a little town called rhyolite, nevada

so i enjoy road trips and driving, which i think is a very American thing. kind of like how people associate biscuts and tea with England, safaris with Africa, surfing with Australia and wild, cold wilderness with Canada (or people wearing flannel). but vehicles and roads have a very spiritual place in American hearts.

recently i got a chance to stay in vegas and drive around southern nevada and i had a blast. one of the places i went to was rhyolite, an abandoned mining town that is part art museum and part ghost town.

in 1906 rhyolite was booming, had tons of people, electricity, schools, hotels and a lively night scene. by 1916 the town was dead. since then its been slowly crumbling away until people who cared showed up and decided to fix some of the structures and turn it into an open air art park or sorts.

now known as the goldwell open air museum it features scultpures from a few different artists, maybe most prominently a dutch guy named Albert Szukalski who did the last supper and ghostrider out of fibreglass, using locals as the models.

the place is pretty wicked, and quick the drive to get to. but most certainly worth the trip. i loved it.

 

Now this place is nestled between two... Im from a coastal town so they look like mountains to me, but they might just be hills. And since this was a mining town there are open mines. At this point most of them are blocked off to protect visitors, but there are some that arent. So if you go to explore this place just be careful if you leave the paths.

I will also mention that if you choose to visit here you shouldnt take the route i did. Just stick to the highway. Theres a paved road that leads right to it... theres also an unpaved road. This road is an ass and will be dusty and make your compact car cry tears.