The Yuma Proving Grounds & Castle Dome ghost town museum

Over the weekend we decided to go on a bit of a drive.  Derk heard about the Castle Dome ghost town museum recently that we hadn’t checked out yet, and on the way there we stopped at the Yuma Proving Grounds to show Jonathan all the cool tanks and such on display.  You don’t actually go into the proving ground, of course, but there’s a little drive that has a turnout where they have all sorts of old machinery on display with signs that tell all about each.  It’s super interesting!!  You can get right up close and personal and touch the equipment.  The kids got a real kick out of it.  Here are some shots of some of the machines.

 

And some pictures of everyone exploring all the cool displays!

One of the tanks even had tons of bullet holes all over it.

Kyrie wanted to get a picture next to this sign, and then Cambria wanted to copy her sister. 

A cute one of my sweet girls!

This is just the tail end of the missile!  Look how small Asher looks in comparison – I had no idea missiles could be so big!

I am so in love of these shots of Cambria (she had just eaten a powdered sugar donut ).  Simply breath-taking, right?? 

And finally, proof that I was at the proving grounds, too (since I am always the one behind the camera!)! 

After that, we took an extremely bumpy drive down a seemingly never-ending dirt road that finally led us to the ghost town museum!  It was worth the wait.  Very cool!  There is actually another museum – the mine museum – but we opted to just do the ghost town museum this time.  On either side of this dirt road leading to the museum there were mine fields!  We kept seeing this sign every few yards.

The entrance to the museum is through a gift shop.  Once we got inside, this cute little old lady gave us a brochure and told us a bit about the history.  Then she let us go through and explore all the cool stuff.   I was glad we got to go through alone and not with a guide because there was too much to see to feel rushed by an employee.  It took us about 1.5 hours, I believe, to see everything.  It’s not that big, but there’s just so much to see.  Here are a few pictures of the outsides of some of the buildings.

Some cool stuff we saw inside the buildings.

A couple outdoor shots I thought were kinda cool.

On a desk inside the bank, they had this super old general ledger.  It was just neat since that’s my major and all. 

These next pictures are so cool.  I just love how my kids were all immediately captivated by such totally different things within the same room, and how each of those items reflected their individual personalities!  Of course Kyrie went straight for the books, Asher went for the typewriter, and Cambria went for the baby dolls.

Jonathan made a few friends….

….or is that enemies?? 

When I saw this, I had to snap a picture of it for my mom!!    We had a washboard just like this when I was growing up that was an heirloom my mom had kept for years.

We walked into the school room, and Asher was drawn to an item on the teacher’s desk.  I love the look on his face when we told him what this was used for!  Good thing he wasn’t born back then! 

Jonathan was instantly drawn to the piano in the hotel, of course!  And he couldn’t believe the price of cigarettes!

He found a cool, old matchbox and a bullet shell.  Those cans of food at the general store are really old!

Bri really loves her Uncle Jonathan!

And once again, a couple pictures to prove I was there, too.    Bri was so tired by that point, poor thing.

It was a very hot, but very fun-filled day!