Tuesday, April 5th, 2011
The temperature at 6AM was 52.7F and partly cloudy.
We spent most of the morning getting part 126, our visit to the Grand Canyon National Park ready.
Nancy, Oscar, Donna and Dick arrived around noon. We went over to the Jack in the Box for dinner. From there we went over to the Superstition Museum at 4087 North Apache Trail in Apache Junction, Arizona and spent the best part of the afternoon. Another tourist attraction that definitely has the Spud and Joan seal of approval. This was our second visit to this museum and this time we brought along the camera.
The exterior of the museum building.
This is the sign outside the museum by the main entrance.
Dick and Donna in front of one of many book selections on sale in the gift shop.
Joan, Nancy and Oscar in a section of the gift shop that sells an assortment of paraphernalia.
These are the stuffed animals that are found in this area and several if not all have been found in this RV park. The javelina is the animal down by the girls hand in the first photograph. The mountain lion is on the shelf guarding the military exhibit that is just past it.
This is the military exhibit that was next to the stuffed animals. It is an assortment of Army uniforms worn by the United States Army over the years, along with their saddles and their pistols in the glass case in front of the saddles.
This old wagon sat across from the military exhibit. The first thing I checked was the hubs. My father had told me the first steel hubs appeared in 1865. This one had steel hubs so was built after that date.
This was an example of the equipment found in an assayers office.
This is the cooking stove from a former ranch.
The museum sits on the site where a number of well known western shows or movies had been filmed. In one episode of Bonanza someone riding up on a horse asks Hoss Cartwright if this was the road to Tortilla Flats. Tortilla Flats is a few miles north of this. A number of the buildings that were used to film the movies had burned or been destroyed and this is a model of what it used to be.
This is an assortment of interesting artifacts in and on a glass case.
There were a lot of framed photographs on the wall along with framed maps where one could supposedly find the Lost Dutchman Mine on Superstition Mountain.
This is an 1890 Powers Boring Machine with Oscar looking it over. Someone was no doubt very proud of that machine at one time. It sits outside just south of the main entrance and parking lot.
Nancy and Donna checking for relatives in Boot Hill.
This is the gallows that sent a few on film to Boot Hill.
This was the bush growing just behind the boring machine.
This is Superstition Mountain as seen from the south side of the museum.
This is Superstition Mountain as seen from the north side of the museum.
Looking west from the museum.
The chapel sits north of the museum and is dedicated to Elvis Presley who made a movie on the site.
The cactus garden outside the chapel just to the right of the main entrance. The chapel is available for such things as weddings if one wants to use it.
Joan and I inside the chapel.
This is the interior of the chapel with a lot of posters of former films that had been produced on the site.
This is the Wells Fargo Office on the left, the Sheriff and Jail are to the right.
This is the Apacheland Barn with the Blacksmith Shop on the right.
This is the interior of the Apacheland Barn. The two photographs of photographs are just inside the door to the right.
This is the Blacksmith in his shop. Needless to say he and I had quite a chat. Like all the blacksmiths I have met at these sites they are interested in collecting the history of the trade. One could purchase or order any items made in iron.
The Superstition Stage Coach.
Dick and I headed out on a Stage Coach.
This was an old water drilling rig parked out next to the road and more or less a monument with an old miner and his mule. One finds a similar monument to that at the border of the city limits wherever a road crosses the line entering the city of Apache Junction.
When we arrived home we simply sat outside and enjoyed a sunny afternoon. John and Liz came over to say good bye.
The temperature at 6:30PM was 82.7F under a mostly cloudy sky and the temperature felt like 80F.
We have been unable to turn the amateur radio on for a couple of days. I spent the rest of today trying to finish part 126.
The temperature at 9:30PM was 68.8F, it felt like 68.8F under a clear sky. And the Gold Canyon weather station has changed the way they report the weather again. Anything to confuse this old character.
That was the day and a great day it was.