Mom and Dad Visit Ely

Josh loves it, but Kaytee is still not so sure Ely, Nevada feels like home. With only about 3700 people in this small town, all the one-liners hold true:

"It's not the end of the earth, but you can see it from here!"

"Third Street is the edge of town"

“I hate small towns because once you've seen the cannon in the park there's nothing else to do"

and . . . "you don't have to use your turn signal because everyone already knows where you're going."

Kaytee and Josh live down the end of a long dirt road in a double wide modular home. It's not too bad, but has not been well cared for so Kaytee rolled up her sleeves and spent two weeks cleaning to make the place livable. Josh brought his two horses, and picked up a third along the way, so is building a barn of sorts in the backyard to give his animals a place to get in out of the Nevada cold winter.

Kaytee has found the park, a tasty Mexican restaurant, and the Family Dollar store. But her new favorite store is Ridley's Market, which she says is the best place in town to shop for everything.

All over town, there are signs of Republican unrest. Although it is uncertain the U. S. Senate Majority Leader will be unseated anytime soon, it is obvious the residents of his state - at least in the small towns around Nevada - do not like Harry Reid's politics.

The Nevada State Prison, where Josh works, is probably the largest employer with about 400 on the payroll and there are some nice new motels and stores, but for the most part Ely is pretty much like it was when my Uncle Reston, Aunt Ione and cousins, Steve, Doug and Kenny Godwin lived there back when I was in high school. I used to enjoy visiting them in the summertime. Some of my fondest memories of being at their home was how much they enjoyed shocking this little girl from the beach of southern California by showing me their "red light district" and the casinos in town. Back then, it seemed a whole lot bigger than it is now.

We miss our baby girl . . . and her baby girl, like crazy! Luckily, Ely is an easy 3 1/2 hour drive from St. George so Kaytee and Adyn can come home anytime they want to . . . and we will always leave the porch light on.