Saunders Excellent Adventures: Celebrating World Down Syndrome Day

World Down Syndrome Day

03/21

Always -- every year...

Why you may ask?

Because a large majority of individuals with Down syndrome

have trisomy 21...

Which means instead of two copies on the twenty-first chromosome, they have three copies.

Hence -- 3/21.

What do you do to celebrate World Down Syndrome Day?

Well -- we took our two favorite guys with Down syndrome

to the Goldfield Ghost Town.

Let me say....

Goldfield Ghost Town,

is a total tourist trap!

And I LOVE IT!

Goldfield Ghost Town

Drew

Drew near a mining car

Here comes the train.

Drew

Jon, Drew and Kyle waiting to ride the train.

Loved the sign on the caboose....

Kyle, Me and Drew on the train.

Our engineer -- "Hurry Up"

The train was a narrow gauge train.

It has the potential of 80 mph. But we didn't top 5 mph.

It was an interesting ride though.

Kyle and Drew loved seeing the cowboys from the train.

Superstition Mountain

End of the line....

Here's the train station -- a little out of order.

We saw this old train while we were riding.

These are the electric trains that helped to improve mining operations.

I got all of these out of order....Oops -- so I will just explain as I go.

We had lunch at the Miners Grill

Kyle had fries,

Drew had ice cream,

Jon and I had hot dogs....

Drew sitting in the fireplace...

Kyle thought that was funny

I didn't know there were this many types of hot sauce and salsa.

We were walking up the street, when this man started yelling

and shooting his gun in the air.

He wanted his brother to be let out of jail!

The Sheriff came and tried to talk to him,

but he wouldn't listen.

Shots were fired....and...

...down he went.

But he wasn't really shot -- he was the deputy sheriff --

and they were just putting on a show.

Drew, The Sheriff, Kyle

Drew and Kyle made a beeline for the sheriff and introduced themselves.

Drew and "Cactus Pete"

We went to the Livery Stable to book a ride on the carriage.

While we waited, Drew got thrown in jail (pics mixed up)

and then he and Kyle were "hung"

for...

"....stealin' sheep and hidin' 'em in the schoolhouse."

Drew

Kyle

Old tractor and an old Saguaro cactus.

Drew in jail

We got on the carriage and went for a ride with Sam (the horse)

and Ariel, the driver.

Kyle, Ariel, Drew

Ghost Town and the Superstition Mountains from the turn around point

on the carriage ride.

Ariel told us a legend about the mountain.

She said, "An indian legend says that long ago a flood was in this area. All the people climbed into the mountain to stay safe. When the flood waters receded the good people came down from the mountain, but the bad people stayed up in the mountain and were turned into stone."

The white settlers said that was "superstition" and the name stuck.j

Now I haven't researched the legends of the area...but I thought it was interesting anyway.

Drew, Me and Kyle

riding on the carriage.

A Living Desert

The only living desert in the world

Saguaro Cactus

(pronounced: suh - war - oh)

These cactus can live to be over 300 years old, they begin growing "arms" between seventy five and one hundred and fifteen years old. They retain lots of water....so the Ghost Town keeps them moved away from town, or they attract lightning during the monsoon season.

Jumping Cholla

(pronounced: choy - ah)

These look very pretty and soft and fuzzy. But if you get too close to them, they "jump" and barbed spines are painfully injected into your person. They are not pleasant to have removed. So don't get too close to a Jumping Cholla.

Hedgehog Cactus

I thought these were pretty and the flower is pretty too.

Prickly Pear

Prickly pear cactus are used in jams and jellys and other foods.

We tried some prickly pear fudge -- it was yummy!

We had to wait for the train to pass before we could head back to town in the carriage.

Ariel, Drew and Kyle

This is Sam -- he pulls the carriage.

This is a working church. They hold services for any and all who would like to attend.

Services start at 11 a.m. every Sunday.

Sam and the carriage.

Drew posed in several mining tools.

The guy, just over his right shoulder, was playing card games with the tourists. Drew stepped up to play.

Kyle decided to sit with the Deputy and the Sheriff and wait for Drew.

Drew WON!

A 50% of coupon for the zipline!

We didn't ride it though.

Ariel twirling her rope.

Ariel is 21 -- and is a "snowbird" who drives the carriage at the Ghost Town each winter, and then guides trail rides in Wyoming during the summer. She also trains horses and went to school in Texas on a rodeo scholarship. She rides barrels, and ropes.