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ghost town – Winton, WY

by Kaylah Stroup September 4, 2019

Throwing it back to June’s massive road trip again today. Check out the bottom of this post for links to previous posts.

After a short stop at a neat old cemetery and some ooh-ing and ahhh–ing at wild horses, our next stop was the ghost town of Winton. Just to reiterate, we really went into this trip with basically no plans at all. The general idea was that we were going to drive to Phoenix, Arizona and that we’d be taking interstate 80. Beyond that, we didn’t have any stops planned. While that sometimes leads to missing cool stuff, it’s also just really fun to accidentally stumble upon places.

I managed to find Winton while searching for ghost towns near where we were right before losing service. We really had no idea what to expect as we drove twenty some minutes out of our way down a bumpy dirt road but Winton at least sounded like it was worth checking out.

The road progressively got worse and worse until we finally spotted the ruins of a building. The road leading up to the building was far too deteriorated for our rental car so we pulled off, parked, and grabbed our camera gear.

Rusted out old car half buried in the dirt in the ghost town of Winton, Wyoming.

Established in the 1920s, Winton was a small mining town with roughly 700 residents of all different nationalities. The mines closed in 1952 and that began the downfall of the town. Over the next few years residents began moving to nearby towns. Sixty odd years later, Winton is little more than ruins. There are a couple of standing buildings, only one with a roof (that I personally saw) but the majority of what’s left is rubble.

When we first pulled up, I was a bit disappointed. From the car I could only see one building and it was covered in scribbles of spray paint. I think at this point I’ve made it abundantly clear how I feel about vandalism on ruins. Go paint something else! It felt like a long drive out there for something like that. Still, it was something to photograph and somewhere to stretch our legs.

As we began to explore I realized just how awesome Winton was. There was far more than meets the eye initially. More ruins than you could shake a stick at! I have no idea how long we were there but it felt like every few minutes we were discovering a spot where a building once stood.

We explored until we were too hungry to go on, leaving knowing that there was still lots left to discover. I love leaving a place wanting more. It gives me an excuse to come back, and makes everything feel a bit more magical and mysterious.

Until next time, Winton! xoxo

*My souvenirs from Winton. A penny, a marble, an old nail + an instant photo.*

More posts from this trip;

Check out even more road trip posts under the ‘travel‘ tag & more ghost towns here.

ghost town – Two Guns, AZ

by Kaylah Stroup August 7, 2019

Throwing it back to June’s epic road trip again.

No trip to Arizona for us is complete without a stop at Two Guns. I’ve written about how important this place is to me a handful of times so there’s no need to retype that but I do want to share some photos from our latest visit.

Previous posts on Two Guns; that time I got married in a ghost town, our six month anniversary trip back to Two Guns, our wedding ‘rehearsal‘ & my first time in the Apache Death Cave.

It kind of sucks to fall in love with an abandoned place in the middle the desert because… well, it’s almost a guarantee that someday it’ll be destroyed. For as long as this place has been around though, I feel like it’s taken a heck of a beating in the last five years.

I certainly don’t mind graffiti. Generally, I am pro-graffiti but I am anti-people who can’t paint, people who paint dicks, people who paint offensive phrases, people who just make gosh darn messes on cool old buildings, etc. Two Guns is covered in spray paint. Seems like there isn’t a spot of bare building anymore so it’s pretty wild to look back at photos from my older posts and see how ‘untouched’ it looked (despite definitely being painted back then.) I’m most disappointed to see the paint making its way over to the much older ruins.

One of the most striking changes though is the collapse of the ‘Kamp’ building. It had been looking pretty rough for a long time but it was definitely a strange feeling to see it collapsed. Just a year earlier I had taken photos of my brother on the upper floor, waving from the window! Shoot, just a year earlier I had wedding photos taken in there! I’m curious if it’ll continue to fall or sit like it is now, roof on top of the rubble, for a while.

Apache Death Cave. Two Guns, Arizona — Inside the Apache Death Cave. Can’t help but feeling like that coolest cat ever knowing that I was in this cave in a wedding dress.

Hopefully our next visit to Two Guns will be in the school bus with my family. I think I’ve got everyone on board at this point, it’s just a matter of getting the bus done and making plans. I get goosebumps thinking about being there with my family again. And to actually camp there? YES, PLEASE!

Other posts from this trip –

Check out even more road trip posts under the ‘travel‘ tag & more ghost towns here.

Until next time, Two Guns! xoxo

ghost town – Piedmont, WY

by Kaylah Stroup July 23, 2019

Heading into Wyoming I really only knew two things about the state. One – it’s beautiful. Two – there are a lot of ghost towns. As much as we love just cruising around and checking things out, sometimes it can be a bit of a gamble going on the hunt for ghost towns. You never know what you’re going to drive an hour off the main road to find is actually highly protected private property or not even standing anymore.

We decided to gamble on Piedmont. The photos online looked promising. The bumpy dirt road that led us there took us beside grazing cows and a lazily flowing stream. It felt like it took forever but it was beautiful.

We stopped at the old charcoal kilns. They had a sign and some picnic benches, making them feel a little touristy for my tastes. That plus the fact some of the ghost town itself was behind a fence immediately meant actually getting to explore wasn’t an option.

We watched as the one other group of people there, a very regular looking family, parked their massive truck right up beside one of the buildings on the top of a hill (that doesn’t have an actual road going up to it) It was then we decided it would totally be okay to walk up to the houses… because at least we weren’t driving up to it, right?*

Piedmont was settled in 1869. There was a general store, a hotel, school, post office and more. This little town flourished until around 1910 when the Aspen Tunnel was built meaning the train no longer came through. This marked the slow decline of Piedmont. The town managed to hold on until the 1940s though.

Now, what’s left is honestly one of the most impressive ghost towns I’ve ever personally visited. Places like this one are usually converted into parks and become tourist hot spots. As great as those are, I prefer things left to rot on their own. I wanna see an actual ghost town, not something protected and maintained. I don’t really know who takes care of Piedmont, if anyone, or how its managed to stay graffiti-free for all this time but I’m sure glad to have been able to see it in it’s current state.

Other posts from this trip –

Check out even more road trip posts under the ‘travel‘ tag & more ghost towns here.

*After researching Piedmont, it seems as though this is private property and that it is watched after pretty carefully so explore at your own risk. I recommend bringing some binoculars and just looking from the road.

that time I got married in a ghost town…

by Kaylah Stroup June 25, 2018

Two Guns Wedding, ghost town wedding

I don’t even know how to start this post. There’s so much to say about our wedding and honestly, so much I just want to keep private. I’m straddling this weird line between sharing something I’m proud of and excited about and keeping it all to myself because it really is so special. Either way, this is going to be a long, photo heavy post and I’m sure as soon as I hit “publish” I’ll think of a thousand other things I wanted to mention but here we go…

Jeff and I live to travel. It’s such a huge part of our relationship. Neither of us care for traditional weddings so it was a no-brainer we’d have a destination wedding. Based on our travel history and the fact we’ve made it an annual tradition to go there, the desert was also a no-brainer. We’ve spent the most time in Arizona, California and New Mexico but aside from Cisco, UT where he proposed there was only one other spot that we loved as fiercely – Two Guns, Arizona. I had always half-jokingly suggested we should get married there but never really thought it could actually happen or put too much thought into what the logistics of that would look like.

Shortly after proposing Jeff mentioned “So, I was thinking Two Guns?” I was too emotional to talk about it but I couldn’t believe he was actually suggesting it. I finally stopped crying for long enough to have a conversation where we decided that yes, Two Guns would be the perfect spot to get married but before we officially made the call we wanted to make sure our families were down to travel. I was worried that it would be asking too much. Much to my surprise, everyone was totally on board. Not a moment of hesitation from either side.

Seven months later a grand total of thirty people, including Jeff, myself and our photographer, made our way out to Arizona. Each group took their own route, came in on different days, and did a variety of different things leading up to the wedding but all eventually met up at one of our favorite places in the world, Two Guns!

Two Guns is a ghost town outside of Flagstaff, Arizona. It has a long, kind of wild history but currently just sits baking in the desert sun. The property contains many ruins, including old cottages, a campground, a service station and even a zoo! Can’t forget to mention the cave either. (Heck yes we got photos in the cave!) Truly a playground for Rt. 66 travelers!

It’s actually for sale! If anyone would like to give it to us as a wedding gift, that’d be rad.

Like a lot of the abandonment in the desert, it’s not really a big deal to visit. There are no fences to hop to access the property, and it’s literally right off a highway exit. We figured we’d just show up, get married and leave after we were done. We had no plans to decorate. It’s seriously perfect as is! Since the ceremony was going to be super short we didn’t even bother with chairs. We did however end up choosing a spot with lots of objects to sit and lean on which worked out very nicely. It was essentially a wedding flash mob.

One of my brothers officiated the ceremony. He got ordained just for us, and spent a good deal of time practicing by marrying my niece’s stuffed animals because he was so nervous (mostly just because he didn’t want to cry!) So sweet.

On June 9th, 2018 at 9 am Jeff and I got married on top of an old crumbling building in the ghost town of Two Guns, Arizona.

It was nothing short of incredible. I spent so much time stressing about everything from the dress to if we should decorate or not but it was legitimately perfect. I can’t think of a single thing I’d change. It was so perfectly ~us~. We’re both just over the moon.

I will not say this is my favorite photo because I could never choose but you guys, I am LIVING for how fierce I look up there. Was I just married or am I ready to go into battle?

All photos in this post are by Madeline Barr. Finding the right photographer was the biggest task in planning this wedding. Jeff and I were both really stressed about it. I cannot express how happy I am that we hired Maddie! She is a blast to be around, made us both feel super comfortable in front of the camera, and gave us the wedding photos of our dreams. I seriously can’t believe these are photos of us! I’m already plotting what excuse we can make to fly out to San Diego and have her photograph us again. She’s amazing, hire her!

more details
dress + topper –BHLDN
pink underskirt – Amazon
shoes – Palladium Boots
flowers – Sutcliffe Floral
pants + vest – Express

Most of these photos were just part of the preview that our wonderful photographer sent over the night of the wedding (what!?) and somehow she’s already finished up the rest of the photos. I’ve pored over them so many times. I’m completely obsessed!!!

At this time I’m not sure if I’ll be sharing many more photos. The day before the ceremony Jeff and I were sitting at a cute little coffee shop and we started talking about how the whole idea of a wedding was super weird. It’s such a personal thing. Even though we had only invited the closest people to us, it still felt like too much. Looking back on it now, I love what we did and I’m happy everyone who was there was there but I can’t even imagine how we would have been able to deal with a bigger or more traditional wedding.

When we went through all the photos Maddie had sent us, I felt that same way again – just like this is SO personal, how could I ever share these with someone else?! I want to hoard them away for just us. Does that make sense? Did anyone else feel like this? I never thought that I would and maybe I’ll end up feeling more comfortable about it all after it’s not so fresh. For now, I’m happy just sharing these.
xoxo

ghost town – Sego Canyon, UT

by Kaylah Stroup January 9, 2018

ghost town, utah, sego

After two whole months, I have finally finished editing the photos from November’s fabulous road trip around Utah! While I’m relieved to finally be through sorting them all, I’m so sad this will be the last post about the trip. Our road trips out west are my absolute favorite thing in the world. This one, for obvious reasons, will always hold a special place in my heart. Posting about it has been my little way of reliving it.

Anyway, our last big stop was Sego Canyon. This was a planned stop but a great example of how you never really know what you’re getting yourself into until you see a place for yourself. Unlike Cisco, which is a very short drive off the highway and what I’d consider an easy little detour to make, Sego is a bit of adventure. I’m glad we didn’t save it until sunset.

A narrow winding ‘road’ (definitely more like ATV trail) led us slowly back through time to this ghost town. We questioned many times whether our rental car would make it or if we were even allowed to be where we were driving. It seemed like we drove down this sketchy road for ever. Neither of us had phone service so I couldn’t do any further research on how far we’d have to drive before coming to the remains of the town.

Although we didn’t drive the entire length of the road, which I now kind of regret, we did find the ruins of many old buildings as well as the cemetery!

sego cemetery, ghost town cemetery, utah ghost town, utah utah, ghost town, travel blog ghost town cemetery, travel blog

One of the last things we saw in Sego were the pictographs. To be honest, they were a bit of a surprise. We were drawn to the area because of the ghost town but these were the perfect happy ending to our visit. I spotted them from the passenger side window as we crept our way down the bumpy road, back toward civilization. I first saw a fence and realized there had to be a reason a modern fence was put up. As my eye scanned the cliff I spotted the red markings. We immediately parked the car and darted over to the cliff.

This is one of those things that I’ve definitely heard of and seen a bunch of photos before but seeing it in person was just something else. We were both in awe. Truly the icing on the cake of an already awesome stop!

If you’re ever in the area, Sego is 100% worth a stop – just make sure you’ve got some time to spare and a vehicle capable of handling the rough road!

sego canyon, utah, ghost town

ghost town – Frisco, UT

by Kaylah Stroup December 12, 2017

ghost town, travel blog, offbeat travel blog

Unlike Silver City, we had the ghost town of Frisco on our radar before even leaving Ohio. I was super stoked to visit. The photos I had found online looked rad, and the cemetery sounded right up my alley. Sadly, we arrived a biiiit too late in the day to see everything. While the sun was still in the sky when the navigation announced we had arrived, it was setting fast. Frisco isn’t located right in view of the road, and is kind of hard to see especially that time of the day. If you weren’t looking for it, you very well might cruise right on past.

We turned down an unmarked street… perhaps it’d be better to call it a ‘path’ though. It was dirt, it was rough, and it was a bit much for our tiny rental car. We also weren’t sure we were heading the right way. So, we tossed it in reverse and headed toward a second dirt path which seemed to be in even worse condition but did have a few ruins visible off in the distance. We pulled over as much as possible, not that being in anyone’s way would ever be a problem there, grabbed our camera bags, and ran to the ruins hoping to catch the last of the day’s light.

We stayed until the light had completely left the sky, which wasn’t very long after we arrived. Jeff seemed excited about his photos, so that made me excited, but I wasn’t expecting much from what I had shot.

ghost town, offbeat travel, utah, sunset in the desert Frisco ghost town, the dainty squid, utah, travel blog,

Fast forward to last week when I finally got around to sorting the photos from this stop, I LOVE THEM!! Like love love loooove them.

I know, I know, I talk about how special these trips are all the time. In nearly every roadtrip post I moon over how they’re always the best weeks of my life… and they are! I love being out on the open road with Jeff. There’s no place I’d rather be. We have so much fun, and see so many incredible things. It’s not all peaches and cream though. Sometimes we forget to eat and run out of energy before finishing exploring a location. Sometimes our rental car is a piece of crap. Aaaand sometimes we don’t plan well enough and show up to a location too late to really shoot it to it’s fullest potential. But maybe that’s what makes these places so great. I love our hectic vacationing style. I love cramming a million sights into one trip. It forces you to appreciate what’s in front of you that second. There’s no sense in fretting about what could have been or how great it’d have been if only this or that happened.

Being able to see Frisco with those gorgeous colors in the sky was just a dream! We didn’t have long, and it was incredibly cold but it was perfect. I love that we left feeling like it was this magical place that held so many secrets.

ghost town – Silver City, UT

by Kaylah Stroup November 29, 2017

Shortly after leaving Eureka Cemetery, Jeff and I stumbled upon Silver City. Despite having mapped out a great deal of the ghost towns in the areas we’d planned on being in the state, I somehow had never seen or heard of this one. According to Wikipedia, ‘there is nothing left other than a few holes where mines were, and a number of tailings piles.’ And now I see why Wikipedia isn’t a reputable source…

Silver City ranks pretty high on the “Boy, I’m glad we slammed on the breaks and turned around for that one” list. From the road we were able to see a building or two but it wasn’t until we got out of the car and started exploring that we saw just how much remained of this silver mining town. What was supposed to be a super quick stop for a photo or two turned into us wandering around until we were too hungry to go on. Each time we’d thought we’d seen it all we’d stumble upon another building or neat little hole in the ground. It was an incredible find!

silver city, ghost town

Below are my souvenirs from Silver City. I brought a bunch of land camera film (which you can find here) on the trip but this was the location I shot the most. It captured so beautifully. I have so many photos from this location I could easily write a second post just to share my film photos. The film photo displayed below was my favorite, perhaps even of the whole trip. We found that area of Silver City last. We were both starving and ready to leave but there was a building I could see off in the distance that I wanted to shoot real quick before hopping back in the car. I ran over to grab my shot and stopped in awe of that little layout. It just looked so ancient. Something about it just really struck my fancy.

Around Silver City in a few places were little piles of gathered items. First was a pile of pretty rocks. (I shared a photo of that here.) A few minutes later I stumbled upon another pile which included some rocks, pieces of metal, and this nail. I just couldn’t seem to leave it behind. I wanted to bring my own little piece of Silver City home since it stole a piece of my heart. Too cheesy for you? I thought so too but I’m only half joking. I don’t feel like I could ever accurately describe how much these trips, and random stops just like this one mean to me. Silver City may not be your average tourist destination but we couldn’t have loved it more! Unplanned surprises like this are exactly what I love so much about roadtrippin’!!

utah, ghost town Silver City, Ghost Town, Utah

abandoned route 66 trading post

by Kaylah Stroup November 26, 2019

It’s blowing my mind that I still have photos from June’s roadtrip that I haven’t sorted or edited yet. We stopped so many places and saw so many things that trying to tackle the photos in one chunk, or even a couple, was just too overwhelming. Admittedly, five months is a really long time for me to sit on photos no matter how many there were. The upside is that its been a really fun way to relive the post and it satisfies a little bit of my travel urge. Jeff and I are currently trying to save for a house so I’m not quite sure when the next time we’ll be doing something like this will be. I mean, I never quite know since we’ve been known to plan trips like this in less than a week soooo…

We spotted this abandoned structure from the freeway not too long after getting into New Mexico. If you recall, we were driving from Phoenix, Arizona back home to Cleveland, OH. A thirty-hour drive – not including any stops! New Mexico and Arizona are neighboring states which means we had not been on the road too long at all. Although we were both excited to check out all sorts of things on the drive home, I guess I had thought maybe those stops would happen a little bit further into the thirty-hour drive to break up the time.

BUT the building looked too good to pass up even from a distance. We hopped off the freeway and went to go check it out. It was well worth the stop! Although fairly small, it had lots of different things that grabbed my attention. The safari wallpaper, the nearly completely collapsed ceiling, the murals on the exterior! It was fantastic.

Be sure to check out the video near the end of the post for a tour!

Perhaps just as exciting as stumbling upon this excellent stop by accident was realizing that it actually has some pretty cool history. The building that is standing here today was finished in the spring of 1954. Claude Bowlin, who owned and operated Bowlin’s Old Crater Trading Post, was not only a well-respected merchant but operated such a successful business that he expanded, opening five more stores along Route 66. Although he catered to a lot of tourists, he made it his mission to educate those passing through about local tribal cultures.

In 1973, the trading post suffered the same fate as many other buildings along Route 66 and was closed shortly after the interstate opened. The owner enjoyed a few years of retirement before passing away. His widow sold the property with a stipulation in the deed stating it only be used for religious purposes. That’s how in the 1980s & 90s this building was used as a bible school and church. In 2006 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Spots like this are my absolute favorite. I don’t know why or what the big draw is for me but waking up early in the morning, grabbing a coffee and stumbling upon gems like this with my favorite person in the world is my perfect day!

More posts from this trip;

Check out even more road trip posts under the ‘travel‘ tag.

abandoned diner

by Kaylah Stroup November 14, 2019

Last summer my pal Allie blogged about an abandoned diner she explored in Arizona. Check out her post here. She was road tripping around an area I’m fairly familiar with (She was actually in the area for my wedding!) so when I saw her post I was confused about how it was something Jeff and I had never been to over the years. A little further into the post and I realized we’d driven by it time and time again but always missed the exit. Had we known that there was an abandoned diner, we may have made it more of a priority but it was always like “Oh, what was that? Looked cool. We passed it though… maybe next year!”

Needless to say, after seeing her post, it was number one on our to-do list next time we were in the area! Although it was on the way home, it was something I looked forward to basically as soon as we set out on this roadtrip!

It did not disappoint!

I’m truly not sure what else to say about this place. It’s pretty straight forward, ya know? It was a diner and now it’s abandoned. This was my first restaurant of any sort so it was all new and fun for me. The two things I liked the most was the signage inside with prices and the booths, of course!

I’ve talked about this before but there are certain buildings that just kind of resonate with me more than others based on previous experiences. For example, I’ve never worked in a factory so abandoned factory, while big and exciting, doesn’t give me the same feeling as an abandoned school – somewhere I spent many years. Of course, it’s not the same school I went to but it’s very easy to see the similarities between the schools you grew up going to and basically any other school.

All that to say, it’s easy to picture myself sitting here. I’ve eaten in enough diners, a lot of which don’t look too much better. It’s a funny feeling to walk into a place like this and so easily be able to imagine the patrons and folks who worked there.