While in Las Vegas last week Jim and I took a side trip to a "ghost town" of sorts, Nelson, Nevada. Nelson is located about an hour southeast of Las Vegas, past Boulder City and down a two lane highway that has absolutely NOTHING along it but open land and mountains for 10 miles, and leads down into a canyon...eventually dead-ending at the Colorado River. Nelson was originally a mining town in the 1800s up through around 1945. It was known as being a very rough and lawless town in the Civil War era. Not much is left of the original Nelson, other than the entrances to the mine and a few still-standing outbuildings. Part of it has been preserved as a mine tour and canoeing company, and is home to a lot of vintage architecture, derelict cars, and just plain old cool junk. In other words, an absolute photographer's haven.
We wandered around and took pictures at the old Texaco station and other buildings for about an hour (the gas station was featured in the Kevin Costner and Kurt Russell movie 3000 Miles to Graceland). Afterward, we drove on down into El Dorado Canyon, eventually ending up at a breathtaking overlook of the Colorado River.
We ended our adventure by witnessing a HUGE dust devil (see last picture!)WOW....it was spinning as fast and violently as a tornado!
looking down the road leading into El Dorado Canyon
Nelson
El Dorado Canyon and the Colorado River
Derelict T-28s sit across the road from the old Texaco station. 65 of these were purchased from the military and 32 of them are sitting here and being sold off as kits to be restored to flying condition.
a dust devil west of Boulder City, Nevada on the way back from Nelson. The power and speed of this thing was impressive!
