Calico, CA, a former silver mine town, now a ghost town.

Written by Nathanael Whisonant.

We wake up at a Wal-Mart in Barstow, California. We left to find a place to go for the day. First we found a Desert Discovery Center. Well that wasn’t opened on Mondays. So that did not work. So then we were going to do an 8 mile loop at Rainbow Basin Natural Area. Well you can’t have a camper with you because there are sharp turns. So that did not work out either. After that we found a place called Calico.

Dominic, Damien, and Amelia on the train in Calico.

Calico has lots of silver mines and also is a ghost town. When I heard that it was a ghost town I said to my Mom, ”So it is a haunted town.” She said,” No. It is a deserted town.” We found out that there was a campground there. We dropped our camper off at the campground and went to go check out the place. We found out that there was a train and Amelia, Dominic, Damien, and Mom went on the train. After that we all looked around the town and saw a schoolhouse. It was very interesting. A sign said that it was also used for a Sunday school. After we left the schoolhouse we saw a Sheriff’s office and we were put in jail by my dad. Just kidding. It was a fake jail but my dad still locked us in. Then we found a bath house. The bath house was not only a bath house it was also a barber shop. Then we found a museum that had some tools that the miners would have used. Finally, everyone’s favorite part, shopping. Some of the little kids got recorders made out of bamboo and post cards. The big kids got post cards. After that we were walking back to the car and my mom saw a carpenter’s shop and Ryon and I went in and looked around. The carpentry was beautiful but we did not get anything. Finally we get in the car and leave.

The kids in jail – I would have liked to leave some of them there for a short time.

So after that we went and did that 8 mile loop. It was beautiful. The colors were great. I loved them. There was a greenish color rock. We all think that it is copper. We also saw sand dunes. Ryon ran up one of them. I could barely see him, although he wasn’t very high up. My Mom saw little shiny things on a sand dune.   First it was just glass but then it was a little shiny rock. We never found out what it was.

Rainbow Basin was really a rainbow of colors, not seen nearly as well here as in person.

Rebecca and Charlie at Rainbow Basin.

Ryon, on top of a giant sand dune in Rainbow Basin.

Then we went to go see my Uncle Robby, my mom’s brother. We met him at a Mexican restaurant and ate there. After that we went back to our camp site and visited with my Uncle Robby. I made a fire and we had s’mores. After a while he left and we went to bed and that was the end of the day.

“Cpt. America” and “Ironman” (Rob has successfully completed 1 Ironman race and will be running another very soon.)

I miss you all. God bless you all. Thank you for your prayers.

Nathanael