Funky, Fun & Delicious!

Kay, being an old and dear friend, who knows me well, says, "I've got a great couple of places to take you! We'll leave the guys here, and just the two of us will go have some FUN!" So off we went! First direction, back to California! "Tecopa" to be specific. We "checked out" the options for the various "hot springs", but turned up our noses and drove on to China Ranch Date Farm. THAT was the real beginning of our adventure! You practically need a 4-wheel drive to get there, but Kay knew the way, and v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y drove through the soft rocky road to the ranch. All along the "road" are steep walls of gypsum that had been mined out long ago, leaving a pretty interesting entrance to this place, I must say! We finally reached the "entrance sign" so I knew it couldn't be much further, then turned a corner, and WOW, rows and rows of beautiful date palms! Now, it's not like I haven't seen date palms before, but I can tell you, I haven't seen any with clothes hanging in them! What a hoot! Instead of burlap bags or other "plain" material to cover the dates until picking time, they use old clothes! Guess it's easier? cheaper? a good marketing idea? Anyway, it does make a good "impression", that's for sure!

After driving around enjoying the trees, we went over to the "store", such as it was. Nothing about this place is "fancy" that's for sure. But one this is for sure, the dates are plenty, the variety is huge, and the taste is wonderful! They make date shakes (of course) and bread (all day, every day) that I couldn't resist (sorry Jenny Craig). A few other fun little "sights" to see and chuckle over and off we went, on to the next "location" of my surprise adventure!























































































A few miles away, we came to this little, I mean little town called Shoshone. We missed the museum being opened, but I still had a good time walking around and seeing "everything". The BEST was this art! There really wasn't any signs up about it, and the best I can gather from my research, is that it must be left from Jill "Lady Buffalo" Thacker, who was commissioned to weld the names of local mines onto a railroad rail for a footrest at the base of the bar next door. Maybe it was her, maybe it's just a "local artist" expressing them self, but I got quite a chuckle out of seeing all these just lying about in the desert!













































































We decided that was enough fun for one day and took the poor van in to be washed before we brought it back to the guys! A fun day had by two happy gals!

...kicking back in Nevada, Marie