RonnieAdventure #0182 - Lonnie Hammargren's House, Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada

Anyone that has lived in Las Vegas knows Lonnie Hammargren, or is at least familiar with his name and the house(s) that he lives in. Lonnie is a neurosurgeon by profession and he was also Lieutenant Governor of Nevada a number of years ago, but Lonnie is best known for being the ultimate collector! Most collectors specialize in one or two product types, but Lonnie collects just about anything. Over the years his collection has grown to the point that he has purchased and expanded into the two adjacent houses and he now needs additional room. Once a year Lonnie invites guest to tour his collection, so how could I refuse!

When you drive down the street, you can not miss Lonnie's house(s) because the first structure is "Paradise Garden" [Paradise ("Noun") Old Persian, A Walled Garden: 1.Heaven, 2. Eden, 3. Bliss], followed by the continuous, attached structures "Palace of the Governor, Uxmal, Yucatan, Mexico", "Cathedral Chutreaux," "Stonehenge," and "Chichen Itza Castillo Del Sol." You will also note that Lonnie's House it is the only structure in the neighborhood with a replica of the Space Shuttle sitting on the front lawn and a Batmobile parked in the driveway. The house is guarded by several statues!

Picture by Kolohe

Picture by Kolohe

We decided to start our tour in the garage, which contained a number of unusual vehicle (including 2 vintage Rolls Royce vehicles) and the original balloon basket used in the movie Around the World in 80 Days. There are also a number of other vehicles scattered throughout the property.

From the garage you can follow a "secret" tunnel to Lonnie's Crypt (called "Pharaoh's Tomb"), where Lonnie has his own cryogenic coffin (he has a mannequin of himself in the coffin), enclosed in a metal sarcophagus. Will this be Lonnie's final resting place?

Picture by Kolohe

When you walk through the front door of the main residence, the "Sistine Chapel" is on the right, which also contains an original 1815 Venetian Gondola. It is interesting to note that the construction of the gondola is asymmetrical; i.e., the port (left) side of the structure has significantly more curvature so that the gondola can efficiently be driven by a single ore near the stern. The toothed prow ornament is made of iron to counterbalance the weight of the gondolier.  

Picture by Kolohe

You then have to walk through "Ted's Bar" to get to the "Pharaoh Throne & Music Room." There is a secret door between the two rooms, and if the door is not open, you need to press the tiger's eye and then the door will automatically open.

Picture by Kolohe

Picture b Kolohe

The "Roman Dining Hall" is behind the "Pharaoh Throne & Music Room," but there is not a lot of room for dining! The "Secundo" and "Prima" kitchens are located adjacent to the "Roman Dining Hall."
 

From "Pharaoh Throne & Music Room," you can go upstairs to the "Music Atrium," which contains a wide variety of musical instruments. The adjacent room contains a collection of astronaut paraphernalia.

After passing a dinosaur skeleton and a knight in shinning armor, you find items from the Pacific Islands and South America.

Picture by Kolohe

Picture by Kolohe

Picture by Kolohe

Picture by Kolohe

From this point, the rooms seem to get really disorganized. On the back side of the house is the "Toy" and "Super Hero" rooms. There are a lot of Evil and Robbie Knievel motor cycle items and movie props in this section of the house. Lonnie even has the leather motorcycle suit Evil was wearing when he jumped the fountain in front Caesars Palace. (Unfortunately, Evil broke almost every bone in his body trying that jump.)

Picture by Kolohe

I don't know the intended theme of some other rooms, but I did recognize Lonnie's Office, his bedroom ("Liberache's Boudoir"), and there is a long bar at the back of the house before you walk out to one of the pools.  

Picture by Kolohe

The back yards of all three properties are interconnected, so you can just explore the entire area without going back into one of the houses. There are several pools, a concert stage, old cars, trains, mining equipment, statues, and even the pink Easter Egg that Liberache walked through for his Easter Show.

Picture by Kolohe

Picture by Kolohe

Picture by Kolohe

Picture by Kolohe

However, Lonnie's real love is outer space and space travel. He has all types of rockets, space transporters, capsules, a Mars Lander, Space Shuttles, and a replica of the Russian International Space Station. 

Picture by Kolohe

Picture by Kolohe

Picture by Kolohe

Picture by Kolohe

I have only covered a fraction of Lonnie's collection, so maybe I'll have to go back again!

RonnieAdventure #0181 - Central Utah - 2015

On the way back to Las Vegas, we stopped in Highland (Utah) and I was able to photograph eight beautiful young women and eight handsome young men on their way to a dance. We also saw some very talented young people perform the The Musicman and I discovered what cute young girls do at a birthday party - they paint their finger nails.

Before we left for Las Vegas, I looked out of the living room window and counted twelve wild turkeys on the hill just behind the house. I'm certain that these turkeys will not stay around for Christmas Dinner!

The Morrison Charcoal Ovens are located along Utah State Route 132, just east of  Leamington. The Ovens were constructed in 1882 to produce charcoal from wood that was harvested in the nearby mountains. There were four charcoal ovens and each oven would hold about 25 cords of wood. After six-to-eight days of controlled burning, the fire in the oven would be smothered by shutting off the air supply. The charcoal was then allowed to cool before being sold to various users in the area. 

As I was photographing the Charcoal Ovens, a train passed within a few feet of where I was standing. About 20 minutes later, I had to wait at a railroad crossing on Utah State Route 174 for the same train.

The U.S. Post Office building in Leamington has to be one of the smallest post offices that I have ever visited! 

On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 that uprooted more than 120,000 Japanese-Americans from their homes on the West Coast and moved them to ten different Internment Camps in isolated areas of Western United States. Topaz Internment Camp is located northwest of Delta, Utah. The camp closed in October of 1945 and all of the buildings were removed from the site. Today, there is a monument located on the site and the local Boy Scout Troop has placed markers along the street intersections and at the commercial facilities locations. 

Photographer Unknown

Occasionally when you are driving backroads you come across some really unusual things, such as the abandoned IAUS and RaPower3 energy site north of Hinckley. Apparently this "solution to the nation's energy challenge" did not work out as well at the investor's had anticipated.

South of Hinckley is the Gunnison Massacre Site where Captain Gunnison and his crew of 11 men were attacked while surveying a route for a Pacific Railroad. Gunnison had passed through the Tomichi Valley in Colorado (The town of Gunnison, Gunnison River, and Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado are all named in his honor.) and was warned not to enter Utah Territory because the Mormon pioneers and the Pahvant (Ute) Indians were at war. Documents indicate that all of the Mormons were "gathered into a village for mutual protection against the Utah Indians;" but it was turning bitter cold, and Gunnision was in a hurry, so he continued westward anyway. Unfortunately, the Palivant Indians did not realize that Gunnison was not a Mormon settler, so he and seven of his men were killed by the Pahvant before help arrived. 

West of Hinckley at Mile-Post 81 on U.S. Highway 6/U.S. Highway 50 is a "shoe tree" that is well decorated for Christmas!

The old McCullough Pioneer Cabin was the second building constructed in the community of Melville (name later changed to Delta) and served as the first post office, the first Sunday School building, and the first store was attached to this cabin. 

In front of the McCullough Cabin is a plaque indicating that Father Escalante and his party of 10 men camped at this location on October 2, 1778 while charting a northern route between Santa Fe (New Mexico) and Monterrey (California).

I also stopped in the local rock shop to determine where I could go to collect fossils, but learned that the U-Dig Fossil location was closed for the winter. I guess I'll have to come back next summer!

The new Topaz Museum in downtown Delta just opened but has not been completely furnished; thus, no fees were being collected (donations accepted). They have many original works of art from some of the well-known Japanese-American artist that were held at the Topaz Internment Camp northwest of Dalta during WW II. A replica of a Topaz  housing building has been constructed in the museum and one of the original Topaz housing buildings is currently being renovated behind the museum.  

The Great Basin Museum is located adjacent to the Topaz Museum, but it was closed. (The Museum has limited hours during the winter months.)

Also located in Delta is the Cosmic Ray Center that is operated by the University of Utah. The center contains displays about cosmic ray research and information about the Telescope Array Cosmic Ray Observatory that is spread across western Utah. The Telescope Array is the largest cosmic ray detector in the Northern Hemisphere, consisting of more than 30 universities and research institutions from the United States, Japan, Korea, Russia, and Belgium. 

Fort Deseret was constructed in just 18 days by 99 men for Mormon settler protection against the Pahvant Indians. The Fort was 550 feet square with bastions at the northeast and southwest corners and gates in the middle of each side. The walls were made of Adobe mud and straw mixed by the feet of oxen, When completed, the walls were 10 feet high, 3 feet wide at the base, and 1.5 feet thick at the top. The Fort opened July 25, 1865.

The "Great Stone Face" (aka "Guardian of Deseret") is located south of Delta, west of Utah State Route 257, at the end of Great Stone Face Road. 

 
There are also some petroglyphs located near the Great Stone Face parking lot that are believed to have been made sometime before 1000 AD. The meaning of the petroglyphs is unknown, but authorities "think these symbols were an agreement dividing water and hunting rights among the Indians of the Lower Sevier River Area."