Panaca Family Reunion 2010

This weekend we drove up to Panaca, NV for the Horlacher Family Reunion (Cathy's mom's family).

It was about a 3 hr drive but Taj did a great job of keeping himself entertained in the car.

Just a mile outside of Panaca is Cathedral Gorge.  

Taj and I ducked out of the reunion for an hour or so before dusk to explore the cool clay formations.

In addition to climbing on the formations there are cracks and caves you can explore.

Looking up

I can't get over how unique these clay formations were.

Taj and I climbed up to the top of this.  Taj is a really good climber.

I almost lost my shadow, but then I found it.  I took this picture of it in case I ever do lose it I will remember what it looks like.

View from the top.

Just up above this little crack and 10 feet forward was a cave that dropped down at least 40 feet or so (probably deeper if you actually went down).

This was the dirt road back to our car.  We didn't plan to do so much exploring so when we headed back to the car we had a good 2-3 mile walk.

Taj got to ride on my shoulders cause he was tired.

Each of Cathy's mom's siblings got to take turns telling stories they remembered about growing up.  I was worried Taj wouldn't be interested but after Grandma Gail told her story and came back to sit down he said "that was a good story Grandma!"

This is a photo of all the siblings (and their spouses).

Uncle Pete hosts the reunion at his house which also happens to have an awesome treehouse with a zip-line.

I had to take a picture of this interesting piece of farm equipment we drove by in Panaca.  I thought it looked like the ultimate weapon of war or an elaborate way to slice pizza but it turns out its a kind of rake that gathers the cut hay into rows so it can be bailed.  Who would have guessed?

Uncle Steve gave Taj a ride on his rad motorcycle.

Uncle Ron and Uncle Tom gave me a little tour of the area.  Uncle Ron showed me this place with an awesome view of Cathedral Gorge.

Next Ron showed us Condor Canyon.  This Canyon was a pretty popular mining site back in the day.  They used to mine cinnabar here.  Cinnabar deposits are mined and refined to produce Quicksilver or Mercury.

The small one-way dirt road we drove on used to be the narrow gauge railway that all the ore was transported on.  

After my tour with Ron and Tom, I went to the Big Spring with Taj and Ari and Cathy for a little dip.

After our swim we dried off and changed clothes to see the Pioneer Day parade down main street.

The town puts together a bunch of floats that throw candy out to all the kids.  Taj gathered the candy and Ari just waited on the sidewalk and acted as the official taste tester.

Uncle Steve takes candy pretty seriously so he was quite successful in gathering his favorite sweet treats.  It's hard to fault him for it when you see how happy he is with his spoils :)

The end of the parade consisted of 3 or 4 fire engines with sirens blaring.  I loved it but Taj apparently inherited Grandma Gail's auditory sensitivity.

This was painted on the window of Cindy Sooz diner in Panaca.  The sign on the door said Grandma was away attending a 67 class reunion in Wisconsin so the store was closed.  I was curious to see if they actually served cat on the menu or if this image was just supposed to make the place seem inviting and cozy.

After the parade Gail took us 15 minutes up the road from Panaca to her hometown of Pioche.

If you take the high road you will drive right by Hobo's Cave as you enter Pioche.  Grandma pulled over and decided to show us just how good of a climber she still is.

You enter the cave from a little opening on the top/back side (if you are looking from the road).

For fun when Grandma was a little girl she would sit up in this little cave and throw orange peels down on the cars driving by (all of Taj's mischievousness must come from Grandma).

View from the road.

Just past Hobo's Cave is a big old wooden structure that would run the mined ore in a cable bucket system down to the refinery.

Interesting engineering.

This is Pioche.  Up on the hill is a cross that has been there as long as Grandma can remember.

This is a little decorative park in Pioche with old equipment from the mining days.  In Taj's head he is thinking that Grandma grew up in train heaven.  Also in Taj's head the term "train heaven" is redundant.

This Grocery Store is the building where Grandma Gail's dad Butch owned and operated his butcher shop when Gail was growing up.

Gail and Owen (Cathy's mom and dad) could never live in Pioche because they would always have to sit on separate benches.

This is Pioche's famous million dollar courthouse.  It should have cost about $40,000 but because of poor planning, etc the building ended up costing a million dollars.  

All over Pioche are old pieces of mining equipment.  Soo fun!

This is the side of the old Masonic Hall.  I just really liked the old brick work.

This building used to be the LDS church in Pioche.  Gail and Owen had their wedding reception here.

This is the little old house that Gail grew up in.  It's looking kind of haggard these days but when Gail lived here it was clean and tidy.

Taj was sold on moving to Pioche.  Everywhere you turned there was a train, or tracks, or something that resembled a train.  We all had a great time.