Ghost town

A few days at Tahoe then out to the desert. Berlin, Nevada. 

 Mostly it's ruins now

The most popular place in town.

 My car is almost as new and in as good condition as this one. Berlin was a mining town but never had more than several hundred residents. The mine buildings and much of the equipment is still there.

Nearby is the 'town' of Union. 'Town' consisting of a single abandoned shack.

There were only three other campsites being used. It was utterly quiet and the nearest light about 2 miles away an a few hills over so the stars were clear.There were a few critters. The coyote that sat outside the tent and yipped. Lots of jackrabbits.

And some fence lizards.

It was a terrific trip to the central Nevada desert.

The night sky

Jupiter is finally starting to appear.

Jupiter and the Moon over Sparks, Nevada

Jupiter, the Moon and Venus over Reno, Nevada

And lately the International Space station has been passing overhead.

A shave and a necktie.

All I have to do is shave and put on a necktie. I can survive that. I'll attend a wedding over the weekend and then we get to go camping! One day of wedding in exchange for one night camping. I haven't been camping since a trip to Death Valley several years ago.

Mosaic canyon

The Artist's Palette

 

The Red Cathedral in Golden canyon

 A raven patiently waits for something to die at the Death Valley dunes.

It'll be good to get out of the city and see the Milky Way. It's been a long time since I got to see the night sky without a bunch of light pollution.

The moon over Furnace Creek

And see some of the critters that inhabit the night.

A coyote slinking around Furnace Creek

And a coyote just ain't complete without a roadrunner.

(I learned that from Looney Tunes)

Bloomin' crazy

The canna lilies are blooming for the third time. They were bought early in the year and bloomed shortly after that. A month or so later they bloomed again and now here they are again. They have a brilliant orange flower that sort of glitters when the sun hits the flower at a certain angle.

And a little spritz of water....

On the UNR campus

 Irises so dark they look black

I was surprised to see rhododendron here. I thought it would be much too dry. 

The prickly pear cactus. It has incredibly delicate yellow and red flowers that last only a day or two.

I really need to be sorting some of these books and getting rid of a few of them but I just hate to get rid of my books. I have thousands of them. I don't need that many books but I don't want to get rid of them. I start sorting them into boxes and then I just run out of energy.


Summer. It's hot. But the flowers are blooming. And blooming flowers means things are attracted to them.

A honeybee in a poppy.

And in a prickly pear cactus flower.

Dragonflies use the flowers as a resting place.

And the Tiger Swallowtail butterflies