Yuccabloom: A Memoir of Meaningful Meanderings: Goldfield, AZ

Goldfield, AZ

Goldfield is a 1800s ghost town serving as a tourist destination complete with an Old Western theme. It's an assembly of buildings that recaptures the character of yesterday while also providing for entertainment and refreshments, along with a variety of art galleries. I confess that I have mixed feelings about such places as this. While charming and providing for escape into old frontier life, these places sometimes feel more like theme parks that flatten out American Western history into a series of caricatures, rather than educating people on the complex historical weave that was the American expansion into the West. In the end, maybe I am taking it all too seriously, where other people are just looking for an enjoyable time. It might also be due to the fact that my sensibilities gravitate more towards the granola-crunching hippie New West over the gunslinger Old West. Maybe it's good to come to these types of places with a mind open to fun and daydreaming about days of long ago.

The above photo is the staircase for the bordello building. I have been wanting to take artsy photographs of staircases for a while, particularly fun spiral staircases like this. I am not sure how successful this particular instance is, I think it is somewhat successful in giving just enough detail while also supplying a larger visual context, but I think there could have been some other angles for taking this photograph. Well, live and learn. Maybe next time I'll try taking it from the back of the staircase while looking directly up. But at least this attempts to avoid the flat effect of many other such photographs taken at a remove.

Goldfield, AZ

I thought this was a touching scene, as a couple strolls into Goldfield on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Goldfield, AZ

There are many different types of retail businesses available at Goldfield, including some that sell touristy trinkets and others that sell more serious arts and crafts, as well as a coffee shop and bakery, and a saloon.

Goldfield, AZ

I found these metal scorpions to be interesting. At least I like these far more than the real thing!

Goldfield, AZ

This museum attempts to tell the long history of the area. There is a good collection of stones displaying the mineral history of the area. Then, there are artifacts from the old frontier days.

Goldfield, AZ

I cannot tell you how many restaurants out West I used to go to during childhood vacations with my family, and there would be a stuffed bison head mounted on the wall. Today, I find it to be a little odd and macabre, but when I was a kid I thought it was the coolest thing, suggesting all of the wonders of cowboy days.

Goldfield, AZ

This is the first time I have ever seen the javelina equivalent of the famous bison head. I don't know how I feel about this one. Maybe it's the lack of childhood associations that I have in connection with the bison head, but this particular stuffed head I find to be quite ugly.

Goldfield, AZ

This is billed to be an actual dress coat belonging to the legendary Doc Holliday. If there is any figure of the Old West who truly intrigues me, it would be Doc Holliday. Maybe it has something to do with the 1990s movie, Tombstone, with Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer, which was an excellent movie, but might or might not be the most historically accurate representation of the real man. Doc Holliday seemed to be a cool mixture of gunslinger, Old Southern gentleman, and social outsider. There is something cool and poetic about that contradictory combination.

Goldfield, AZ

I just thought this was a cool combo. I love this saguaro. Just look at all of its arms. Just amazing! I cannot even guess at its age.

Goldfield, AZ

The bordello building.

Goldfield, AZ

Here is a mature palo verde tree with branches fanning fully outside of the frame of this photo. If you could better see the high ends of the branches, you would see the green skin of the bark that gives this tree its name.