When we arrived after a short 20 minute drive, the sun was out and it was actually warm outside for once. I wasn't expecting much but after seeing the little town in person my interest started to peak. It is amazing to me that in the early 1900's and without current technology, these people managed to build a town on a hill and still maintain level buildings, have perfectly cut square beams, and have elaborate designs.
With all these tourist type places, you would think that they could come up with a better way to make money other than having high prices for garbage type crafts and nick-nacks, as well as charging people through the nose for a nonsense tour. There was a bordello in this town but the woman giving the tour was a 90 year old dressed up as a prostitute, um, no. No, I don't want that tour from her. At 5 bucks a head (pun intended) and a 20 minute tour of her explaining all the lewd things happening in the bordello didn't seem like a good time to me or the rest of us.
After further inspection I noticed that the upkeep of this place was lazy at best, with metal junk thrown into corners, and a barrel in front to cover it up. The stores were dirty and it made me feel as though the owners couldn't care less. I get that this is supposed to be as rustic as possible but you have to draw the line somewhere when you are trying to run a business, less is not more.
We left the Ghost town, but instead of heading back to town we decided to see where the road would lead us and we continued further on it. We were basically in the mountains, and the road went way up and way down, all of it being short switchbacks and sharp corners. This eventually led us to a place called Tortilla Flats, it consisted of three large buildings, a restaurant and two stores. Everyone was hungry so we decided to stop for lunch, I contemplated how I might handle my food poisoning from such a place.
My fears dwindled when we got inside and found the place packed full of people, that's always a good sign, it indicates that the food must be at least edible and tasty. I had to use the bathroom and on the way to it, I noticed for the first time the unusual wallpaper on the walls, one dollar bills with signatures on each one, from floor to ceiling, and at first I thought they were fake but on closer inspection I realized that every one of them was real.
In the washroom I'm doing my business and some guy comes in and figures he needs to pee from five feet away from the urinal, there are no barriers or walls in here between urinals, and this dude figures he needs to whip out his junk in the middle of the washroom. Eff'n people sometimes.
The food was extremely good and we got more than we needed, huge helpings for a low price, I was impressed.
We continued on our journey, and the paved road eventually turned to gravel but didn't hinder us as we plowed through. In hindsight I think we should have stopped and turned around but we wanted to see where the road led us and ignorance is blind. There were some truly spectacular views on the road but it was narrow and one vehicle wide in some areas.
Eventually we reached the end of the treacherous goat trail and ended up at Roosevelt Dam. I have never seen a dam before and I have to say I was pretty impressed with this one. The work involved to make this thing must have been incredible.
This brought us back out to the highway and we made our way home. From the highway it took us 2 hours to drive home. It was a great waste of a day and my wife and her parents slept all the home.
Scott Goerz
