Nostalgia

Wickenburg Railroad Siding and Switch

Wickenburg Siding and Switch

I took an image of the railroad track the other day. We crossed the BNSF track at Yavapai, just north of the old train station. There is a siding (seldom used) and a switch for directing the train cars onto the siding. When rendered in sepia, the shot looks like it could have been taken last century. Click on the image to enlarge.

The Little Red Schoolhouse

Little Red Schoolhouse

Since we were in California on our regular shopping day (Thursday), we went to the grocery store this morning. The store we went to is located in the old historic part of Wickenburg. This old schoolhouse is right next to the store. It sure looked pretty in the morning sunlight. Click on the image to enlarge.

The Wickenburg Express

The Wickenburg Express

I took this photo of the antique AT&SF locomotive and caboose on display on Frontier Street in old downtown. We do live in a picturesque place in the high Sonaran desert in a beautiful and historic little western town. Click on the image to enlarge.

Classic 1955 Chevrolet Stepside Pickup Truck

Classic 1955 Chevrolet Stepside Pickup Truck

Verna spotted this nicely-restored ’55 Chevy stepside pickup parked in a lot on the way home from shopping today. This was one of my favorites as a kid. My Dad took us boys to a General Motors Autorama in Los Angeles when I was about 12, and I got to sit in the driver’s seat in a brand-new stepside. Click on the image to enlarge.

The Titanic 100 Years Later

stern.jpegVerna and I watched the interesting two-hour documentary “Titanic at 100: Mystery Solved” this evening. It was the story of one of the latest expeditions to document the disaster and to try and determine the actual cause of the sinking of the RMS Titanic (Verna says “It was the @$#! iceberg – get over it!”).

Underwater image of Titanic’s Stern on the ocean floor

All that aside, it was very interesting. The team of scientists, oceanographers and archaeologists sought to explore and map the entire debris field at the bottom of the North Atlantic. Ultimately, their conclusion agreed with Verna’s assertion; the accident was a result of the overwhelming force of the vessel striking iceberg. There was no actual fault in the construction and design and the crew was following standard procedures and because of unusually calm conditions, they were unable to see the iceberg until it was too late to maneuver the immense vessel around it.

If you’re a history and archaeology buff or interested in the technologies used by the expedition, we recommend you watch the documentary. We saw the premiere tonight, but I’m sire it will come on History Channel again.

The 2012 Classic Car Show

The 2012 Wickenburg Gold Rush Days is now in progress. One of today’s events is the Classic Car Show held on Frontier Street near the old AT&SF locomotive next to the chamber of commerce. We saw many of the same cars that were there last year, but there were many that we don’t remember seeing last year.

Verna took all of the photos in the slide show. I built the Flash™ animation from some of the many pictures she took. You can pause the slideshow by rolling the mouse cursor over the picture. Roll out to resume.