Around the USA

(Oops, I forgot to set today's post to automatically publish at 12:01! Sorry this one is a bit late).

How did I choose today's images? I shook my computer vigorously until these pictures fell out.

This first one was a bit of a mystery, but the "Dry Gulch R.R." helped to determine that these four boys were at Hershey Park (circa 1964), in lovely Hershey Pennsylvania. Everything is made of chocolate! They are wearing matching t-shirts from Lake Wales, Florida - hopefully they visited Spook Hill while they were there.

I liked this photo of a sign for Dinosaur Caverns, with its grinning T-Rex; today the caverns are known as the Grand Canyon Caverns. Discovered in 1927, they were first called Yampai Caverns, then Coconino Caverns, and from 1957 to 1962 it had the "Dinosaur Caverns" moniker (no dinosaurs were found there, though). Red smoke flares helped to determine that the caverns - now thought to be among the largest network of dry caverns in the world (over 60 miles) - actually extended all the way to the northern part of the Grand Canyon.

From 1955 comes this photo from "Castle Rock", a nearly 200-foot high geological limestone stack found in Michigan's upper peninsula (near St. Ignace). The stack was formed when glaciers receded, wearing away much of the surrounding rock, but leaving this feature behind. In 1928, a man named C.C. Eby bought the stack, built a souvenir stand and offered visitors a chance to climb the staircase to the top of the lookout.  

Here's a neat vintage postcard showing how it looked back then.

Over in the historic mining town of Silverton, Colorado, you can still find the Bent Elbow saloon & restaurant. The original Bent Elbow was built in 1907, and started out as a 14-room bordello. Later owners changed it to a more respectable business, but it burnt down in 1968. It was rebuilt, but this photo (from about 1960) shows the original structure, complete with a giant gunslinger on top. 

I hope you have enjoyed seeing the USA in your Chevrolet!