This post was originally posted on a blog I started my junior year of high school, "Off the Beaten Path"
A couple weeks ago, for spring break, my family and I went on a road trip and ended up in Ely, Nevada -- the biggest town close to Great Basin National Park. With only one thing for sure on our agenda, we were able to explore this tiny town and some of the places around it.
The first thing we did on our trip was visit the Lehman Caves at the national park. It was super cool in the cave, especially since the last time I went on a cave tour I was just a little baby. Not only was the cave fascinating, the history behind it was also super interesting.
Back in the 1800's, before the cave ever became part of a national park, Absalom Lehman (yes that's a real name) would charge $1 for adults and 50 cents for children and give them a lamp to go explore the cave. If they didn't return in 24-hours, then someone would go look for them. Decades later, but still before its national park status was earned, the cave was used for hazing and parties. In one part of the cave where the ceiling is really low, all of the stalactites have been broken off from when people were coming in the cave for these activities.
Also on this trip we visited the Ward Charcoal Ovens.
In the late 1800's, these 6 beehive shaped ovens were used to process silver. When the ovens were abandoned, robbers and bandits would use them as hideouts. I think it's cool that I got to go inside these structures that once hid people on the hide from the law.
While on our road trip, we also visited several museums; the Nevada Northern Railway National Historic Landmark & East Ely Railroad Depot, the White Pine Public Museum, and the Topaz Museum in Delta, Utah. Each had so many interesting stories and artifacts.
The East Ely Railroad Depot has an original US army poster, which was left when the Depot was abandoned. Everything inside of it was left untouched, and people have later come and restored it to make it into a museum.
At the White Pine Museum, I saw a tea set on display that is a bigger sized version of a tea set I own! I've never seen a tea set that looks like mine before, so it was cool to find that.
And finally there was the Topaz Museum in Delta, Utah. I remember going there when I was a lot younger but couldn't figure out where I was remembering until we drove through the town. The museum itself was very well done, even though the stories behind it were heartbreaking. I think the artifact in the museum that hit home the most was a yearbook from the high school that was started for the teenagers living in the camp.
In the senior class, it had the previous high school each graduate had attended before they were relocated. They were relocated very close to the end of their senior year, and I can't even imagine how awful that would be to have to leave the high school you're used to because of something you didn't do.
This trip was so fun and I learned so many cool things I definitely would have never learned otherwise. Since my blog wasn't made before my trip, I wasn't thinking about what I could talk about during the trip, so this post was a little all over the place. But I can't wait until my next adventure that I can share with you all!
xoxo,
Kirsten // Off the Beaten Path
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