Where Am I -- Volume II

[glc]

That is the Hotel Connor in Jerome AZ. What you blurred out is Spirit Room.

[Rick Quinn]

That is the Hotel Connor in Jerome AZ. What you blurred out is Spirit Room.

Just in case there's still any doubt: yes, yes, and great job, as usual! I planned to create a convincing little cloud, floating in front of the sign for the Spirit Room--which had to be obscured, because it would have been a dead giveaway! (Ahem) But in the end, I settle for a simple blur, and besides, the scrambled letters on the hotel sign didn't even slow you guys down. Strange goings on and scrambled signs come with the territory. Jerome is a ghost town, after all, and the Connor is one of several establishments reputed to be haunted...

Jerome is part of Scenic Side Trip #9, an alternative to Interstate 17 on that crowded run between Phoenix and Flagstaff. This is definitely one of the most popular routes in the book, and for good reason! Here's an excerpt, with a little bit of background on the Billion Dollar Copper Camp that we now know as ghost town Jerome:

"Jerome was built on the site of one of the richest copper ore deposits that has ever been found. It’s high up on the slopes of Mingus Mountain, and to get to it you’ll have to negotiate hairpin switchbacks that make the curves on Yarnell Hill seem tame. The higher you climb, the better the view of Verde Valley, almost 2,000 feet below, but if you’re doing the driving, keep your eyes on the road!

The town comes at you all at once. You drive around one last curve, and there it is: four parallel streets carved like steep stair steps into the side of Cleopatra Hill. Today, Jerome is a ramshackle perch of a ghost town. Some of it has been restored, and people do still live here, but most of the place is falling into ruin. Some structures in the lowest street, including the old town jail, are actually sliding, very slowly, down the mountainside, giving rise to the popular civic motto: “Jerome, a town on the move!”

Jerome wasn’t abandoned until the mine closed for good in 1952, but the boom times were almost half a century earlier, in the early 1900s, when as many as 15,000 people lived and worked here. Space was at such a premium that miners slept three to a tiny single room, in rotating shifts of 8 hours each. To serve the needs of all those hardworking men, downtown Jerome was a festering mess of brothels, saloons, and gambling halls—so many that the New York Sun declared Jerome to be “The Wickedest Town in the West.”

Rick

[glc]

Well, it was Utahtea's clues that led me to it.

[Utahtea]

Well, it was Utahtea's clues that led me to it.

Giggles....

Utahtea

[Rick Quinn]

Well, it was Utahtea's clues that led me to it.

I kinda figured. Utahtea is such a good sport, she likes to stop just short of spelling out the answers, to give everybody else one more shot at the puzzle.

Here's another new one. I'm looking for the name of a Mountain Range. You'll have to begin by figuring out which state you are in, and once you've done that, naming the mountains should be easy. It is not an uncommon name. These first three pictures will make you wonder if the name is even remotely appropriate:







Looking at those photos, you would think that the name would be the opposite! The mountains are old. In this next photo, you'll see low, rounded hills, all that remains of a vast field of ancient volcanoes.



There are few people here, so wildlife abounds:



and there are lakes.



There have been major fires in these mountains, but in this area, the scars are beginning to heal.



Finally, the headwaters of a little river that will flow into a big river with the same name:



Where am I?

What is the name of these mountains?

For extra points: Name the Little River!

Rick

[Utahtea]

Since we are on the topic of towns that might have ghosts here is my entry. We were just there in February of this year. You do have to drive on a dirt road up to the town but cars can do it just fine.

This town has a VIEW for sure!



This is not a church



Assay building to the left and brothel to the right.



The hotel



The view leaving might help pin point the area if you can identify the mountain range.



Where am I?

What is the name of the town?
Bonus points for the name of the Hotel...which has been removed on the sign by me.

Extra credit if you know what just happened here.

Utahtea

[Rick Quinn]

Where am I?

What is the name of the town?
Bonus points for the name of the Hotel...which has been removed on the sign by me.

Extra credit if you know what just happened here.

Utahtea

You are in the Cerro Gordo Ghost town, on the edge of Death Valley. The "church" doubles as a movie theater. The hotel is the American Hotel, which burned to the ground just last Monday, along with two other buildings!

Rick

[glc]

Rick, I'm going to take a stab. Are you in New Mexico, are those the Rocky Mountains, and is that the Little Rio Grande?

[Rick Quinn]

Here's another new one. I'm looking for the name of a Mountain Range. You'll have to begin by figuring out which state you are in, and once you've done that, naming the mountains should be easy. It is not an uncommon name. These first three pictures will make you wonder if the name is even remotely appropriate:







Looking at those photos, you would think that the name would be the opposite! The mountains are old. In this next photo, you'll see low, rounded hills, all that remains of a vast field of ancient volcanoes.



There are few people here, so wildlife abounds:



and there are lakes.



There have been major fires in these mountains, but in this area, the scars are beginning to heal.



Finally, the headwaters of a little river that will flow into a big river with the same name:



Where am I?

What is the name of these mountains?

For extra points: Name the Little River!

Rick

Rick, I'm going to take a stab. Are you in New Mexico, are those the Rocky Mountains, and is that the Little Rio Grande?

Good guesses all, but no. Not in New Mexico, not the Rockies, and not the Little Rio Grande.

Rick

[Rick Quinn]

If you can figure out the real name of this lake, you'll still have to translate it, but once you've done all that, you'll have this puzzler pretty well solved:



Name the Mountains

Name the Little River that begins here

Rick