Bodie, the best ghost town in America

I snapped these photos in the ghost town of Bodie, California. Only about 100 of the original buildings remain. In 1879, there were 60 saloons alone. Now, California State Parks has preserved Bodie in a state of "arrested decay," meaning it's being preserved as it was 50 years ago when the last of its 10,000 residents left.

Bodie is by far the best ghost town in the West. It was once the wildest and most lawless town in the West. Gunfights, stage holdups, robberies, street fights and even murders were common. The town boomed only for a few years in the late 1870s. By 1881, the gold mines were depleted and only 1,500 residents remained.

Today you can pay $7 to visit Bodie. There's nothing there but the old buildings, a few of which are open, some rusty old cars, the cemetery and odds and ends from the past inside the old homes and stores. The town is deep in snow during the winter, so don't even try to visit then. From mid-May to mid October, it can be reached via U.S. 395 just south of Bridgeport, Calif., and then about 13 miles of mostly paved road (the last three miles is dirt). There are no food concessions, just a water faucet or two.

If you want to see a really great American ghost town, this is the one to see, no doubt about it.

Then and now, my girl and me

Eighteen years ago, on a road trip for my newspaper Out West, I paused for lunch along Highway 395 in Topaz, Nevada with my wife and baby daughter, Emily. Last week I stopped again, but just Emily and me.

Here are two photos -- one from then, the other from last week with my same Emily, but grown up now and nearly 19 years old. Where did the time go?

I was surprised to find the same picnic tables and in the same place as before -- faded, but almost exactly as they were those approximately 6,600 days ago.

Emily wondered why we stopped and why I insisted she sit at the one picnic table in particular, in one particular place. Then I pulled out the old photo. I know it became a special moment for her, but I believe it was far more special for me, knowing that in less than a month I would be dropping her off at college 3,000 miles away from my home in Washington state.

I love my big girl, but I sure do miss that little one a whole bunch.

A very vaulable dress

This is my daughter Emily in the Silver Queen Casino in Virginia City, Nevada. The picture behind her is of the Silver Queen. It takes up most of one wall. The Silver Queen's dress is very, very large. Would you believe that it is made up of 3,261 silver dollars, and that her belt is made of 28 twenty dollar gold pieces? If you believe that, then you are absolutely right. The Silver Queen the best thing in the casino except for maybe the bar if you want to drink rather than look at a big picture of a woman in a dress.

Sad man, happy dog

Look at this sign I spotted at Lake Tahoe. The bottom part of the sign, which I am not showing you here, was a message about picking up after your dog. In other words, your dog poops, you pick up. That's what "picking up" means. It's not like picking up a girl or picking up something you dropped, and it has nothing to do with a pickup truck. Anyway, as you can see very clearly on this sign, the man is very unhappy about having to pick up, but the pooch is very happy, which I think is understandable.

Endangered sign

I was in Virginia City, Nevada a few days ago where I spotted this sign in front of one of the five thousand or so tourist shops in the still-alive-and-kickin' ghost town. I shoot digital photos these days -- have done so for close to ten years now. Most people take pictures with digital cameras now. You can buy a halfway decent camera for $50 and after that, there's no cost for film or developing. I think signs like this are an endangered species.