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Showing posts from July, 2011

The Tunnel: Between Superior and Miami

This tunnel is on the highway between Superior and Miami, AZ.  After having a great lunch in Miami, it was off to Globe.  More to come...

Noftsger Hill Inn: Once a School Now a Haunted B&B

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The Noftsger was built in 1907 and was known as the Noftsger Hill Elementary school. It sits near the Old Dominion Mine in Globe and looks over the valley below. Stories of strange occurrences were reported even back when children filled its halls. Some would see a lantern light shining through the windows when no one was inside. The children often found the books in the room were moved from the place they were left at the end of the school day. Other objects had also mysteriously moved overnight as well. Children’s voices could be heard in the distance when there were no children present at the time. After the school was closed in 1981, stories of teachers buried in the basement circulated and many said that the place was haunted with their ghosts. A lady who lives nearby reported hearing a telephone ringing from inside the building but it was empty at the time. Today, the Noftsger stands as a six room Inn and decorated with memorabilia dedicated to the mines that once made Globe a

Off To Globe

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Sharon and I along with the POE team are in Globe doing a ghost hunt and conducting experiments.  We will share our experience with you.  Be looking for our posts on the trip.

Florence: POW Camp

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Just north of Florence was located a huge prisoner of war camp for German and Italian detainees seized during the North Africa movement and called, “Camp Florence”.   This World War II site was built in 1942-43 and is the biggest prisoner of war complex ever built on American land.   Thousands of POW’s were held in this 5 acre compound which had a barracks, a hospital, a bakery, a swimming pool, athletic fields, and a few theaters.   The men even earned money by performing different tasks within the camp. Camp Florence had around 13,000 prisoners by December of 1945.  In 1946 it was deemed a "surplus" and in 1948 it became a state hospital and incarceration center for first time criminals.  They moved most of the POW quarters to Queen Creek, AZ and used them for elementary schoolrooms.  Today it stands as a location for the Florence Public Health Service Clinic, serving the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Court is in Session

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Pictures from inside the Florence Historical Museum.

Florence Historical Museum

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On our way home from Tucson, we stopped in Florence to check out their historical museum.  Here are some of the items on display inside. Florence capital building

Frozen in July

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It is frickin' hot in good ol' Phoenix and surrounding cities.  With the monsoon season upon us, we are getting the humidity too.  I thought I would post some pictures of winter and try and cool off.  If the pictures don't do it, a glass of iced coffee or green tea in an air conditioned building just might. Hot coco and chilly outdoor seating. Rocking by a warm fire. How about some ice fishing? Winter Wonderland Frozen waters. Take a ride on the zip line. Cruise with the dogs. Nighty nite.

Tom Mix: The King of Cowboys

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I always love it when an unexpected story comes my way. On our way home from Tucson last week, we decided to take the back highway Route 79. Sharon was telling me about a monument for a cowboy actor who died along that particular stretch of road. His name was Tom Mix and he was known as “The King of Cowboys”. Thomas Edwin Mix was born on January 6, 1880 into a poor logging family in Mix Run, Pennsylvania. He spent his youth riding horses and working on a local farm. His days were consumed with thoughts of being in the circus as a knife thrower. He was rumored to use his sister to assist while he practiced throwing knives against a wall. But life would take him in another direction as an American film actor in many early Western movies. Between 1910 and 1935, he chalked up a staggering 336 films, some of which were silent movies. He was respected and revered by many of the famous cowboys to follow such as John Wayne. Mix enrolled in the Army on April of 1898 during the Spanish-Am

The Lone Cactus

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Biosphere 2

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Biosphere 2 is a 3.14-acre structure originally built to be an artificial, materially-closed ecological system in Oracle, Arizona (USA) by Space Biosphere Ventures, a joint venture whose principal officers were John P. Allen, inventor and Executive Director, and Margret Augustine, CEO. Constructed between 1987 and 1991, it was used to explore the complex web of interactions within life systems in a structure that included five areas based on natural biomes and an agricultural area and human living/working space to study the interactions between humans, farming and technology with the rest of nature. It also explored the possible use of closed biospheres in space colonization, and allowed the study and manipulation of a biosphere without harming Earth's. The name comes from Earth's biosphere, Biosphere 1. Earth's life system is the only biosphere currently known. Funding for the project came primarily from the joint venture's financial partner, Ed Bass' Decisions

We All Go a Little Mad Sometimes

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If Norman Bates spent more time taking care of the motel instead of his dead mother, the place wouldn't look like an abandoned mess. Looks like Norman has a new friend.