ready for it.

ice_coating_on_tree

Yesterday, the weather forecast was that we could get as a .75 inch coating of ice on trees and power lines – enough ice to be disastrous.

Fortunately, though, the ice here didn’t get more than a quarter of an inch. Fortunately, the freezing rain changed to sleet and, later, snow.

It was enough, though, that we didn’t venture out all day – no need.  We’ve got about 4 inches of snow on top of the ice.

We were ready, though, just in case.

One of the first things I did was to move the motorhome between the house and the shop.  The area where it is normally parked is next to and under several large pines.  After our close call last year, when an ice storm dropped branches, power lines and even whole trees not too far north of us, we decided that we would move it to a safer location if another ice storm was forecast for our area.

We also made sure we had enough groceries, which we did.

Just in case we lost power like we did last year, I had topped off the fuel tank in the motorhome.  I also moved our other smaller generator up to the front porch and made sure I found the cords for running power to the refrigerator, fireplace blower, computers and TV.

Despite the winter weather we’ve had this year, we haven’t lost power this season – yet!

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Mesa Top

December 18, 2009

September 15, 2009 – Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

On our last full day in Colorado, we toured the six-mile Mesa Top Loop Drive, visiting most of the archeological exhibits and overlooks.

square_tower_house

Square Tower House cliff dwelling is named for the four-story-high structure standing against the curved back wall of the alcove.  About 60 of the original 80 rooms of Square Tower House remain.

square_tower_house-2

All of the cliff dwellings, including Square Tower House, were part of the final Mesa Verde building phase.  People lived here between AD 1200 and 1300.

lizard_on_the_ruins

Small lizard on a ruin wall

horses

After spending the morning among the ruins, we took a drive in the afternoon.  At one point, we found ourselves on open range, with the road blocked by a herd of horses.  As I very slowly eased the car forward, the horses parted and let us through.

Commentary and images from the road

image and information from September 15, 2009

This post is being simultaneously published on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About

Pithouse – For thousands of years, native peoples were living in the surrounding areas before coming to Mesa Verde.  As with people all over the Southwest, Ancestral Puebloans lived in modest dwellings  — shallow pits dug into the ground, covered with pole and mud roofs and walls, with entrances through the roofs.

pithouse

In this excavation (above), what appears to be one pithouse is actually two.  The larger one, built first, around AD 700, was destroyed by fire. The smaller one, which looks like an antechamber to a larger room, is actually a second pithouse built soon after the first one burned.  It contains a new feature, a verticle ventilator shaft in one side, which appears in pithouses from then on — innovation!

cermonial_chamber

Above is an Ancestral Puebloan kiva – an undeground religious room.  The small circular hole in the floor is a sipapu, a symbolic entrance into the underworld – the Pueblo place of origin.  This early kiva design was continued in the Mesa Verde villages and cliff dwellings.

fire_signs_at_mesa_verde

Many fires have swept across Mesa Verde over time.  Recent fires have exposed previously undiscovered Puebloan sites.

our_campsite

At our campsite on our final afternoon in
Colorado, 2009.

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Bull !!!

September 10, 2009

2009 09 04 038ed-for blog

I first saw this big fellow from the road below the campground. He and ten or more other elk had moved up into the trees between the campground, which is on a lateral moraine and the Moraine Park meadows below.

I walked back up the trail to the camper to let Karen know about elk being very close to the campground and then walked a few sites down to see if I could see them again. Sure enough, there they were. This big bull elk was in the woods slowly moving up the valley.

At about the same time, I could hear a bunch of coyotes yipping off in the other direction. We had heard a some a couple of nights before, but not nearly as clearly.

Eventually the bull elk bedded down for the day. I guess they are most active at night with their feeding and breeding. The meadows are closed to the public from 5 PM to 7 AM during the rutting season. The closure started the first week of September.

Where this guy decided to bed down was pretty neat, too — right below our campside. I took the picture of our camper below from the same spot that I shot the image above.

2009 09 04 039ed-for blog

This post is being simultaneously published on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About.

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Still no power and it gets even worse ….

June 13, 2009

no water and no power
image uploaded to flicker
by ziga-zaga
There is a Creative Commons license attached to this image.

We went to Little Rock today, as planned, despite the storm debris that needs to be picked up in the yard — and the tree and branches that need to be cut up.

We didn’t stay long — just did a little shopping and visited with our daughter and son-in-law before heading home.

Not long after we got home we discovered that we didn’t have any water pressure.

No power and, now, no water.

Great.  :(

So…, we headed back into town to buy some water for drinking, flushing, and, cooking.  I’m sure there’ll be a boil water order to use water out of the tap until testing shows the water is safe to drink.  At 72¢ a gallon, though, it’s worth it not to have to deal with having to boiling water.

Then we went for pizza.

We’ll be sleeping in the camper tonight — sure is nice to have a generator and a cool place to sleep as the weather has turned warm and humid.

The good news — there are lots of Entergy (local electric power company — and my former employer) crews in the area working on the power problem

day 9

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Traveling in Tennessee

May 2, 2009

Stopped at a rest area on I40 in Tennessee

Stopped at a rest area on I40 in Tennessee

We left yesterday morning and got to the campground around 4 PM.

I’ll be posting a few photos from the trip on this blog, but will be posting about the trip — along with more photos — on my Out ‘n About blog.  The first post there is titled On the road in rainy Tennessee.

Tomorrow or the next day we’ll be traveling on to Great Smoky National Park where we’ll be camping several days and, hopefully, taking a few hikes.  With current weather forecast, that might be iffy.  With the recent rain, some of the falls in the mountains ought to be spectacular.

Traveler's Health Alert posted at rest area

Traveler's Health Alert posted at rest area

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