St. Thomas, Nevada - Underwater Ghost Town

There's a little known gem about 50 miles North of Las Vegas. St. Thomas was a small Mormon settlement established the same year Nevada became a state (1865). It never boasted a population of over 500 people. Only one famous person ever stayed there: President Hoover. However, it is unique in that it is one of only a handful of towns deliberately flooded to create a dam and lake; in this case, Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. It slipped under the water completely in 1938, and it's said that, while the water was creeping slowly and they were given plenty of notice, the last citizen waited so long to evacuate that he had to leave in his row boat. For whatever reason, we humans are always attracted to the weird or unusual. I admit it. I'm often considered an extreme and was recently referred to as "macabre", although that was in regard to my hobby as a graveyard rabbit. I have lived in Las Vegas for 20 years, but I never heard about St. Thomas until about 10 years. Nobody told me the name of the town until about 4 years ago. It really does make it much easier to research a "ghost" town with a name. Duh. Anyway, I've been wanting to go check it out for several years, and since I was hiking at Valley of Fire last week, I decided to finally check it out. It is only about 5 miles past Valley of Fire, at the entrance to the Lake Mead Recreation Area, down a well-maintained, dirt road. I didn't plan to return to that area again anytime soon, and it was gorgeous out, so I went. The last mile back to the car at the end of my visit to St. Thomas was a little tough because a slight nuisance pain in my right foot had been bugging me, but of course, it waited until I was still a mile from the car, in the middle of nowhere with no one else around to make itself a full shooting pain and limp. As it turns out, Train Wreck #1 (me) managed to sprain the three middle toes of my right foot without even knowing it. Now I'm grounded until it heals. During the best and short time Las Vegas has perfect weather for such an outing. Unfortunately, it did cut my exploring short, but it was still a very interesting hike. Here's the history as I understand it. It was bigger than I had expected. The town briefly enjoyed the business from the Interstate before the flooding, and even produced agriculture. It was chosen for It's location close to the Virgin River. There was some mining in the surrounding hills. As St. Thomas sat in a valley, when the Hoover Dam was being built, it was decided that the town would be sacrificed in the name of progress and residents were given notice. Some residents even completely disassembled their houses and took them with them. Many were homesteads of the pioneers and their children.

A rare picture of the Post Office as the town was being flooded in 1938.

The remains of the Post Office in November 2012.

A door of the old Post Office, laid flat where it once stood.

Once the dam was complete and the entire valley flooded to create the largest man-made lake in the United States, it was only possible to see St. Thomas if you visited by scuba diving the 50-60 feet to where it rested on the bottom. Given Lake Mead's visibility, you probably won't have seen much, and after learning to scuba dive in one of the best locations in the world (the Bahamas), I refused to lower my standards. But It's actually much more interesting now that it's back above the water. The town has actually flooded and reappeared about five times with the various levels of water in the lake in the past 75 years, until our water level dropped to an all-time low a few years back. I'm not sure you could actually walk out there during any of the past brief reappearances, but that is definitely not a problem now. Standing at the trail head which starts at a ridge overlooking the town site, you can barely see the lake in the distance, that's how far the water has receded. I'm not sure what I expected to see when I got there; I mean, I knew it wouldn't be in pristine condition, but all that water has taken its toll. There are still numerous "foundations" (actually, at first look, they appear to be just foundations but if you look closely, you'll see that you may actually be looking at a second story or roof that has been so completely overtaken by the silt and vegetation that the majority of the structure is 'submerged' by the remaining dirt...there is one large structure that you can clearly see where the floor of what looks like the foundation has sunk in one corner where there was either an air bubble or the sand didn't fill it evenly), several of them quite large. One is the Post Office, one is the Hotel, one is the schoolhouse. From the ridge, the town looks like nothing but a few straight roads, so I was disappointed, but if you go down there, you'll see remains everywhere. The town seems to have been built with an oval main street that reminds me of a race track with structures built around it and on the inside. I followed the whole street back to the trail when the toe-sprain issue arose and cut my visit short. It's a little eerie if you're there by yourself. There may be no wind or noise at all except for the Mormon crickets we have so many of this time of year. If you are near any structures that have what look like wells or ventilation shafts with rebar grates screwed over them, have a look in them. They actually look down into where the structure may have lower floors you can't see from the surface looking at the remains. This can be a little tough if you come at midday like I did...the sun directly overhead made it very difficult to see anything, but a handy cellphone flash works, too.

The old school house then (above) and in November 2012 (below)

If you decide to visit, I would do so quickly. For you locals like me who have been curious but procrastinated, get there soon. The town will probably never have to worry about being submerged again, however a forest of scrub and short trees are now taking over what was previously the lake bed. The forest is winning. Several remains have already been swallowed up and its clear that very little maintenance is being done to stop it. When you take the trail down from the ridge to explore, I have a few words to the wise: 1) You will see what look like foot paths crisscrossing the main path. If I had to take a guess, I'd say these were probably well-established paths before the flooding, so very little vegetation has grown there, though some of them do eventually choke off. PROCEED WITH CAUTION! Especially if you're alone. I took a couple of them and was fortunate enough to find some smaller foundations (probably houses) back in the forest. The trees, however, are about 6 feet or more and it is extremely easy to get disoriented or lost in. 2) You may want to avoid walking in the middle or around the edges of a structure, especially if you think there may be additional floors under what you can see. I noticed a few where corners are settling and sinking and it was clearly easy to step in the wrong spot and get stuck...or worse. 3) People who appreciate the history of the town respect the archaeology are the site and do not remove anything found there. I noticed a couple of places where visitors have laid out pieces of old bottles, cans, pottery, etc. so that others can look at them. Please do the same and do not remove anything you find there. Metal detectors are forbidden. 4) Due to our killer heat here, not to mention critters like rattlesnakes and gila monsters, you should really only go between November and March. Otherwise, you're taking your life in your hands! Depending on if you go all the way around the town from one side to the other, the hike is about 2.5 miles, easy and flat the entire time once you come up/down the ridge from the trail. The elevation change there is about 60 feet. The only thing I was really bummed about is that there is nothing telling you what building you're looking at. I was guessing at most of them, but I had to come home and compare my pictures to the few, poor quality pictures taken 100 years ago. If you do a web search on St. Thomas, you'll find plenty of articles and information sites, but I've listed a few below. Enjoy!

Brief Catching up and The Holocaust Museums

Well, of course! It figures as soon as I start a new blog, my computer would completely die on me. And it has all my travel pics trapped in its little CPU brain!  It makes it a little hard to share, but I know I have some of them squirreled away online somewhere.

Since my last post, which I think was about 3 weeks ago, I've been staying busy. Hiking almost everyday and I spent a week visiting friends in Orange County, California, which included one's famous (and yummy!) grilled-4-cheese sandwiches while waiting on the trick-or-treaters on Halloween. My friends have converted their back patio area into the coolest pirate-themed bar EVER, complete with a hand-made wooden bar and decorations that would make even Disney proud. So much time, effort and money has been put into it (and some of us contributing more stuff whenever possible), that you want to spend as much time back there as possible. Even on chilly nights, which was every night I was there.

Aside from a few grave-rabbit errands in the Westminster area, I talked three of my friends into a visit to the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum. I've been wanting to go for years, ever since I went to the National Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, back in 1999.  It's so sad to say, but I was not taught about the Holocaust in school. I'm forty, and I don't know whether it was a "don't teach" subject or because I was raised in a small southern town, but I didn't know anything about it until "Schindler's List" came out in 1993 (a movie I highly recommend). That is such a sad commentary on our school system. We learned about WWII and we knew about Anne Frank (I'm not sure if we read it or watched the movie), but I never really understood why she and her family were hiding. I guess I just thought they were criminals or because they didn't want to be Nazi's.

(U.S. Holocaust Museum)

The differences between the Los Angeles and the national museums are, obviously, the size, and the nature of many of the exhibits. I spent hours in the national museum and still had to rush through (I was there on business and had to sight-see between planned events over the course of three days...May is National Law Enforcement Week in DC, when cops like me overrun the city). I would recommend the museum highly to anyone visiting Washington, DC... above many other things to see while you are there. I especially recommend it to families with children old enough to understand the tragedy and everything they have at the museum, to prevent it from ever happening again in future generations. I remember as we entered, each person is given a passport with the story of a different Jewish victim. As you go room to room, you turn a page in the passport and get to know more about your person. You won't know if he/she survived until the last page. That's an eye opener. There is a real train-car used in one of the concentration camps, as well as detailed scale models of the camps as well.

One of the most striking exhibits in the national museum is the Tower of Faces, the 17-year creation of Yaffa Eliach. This exhibit is so powerful, that I promptly went home to do some research. I am half-Lithuanian (to my knowledge, according to my genealogist mother, there are no relatives or ancestors of Jewish decent, but with so many huge Jewish comunities there, it is entirely possible that there were) and the faces of the Tower represent the Lithuanian town of Eishyshok. There was a large Jewish population there, which had existed for nine CENTURIES, before the Nazi's came and completely decimated it, practically overnight. When you walk into the tower, you are on a ramp, and surrounding you, climbing two stories above you and another story below you, are 1,600 photos of the citizens of Eishyshok. It really puts things in perspective.

(The Tower of Faces)

There are so many outstanding exhibits at the national museum I could blog about, but it just has to be seen in person to really appreciate it. It's a true learning experience for all ages and religions.

If you live on the west coast and can't get to the U.S. Museum in DC, then The Los Angeles Holocaust Museum is also interesting, but obviously on a much smaller scale. I believe we were there for 2-3 hours. The majority of the exhibits are donated items, clothing, flags, etc. There is a replica train car and a very detailed miniature model of the Sobibor Extermination Camp. This is a self-guided museum. When you enter, you will be given a smart-phone device and a set of earphones (note: if you wear glasses, the earphones may cause headaches), and each item is numbered, so you just enter it on the device. In the first room is an inter-active table, which you'll see has photos floating on it.  If you touch any photo, it will bring up the personal information for that person. It's similar to the passports given at the National museum. There is also a room that has numerous TV monitors scattered about, each featuring a history of a different concentration camp and their victims.

(The Los Angeles Holocaust Museum)

George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." There are few horrific events in history that should be remembered and avoided more than the Holocaust. There are still ridiculous pockets of people who still believe the murder of 6 million Jews is a fabrication and never happened. If you meet one of these idiots, please slap the shit out of them for me! Denial is no reason for ignorance.  If you are unfamiliar with the Holocaust, as I was, please do the research and plan a trip with your family and friends to a museum near you.  There are several scattered throughout the country.  If you get to DC, DEFINITELY plan a few hours there.  It's very difficult to walk away unaffected. 

My Traveler Philosophy

Traveling with parents is always an interesting adventure.  The older you and your parents get, the more patience is required for everyone involved to survive.  This weekend is interesting because it's the first time all three of us, and their dog, are vacationing together for five days in Prescott, Arizona. Why?  Well, first of all, it's my step-dad, so we've only had him around for about ten years. I actually introduced him and my mother.  There are many days when I’m sure one or both of them would like to throttle me for that favor.  Anyway, I had two dogs until recently, and they have an elderly dog so one of us usually had to stay home for puppy-sitting. So it would be mom and “dad” going somewhere and I’d stay, or mom and I going somewhere and dad would stay.

My dad is like the caboose to Train Wreck #2. He doesn’t quite qualify to be his own train wreck, but he’s probably headed that way. They bicker quite a bit, which only reminds me of my grandparents, A LOT. But if I mention that, they get pissed off, so I usually try to keep the peace, stick up for whichever is the biggest victim at any given moment, or claim to be ‘Switzerland’ and leave while they work it out on their own.

This brings me to my Travel and Tourism Philosophy.  There are basically TWO kinds of travelers:  The first, are the people who want to go, go, go and see, see, see when they’re on vacation. They have insane itineraries that they can’t possibly fulfill with every, even slightly, interesting or historical site on their map. And that doesn’t include the slam-on-the-brakes stuff you see along the way. Those travelers are up at zero-dark-thirty a.m. to get the maximum amount of daylight for site-seeing. You roll in at night and crash hard, only to get up and do it again and again. You don’t care about make-up or how your hair looks really because who do you know and why do you care?  OK, maybe a little mascara and I’ll put my eyebrows on (I’m a ginger kid so they’re not there naturally) so I don’t look like I’m 12 years old. Bad weather will not stop these travelers unless it is the SITE itself that closes for it, and that’s a total bummer. If it comes down to it, it’s all for bragging rights:  Yep!  Been there, done that is really the most perfect saying for these travelers, not to mention our family motto.

The second kind of traveler, is the person that goes on vacation to relax and do nothing. These are the ones that don’t really want to move much, definitely don’t want an itinerary and couldn’t care less about historic sites or anything that doesn’t directly affect them or their hobbies… say golf (dad!), or something like that.  These folks are happy sitting in a beach chair or a hotel room and napping on and off.  This is the laidback traveler.

Now, in all honesty, these two kinds of travelers should probably never travel together because just by their descriptions above, they won’t mesh.  They will argue, bicker, pout, snarl and just generally ruin each other’s chances of a fun vacation. They will probably spend more of their vacations apart, doing what they want to do alone.

The Two Traveling Train Wrecks both fall into the first category. If you could have seen us in the UK and Europe and Canada, you wouldn’t believe the schedules we prepared and the frantic pace we kept everyday.  It took like six months to recuperate, but damn it was worth it!  Mom and I are the perfect traveling companions.  We are so much alike, and we love to stop for spontaneous or silly reasons, which makes it even better. An example would be last month when we were vacationing in Colorado and I wanted to do a zipline at the top of a mountain. My 64-year-old mother did the zipline WITH me.  I was so proud!

The caboose for Train Wreck #2 (aka Dad), falls into the second category.  I always smile when my mom comes back from a vacation with him.  She usually says something like, “I will NEVER go on another vacation with him!”  Then she starts planning the next trip.

My idea of a bad vacation would be on a cruise, which are mostly the Type 2 Traveler.

I’ve been on three cruises and was miserable on the last two (the first was a day cruise).  My parents love to cruise, and that makes up the majority of vacations they go on. I’m actually surprised my mother loves to cruise because you don’t have the freedom to do what you want, when and where you want.

Now, remember that I was raised in Florida, on all kinds of boats in all kinds of waters. So imagine my surprise when I went on a three-day cruise with mom to Mexico, and I discovered motion sickness! I was SO seasick, I could barely leave the cabin and our stupid porter couldn’t get a simple morning order of coffee and croissant to me each day.  He was too busy making animals out of my mom’s nightgown.  Too freaky.  I finally had to break down on the “at sea” day and go to the buffet to get some kind of food (it was stormy) and as soon as I saw the back of the ship going up and down on the horizon, I had to run to the railing. I must have been absolutely green because other people were clearing a path.

Truthfully, I am bored out of my mind on a cruise. Everyone seems to love it because there’s just SO much to do. Really?  Let’s see… casino costs money. Alcohol costs money. Massage costs money. Shopping costs money.  Bingo costs money. Excursions cost money AND you have to be on the ship’s schedule. You can’t just stop at anything interesting en route because you have no choice! Sometimes you have to pay to visit some of the restaurants as well. The term “all inclusive” should never be used in the same sentence as “cruise”, because it isn’t.

You can’t really enjoy the pool (I don’t do public pools) even if you wanted to because invariably, every other guest will have sent their miscreant kids to the pool to get rid of them.  Then those kids migrate over to the hot tub as well. My idea of hell on Earth would be a Disney cruise. Don’t get me wrong; I love Disney. I’m a grown-up Disney kid. But I do NOT like children! Really don’t. So putting me on a floating asylum with that many kids and no escape would be the worst.

Some of the shows are okay, but since I worked for Club Med and had to perform in some of those kinds of shows, I’m really not impressed.  Then add on the fact that I can’t go to the club for dancing (coordinationally challenged and on a rocking ship… uh, no.), and that pretty much leaves me with board games or playing trivia with other bored, uncoordinated guests in the lounge. Maybe karaoke on a really wild night.

This was a way longer blog post than I expected, but there were a few stray tangents I went off on, as usual. I’m curious to see how three of us share one car and a dog that has to go with us everywhere.  Prescott, fortunately, is very dog-friendly. Seriously, afternoon in the park is like the doggy social hour.  People don’t know each other’s names but know the names of all the dogs. LOL Everyone visits each other and sniffs for doggy postcards on every curb and shrub. Even many of the restaurants have patio seating so your pet can sit with you. Since we know how much I loved my fur-babies, that’s a big plus. 

I will update the blog when I get a chance as the weekend progresses and share whatever mischief one or all of us get into. I’m looking forward to checking out some of the cemeteries and hiking trails. Until then… signing off.

Get To Know Your Train Wrecks

        Hello and welcome!  It's been a long time since I've had a blog.  It was a good blog and I had a respectable following, however I was not quite discreet enough, although it was an 'anonymous' blog, a few misplaced words about my idiot boss and one of those brown-nosing sorts made sure it got back to him. Major asses. If you don't want to hear what I have to say to your face, why do you care what I say in a blog? At any rate, it left a bad taste in my mouth, but now I don't have a boss and I will endeavor to be even more discreet. However, I'm a bit rusty so give me a couple of posts before you give up on me!

         Now, first... Why train wrecks?  My mother (Train Wreck Two) and I (Train Wreck One - I know chronologically it should be the reverse, but MY blog means MY rules! And it's just way easier to think in the first person) have been scraped off the bottom of the gene pool. Even our problems have problems! I'm 40 years old and my mom is 64, but our bodies have aged prematurely leaving each of us with an abundance of conditions and metal bits and pieces and still falling apart!  On top of that, we possess absolutely NO grace whatsoever and are perpetual clutz's (is that even a word?). Sometimes we'll get a reprieve and will chug on down the tracks at a fairly good pace but then something else breaks and BAM!  We've wrecked again. I have no doubt I'll revisit this subject several times in upcoming posts and will go into further detail then.

       Second... What to expect from this blog. The majority of what I post will be about trips, vacations and adventures from all parts of my past life as well as new travels as they come up. That does not mean that it will be limited to that. I am one of those people who has a story about any subject or place you can think of. I'd probably drive you nuts on an airplane if I'm in a chatty mood (lord help you!). But hopefully, I'll make you laugh, or at least smile, while sharing my favorite memories. Other subjects I can almost guarantee will come up from time to time:  Renaissance Faires (I belong to a guild based in Southern California) and Pirate Festivals (when our king is not around to regulate us, we tend to get a little rebellious), hiking, graveyard 'rabbiting', my two beloved dogs (resting in peace on my mantle but I still miss them terribly), a lifetime of being a devoted William Shatner fan, criminals/inmates/the justice system, geocaching, my Pinterest addiction, overpopulation, "True Blood", "Game of Thrones", Facebook, Starbucks and my coffee addiction, depression (much as we hate it, it generally must happen before things get better and I've been at the bottom of that barrel, believe me), my absolutely insane and wonderful friends, favorite movies and other general disclaimers... blah, blah, blah.

      One word you will see frequently:  SQUIRREL.  I have A.A.D.D. and some short-term memory issues (again, it will come up somewhere in more detail, I'm sure), so I tend to jump topics occasionally (in case you didn't notice already, but hey! The same could be said of any Stephen King novel, so I'm in good company!), especially since I no longer work and can't afford or justify the expensive meds which didn't really help all that much anyway.  Besides, now I CAN BLOG!!  Ha, ha!  Eh, um... sorry, back on track...If you've seen the move "Up!", you know Doug the Dog and his "Squirrel!" fixation. I have squirrels running around me constantly and my friends are used to just shouting the word to get me back on topic, although sometimes I don't remember what the initial topic was. At least I can proofread thoughts here! If that weren't enough, I'm a ginger on top of it and "gingers have no souls"!

        Third... aha! See?  That was a SQUIRREL moment!  The very first of my blog. And you were here to witness it.  *wipes tear*  A little more background if you want it (I was pretty clear in my "about me" section, but here's more just the same). I'm from a small town in central Florida (GO GATORS!). I was an only child and a dork. But I was a Girl Scout my whole life and lived everything outdoors.  Please do not get me wrong, I love it and it will always be 'home' to me, but sometimes I feel like I spent the first 16 years of my life trying to get out and the last 16 trying to go back!  I guess that means that for four years in there, I was pretty happy wherever I was. Oh, yeah.  I was TRAVELING! A few nice things about my hometown:  It's situated between the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico; less than an hour's drive to either, and I enjoyed sports and visits to both frequently. My home town is in the middle of a national forest and surrounded by rivers and springs; hence, LOTS of camping! According to my mother, my first camping trip was when I was 6 weeks old and I've loved it ever since. It is also very well known for it's thoroughbreds and quarter horses, which is where my love of horses stems and why it's one of the hardest things I had to give up. My mom moved to California for a fresh start when I was fifteen, and just after senior year started, I joined her, finished school early and on my seventeenth birthday, I swore into the Marine Corps, the first time. Yes, there was a second. More to come on that subject. 

         After being discharged (ironically, the day Desert Storm ended, but I didn't see any action), I went between Florida and California a bit before settling in the latter. I worked for a major amusement park, first as a dyslexic hat-writer, then a ride operator and finally moved up to security. We were quite possibly the biggest wannabe cops you'll ever find, but only a handful of us actually got there. A friend got me to apply for a job with Club Med, and miraculously, I got hired!  My first stop was Colorado, then Mexico and then the Bahamas. I know, rough life. At the end of my third contract, I was en route back to L.A. to wait for another contract to come up, but after four airports, I just got off the plane in Las Vegas with $200 in my pocket and told my mom to pick up my luggage at LAX, I was going to stay a while.  I've been here for almost 20 years now.  I really can't sugar this up... I absolutely HATE living here. Being a swamp girl turned desert rat, you really appreciate what you took for granted growing up in. Beaches. Rivers. Rain. TREES! No matter where you go in Las Vegas, it all looks the same. Brown. Sometimes dusty and brown. If you want a change of scenery and a break from 115 degrees, be prepared to drive a minimum of 250 miles in any direction. But I'll also say something positive:  We do have amazing sunsets!

        About two months after I got here, I picked up my now ex-husband in a country bar. Not a mistake I've ever made again. Ever!  It was a (thankfully!) brief trip to insanity and I have never even considered another marriage.  First of all, I'm too selfish.  It's all about me and I can travel a lot more if I'm only paying for one!  I did get two wonderful 'kids' out of it; my fur-babies, a golden retriever named Cheyenne (aka: "Boo", the neurotic one) and her little sister, a springer spaniel named Scout, who admittedly was my favorite but I also had her for two years longer when she got to be the only child.  I am still very attached to them. I wish I could get another one, but my mother is the voice of reason on that subject. They're too expensive on a retirement budget, and remember all the times I wanted to travel when there was a dog-sitting issue. Oh, and I recently moved back home with the parents so we three retirees can help each other out. I guess that gives them a big say in it. The irony is, I retired only a year and a half after I lost Scout. Now I have all the time in the world, walk several miles a day and have a dog park right across the street.  It's a sore subject. No people-babies.  I am one of the few people that knows I am a better parent by NOT having children. 

        Not long after I moved here, I was hired as a corrections officer in a nearby municipality, had some decent career milestones and promotions and a promising future when the first train wreck happened. I could no longer be an officer physically (and with that came mentally), and after a stall, I changed jobs and wound up as a civilian, still working with inmates in the jail until I retired on a disability pension. You may have seen us on a reality show... my epitaph will read, "Got to tell O.J. 'no bail!'" He was an ass anyway. Thank god I worked in an area with a great public servant retirement program, because I am a lot better off then most people the government takes care of.  I honestly don't know how they expect people to live on what they give them. At any rate, I will try with all my heart NOT to talk about politics.  Promise.

       In the middle of that last seven years, I got an associates degree in Travel and Tourism, then switched gears to what came naturally and am now 24 credits shy of a double-Bachelor's:  Criminal Justice and Sociology. IF I can find a scholarship for a gimpy ex-cop, I might finish it someday. Nothing like closing the barn door after the horses have gone, right? I'd really like to teach online at some point. 

       And so that's me in a rather large nutshell.  I really did try to keep it brief!  I should warn you about a couple more personality issues (the primary personality, that is! Kidding!):  I can be cynical and sarcastic and a little bit bitchy and/or negative at times.  Unfortunately, that often comes with the territory when you've spent half your life around criminals and cops. I do try to tamper it with humor, wit (at least I think so) and a note on the bright side. If there's ever a question or a place you'd like me to talk about, please feel free to let me know, and share! It may not seem so at THIS exact moment, but I am occasionally prone to writer's block. I also get a little carried away with punctuation.  ;o)

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