Note Card Party: Ghost Town

Joining Vee's Note Card Party today with the theme of ghost town. If you know someone who likes history and old stuff, these would make great notecards!

I took these photos a couple of years ago when my daughter and  I stopped at this old mining town.

It is the town of Ludlow, Colorado. 

The entire post is here, with additional photos and some of the history of the town. 

Be sure to stop by Vee's to see more note cards! There is some great photography.

and

Some Antiquing and Flea Market Time

Country Living Magazine said, "Tiny Sparks, Kansas — population 9! — hosts crowds of up to 75,000 twice each summer, with 450 dealers displaying a range of antiques and collectibles at great prices. "


Coming to Sparks on  Labor Day weekend has become a fun tradition in the last few years. Saturday was a beautiful day, high in the 80's and sunny. Several of us went to the Sparks Antique and Flea Market and then up the highway to the White Cloud Flea Market. These little towns are northwest of St. Joseph, Missouri, in Kansas.

As it got crowded, many began standing on tip toes to see.

This little bottle fed goat was a pet of one of the vendors. He got lots of attention!

Then I started getting hungry......

As we got back on the highway, the trail of parked cars had grown.

That's a soybean field behind the cars, and running along those hills in the background is the Missouri River.

 White Cloud sits on the banks of the Missouri River. Long before the white men came to the area, the land belonged to the Ioway tribe, whose chief was White Cloud. Entry to the river is right at the base of Main Street. White Cloud's flea market was all on the main drag.     

Churches of Santa Fe

One of my favorite things to do on trips, is to see the historical churches of the area. Two churches in Santa Fe, New Mexico are featured here.

                                                                                     

                                                                  
               
                                      

Below: Loretto Chapel  has been the subject of many articles, TV specials, and movies including "Unsolved Mysteries" and the television movie titled "The Staircase." The story is that when the chapel was built in 1873, there was no means to get the choir up to  the loft in the back of the church. The sisters prayed for an answer and a man appeared at the chapel with a donkey and a toolbox looking for work. Months later, the elegant circular staircase was completed, and the carpenter disappeared without pay or thanks. The rest of the mystery is about the contrucution of the  staircase. It has two 360 degree turns and no visible means of support. Also, it is said that the staircase was built without nails—only wooden pegs. Questions also surround the number of stair risers relative to the height of the choir loft and about the types of wood and other materials used in the stairway's construction.

                                                                            

                              The stair rails were put in many years later, for safety, not support.

I am joining Chari for

Santa Fe

     While visiting #2 daughter in Denver, we took a little trip south to Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is about a 6-7 hour drive from Denver, and very beautiful. You can see forever, there are cattle and horse ranches and plenty of miles of wide blue sky and pastures.  I expected to see tall cactus and sand in New Mexico, but it is red dirt and small scrubby bushes, not a cactus to be seen, except the one planted at the rest stop in the landscaping!! All along the trip you could see mountains in the background.

                                Sangre de Cristo Mountains in New Mexico

 We saw antelope grazing in areas like this, but did not stop to take pictures.Why were we in such a hurry???

  Here is the lonely cactus bush thing at the base of the pine tree at the rest stop. Oh, my, we are such tourists! 

Santa Fe weather was beautiful. We were there for the July 4th weekend, and although it got to 91 in the day time, if you stepped into the shade, it was cool. There is NO humidity (unlike Kansas!) and it cooled down to low 60's toward evening, and was that cool in the mornings.

Being the rabid shoppers we are we headed to the historical downtown Santa Fe, which happens to be on Route 66!

This is Santa Fe's plaza, with a city park to the left, and stores around all 4 streets of the square. This was the end of the Santa Fe trail that started in Independence, Missouri. The church at the end of the street is the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi.(see related post)

     The park in the center of the Plaza
                                                                                     

Below is the La Fonda Hotel in historic downtown. A hotel of some kind has been on this corner for almost 400 years. La Fonda has been here since 1922.

Inside the lobby of the La Fonda Hotel.

The Palace of the Governors faces the historic plaza and American Indians sell jewelry under the overhang.

 

City ordinances require that buildings in the historical district of Santa Fe, reflect the adobe style. By an ordinance passed in 1958, new and rebuilt buildings, especially those in  historic districts, must exhibit a Spanish Territorial or Pueblo style of architecture, with flat roofs and other features that model  traditional adobe construction.

 

     Above is a parking garage in historic Santa Fe. Can you tell? 

Lots of turquoise colored trim on buildings.

Our hotel lobby below.