leavitt camping trip 2015

 For a weekend in August we went with all of Ty's immediate family camping by Pony Springs Nevada. Last year it was cool and even a little rainy, this year it was...hot. Annie no likey hot and sweaty camping.

It was still a great trip for the kids. I didn't get any good photos of the camping spot or going to Cave lake (which was sweltering by the way) or their off road trip, but the highlight for our kids and what they can't stop talking about was riding on the steam engine train in Ely, Nevada (again...HOT). We meandered throughout the HOT museum and then rode the train for a little over an hour. The kids loved it, especially the open air car with benches. Ty's favorite part was the 2 bucks they saw, I think that was Grandpa Rod's favorite part too. Here are some photos I snapped along the way:

 One of the train worker's sons saw Ty and Rodney ogling the engine and invited them up inside! Ty said it was really cool to watch them stoke the furnace and work the machinery, oh and it was HOT. I don't think they will ever forget being able to do that.

 

 It is strange getting used to getting out the camera and waiting a few seconds for it to turn on, unlike my swift iPhone. But as I sat on the train ride and watched a mom absolutely gluuuued to her phone, I had no regrets. I'm not joking, she probably looked up and talked to her kids/husband three times the entire trip. Obviously I am much more attentive now without my phone around all the time. And I am trying to be positive, but it was such a sad, sad sight.

I thought Ely was fascinating. I had only visited before for high school soccer games, seeing the older parts of town and the train row houses was fun. We even spied a few brothels (go nevada!). The train passes by many old mines (Ely was a mining town) and one where it collapsed and around 100 chinese migrant workers were lost and never found. Apparently Stephen King was doing a cross country Nevada motorcycle trip and was fascinated so much that he filmed and based his book "Desperation" on. Interesting factoids like that totally excited me. Thanks mom.