The weather in Barstow was much better when I woke up this morning and so I traveled just a few miles east to visit Calico Ghost Town. This was a silver mining boom town in 1870s that went bust 20 years later but, being in the desert, some buildings are well preserved. The rest of the town has been restored to look as it was in the 1880s and, since it is run by the local county, I was hoping that it was authentic. My hopes were too optimistic as it felt more like a cheap theme park than a ghost town.

It is clearly a very popular destination for school trips as two different groups were running from building to building telling each other the answers to questions on their worksheets. Of course, I can relate very well to this from my teaching career but it wasn’t what I wanted in a “ghost” town. The other problem was that many of the restored buildings, although probably accurate, were used to hold gift shops, candy stores, restaurants etc. and their outsides were sometimes adorned with modern signs or they had Mastercard and Visa stickers on the windows. For me, the most interesting building was the schoolhouse where the inside had also been restored but, after a short walk around the town, I resumed my journey.

The drive to Las Vegas has a few interesting spots but is largely straight highway. Vegas was my only other stop to get gas and snacks and to pick up a nice Calvin Klein jacket at 60% off at the outlet center. I can now be warm and stylish as I wander around the National Parks.

From Vegas I continued east on Interstate 15 which is unremarkable until you get to Arizona. Here there is a short section that must be one of the most scenic sections of highway in the country and, if you have not driven this way, is well worth viewing. The rest of the drive to Springdale, Utah is also very scenic, particularly near the end as I approached Zion National Park, but the sun had set before I got to the hotel so much of the impact is lost on the video. Nevertheless, I highly recommend today’s video which is here.

Note, the Internet connection at the hotel was so bad that I was unable to post this until the following day. This post documents Thursday, November 5.

The schoolhouse at Calico.Can you tell the difference between the original building and the reconstructed one in this picture?