Kelly Graham

About me:

I am a traveler who sometimes prefers to stay at home. I like to cook (and eat), garden, read, listen to music, try to dance, hike, swim, bike, and fish! My favorite subjects to read are biographies and history (including the natural sciences)

I'm also a Genealogist / Family-historian (by OBSESSION!!). It started in Jr. High / Middle School.. I consider myself a Christian - a backslider, probably, but still a Christian - but one who sees the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as the center! After all.. Who "Christened" Jesus? And, who's work was He christened (annointed) to do? "He's got the whole world in His hands.. He's got the whole wide world in his hands..."

This poem - declaring how I feel about my family and my God ("What Would They Think of Me?") - is, at least for now - the peak of any literary-career I've had :) The first poem I remember writing, rather dark (as was my mood at the time), was when I was in Jr. High. And, the School District published it! They put it in the wrong catagory... but, they published it! Thankfully, I lost my copy of it in one of ther family's moves. Hopefully - it will stay lost! And this is where (and when) my love for this poetic and dramatic started to blossom! Welcome to the Kingdom of Ansteorra, part of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). I was introduced to this group about December of 1983 in Huntsville, Texas (SCA-name: "Ravensfort" - within the colored-area). At first, it was a world that I felt completely lost in, because all they seemed to want to do is hit each other with pieces of rattan! But, then, I noticed that the fighting would stop just long enough for a lovely lady to sing! That's when I started to learn about the power of Bardscraft! Now, I can barely sing, but - under my SCA-name of "Duncaen (Donnchad) MacDonnel", I learned to tell stories and recite poems :) Now, I had taken one semester of Drama in High School, but - up until the SCA - I was more as home backstage with the scenery! And, here are a couple of my poems from my SCA-days! They were published in a local SCA newsletter. Kelly just took the "What dark creature are you?" quiz and the result is Vampire:::You seem sad alot you drift to corners solitude is the thing you crave most. (ha ha) People don't realize how dangerous you really are. Not that you seem all sunshine and happiness by any means just that they think you're faking... How annoying. You do have and aura that makes people slightly adverse to wanting your company but they are also curious. You could completely mess with their minds if you wanted to but you don't...usually. Pictured at the top: In in Upper Right, the Penanggalen, a Malayan female-demon the feeds off the blood of babies and small children, and at the lower right, the Jiang Shi, "Hopping Corpse" (Cantonese, "Goengsi"; Japanese, "Kyonsi"), type of "Chinese Vampite". At the bottom: The Vampire bat of Central and South America.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I REALLY should stop taking Facebook quizzes: Their questions rarely seem to apply that well to me :( HOWEVER! This quiz was one of the first, after a friend told me of Favccebook, and it seems to have to apply the most! I seem to be more active at night, in the dark. I don't consider myself sad.. melancholy, yes, but sad? And, I will play with your head if I have to! It's my best defense, I think... since I'm not sure of my physiical-strength, nor how to use it. ONE QUESTION, though... HOW did a horrendous Oriental ghoul become such a suave (though dark) western icon? This is Houston, Texas: The place I was born, in Decr. of 1961 (within the green border), and where I've spent most of my life! My mother was born here(within the red border), her mother spent most of her life here, and her grandparents moved here and married here about 1909 (within the yellow border). My father's family came to Houston about the late-1950s, I think. While I was growing up here in the 1960s to mid-'70s, I still recall forests coming to out northern limits and saltgrass prairie south of, and around, Clear Lake! a href="http://s212.photobucket.com/albums/cc156/KPawel1961/?action=view¤t=buffalo-whoak_dtown-houston.jpg" target="_blank">.. And this is one of the reasons why Houston got it's nickname, "the Bayou City"! Welcome to Buffalo Bayou, at its juction with White Oak Bayou just on the northern edge of Downtown. For quite a few years after the founding of Houston in (or about) 1836, the was the "main road" into or out of town. And, after about 173 years, this is what Houston (or Downtown, at least) looks like not too soon after you leave the south bank of the bayou! and this is roughly the area of north Houston that my mother's mother's family came to about 1907. Of course - back then, it wasn't Houston, but county-land (and, probably, farmland and woods). Now, I pray thee, let me have a drink? Even the long-winded need a place to rest ;) And, coffee's been a favoured-drink since almost-childhood! Tis a habit I picked up from BOTH me grandfathers (and leave it black, please.) After about 14 years or so of searching, and a couple of dead-end turns, I finally founds (I think) what branch of the GRAHAM-tree (a laurel) I came from! The GRAHAMS OF DOUGALSTON started out as the youngest son, named "Walter", of Sir William GRAHAM "of Kincardine and Old Montrose". Walter "of Wallaceton" inherited the property of Wallaceton, in Ayrshire, by birth and the property of Knockdolian, also in Ayrshire, by marriage to its heiress.Later, after about five generations, the Lord of Knockdolian married a daughter of the 3rd GRAHAM Earl of Montrose! A grandson of Walter sold Wallaceton but kept the property (and title) of Knockdolian. Later, a "cadet"(or younger- son) descendent of Graham "of Knockdolian" sold the rights of Knockdolian, while keeping another property, Auchenhowie (in present-day Glasgow). A cadet of Graham "of Auchenhowie" later sold Auchenhowie, keeping the property of Dougalston (in the village of Milngavie, outside Glasgow) along with its titls. Thus, we have the GRAHAMS of DOUGALSTON, now represented by (the descendents of) a cadet-branch, the GRAHAMS of KILMARDINNY, who probably forfeited Kilmardinny by backing the losing-side in the Jacobite-Rebellion of 1745 the descendant of Kilmardinny finding his way to North Carolina! ) At either the beginning of the 18th century, a GRAHAM of this line married the daughter and heiress of Archbishop Archibald McILVERNOCK of the Isles, head of Clan McILVERNOCK "Oib" ("of the bay"). (It is interesting that it seems that "Archibald" was not a Graham-name until then, with the children of this marriage) This marriage brought the McILVERNOCK-lands of Knapdale (from the eastmost finger of the head of Loch Sween to Loch Coille-Bharr to the northwest) into possession of the GRAHAM in about 1710. So? If you are looking for the area of the GRAHAMS of Dougalston (later, of Kilmardinny), draw a tringle, roughly, from Glasgow to Arichanon in North Knapdale to Castle Sween, than Back to Glasgow. After the immigration of Effie's family in the 1770s and Archibald's family in the 1790s (or 1800s), the Graham of Dougalston (now Kilmardinny) began to grow! The family of P.E.Graham (my grandfather) is only one part of these Grahams, and not the only ones in Texas). Here is My grandfather's bunch (including my father, me, and my niece) at my grandmother's family-renion in... 1997? In the photo of "The Grahams of Latexo", you can see my dad (barely, in the back row, white-haired "Mt. Graham", 1935-2000), and three of his four brothers (all alive when this photo was taken), and MOST of their children and their families! I'm the redhead knealing behind the bannister, with my niece standing on the ground just to my left! motto of Dougaqlston - Kilmardinny: "Amoris pignus", "I pledge my love".Smile for the birdie (on the coat of arms - a heron)! About 1926 ((or '25), Preston Edward GRAHAM (the only time you'll see me use my granddaddy's first name, out of respect for he and my dad- they hated that name!) married Annie Lou WEISINGER. The WEISINGERS have been in Houston County, Texas, sinse 1852, having come from Alabama. The origins - maybe - of the WEISSINGERS is the Tyrol, that province (or whatever) south of Bavaria ans west of Salzburg in the Alps. The WEISSINGERS supposedly came from the valley of the River Inn or near it. Going through Bavaria, my line of WEISSINGERS (or, locally, WOSSINGER?) turned west, toward the Kingdom of Wurttemburg, very near the Margravate of Baden. In fact, my particular family seems to had found a home in the northern part of the Schwarzwald ("Black Forest"), in the District of Calw (in Wurttemburg), south of Pforzheim (in Baden). In 1752, my WISSINGER-ancester (same line, different spelling) laft the Black Forest for South Carolina. He had intented to settle with a cousin, but he and his family (literally) missed the boat in Rotterdamm, Holland, and wound up, at first, in Philedelphia, Pennsylvania! Later, he settled in Charleston, South Carolina, where the family stayed until the 1830s, when th WISSINGERS settled into Alabama. In 1903, my grt-gandpa, Paul Edward WIESINGER, married my grt-grandma, Mary Addie INGRAM. In a family picture - taken in Aug. or Sept. of 1910 - we have (from the far left, clockwise): My grt-grt-Uncle, Edgar Ingram, grt-grt-Uncle Walter Ingram and his wife, Sally Belle, grt-grt-aunt Minnie Mae and jer son, Billy, grt-grt-aunt Lizzie, Mattie, and Addie Ingram, grt-grandma Annie (Ingram) WEISINGER, Grt-grt-grandpa Henry Clay INGRAM, grt-uncle Horace Weisinger, Grt-grt-grandma Betty (GEEN) INGRAM,, grt-aunt Alberta Mae Weisinger, Grt-grandma Martha (WILLIAMS Cutler) WEISINGER, grt-aunt Ethyl Weisinger, Grt-grandpa Paul Edward WEISINGER, and grt-uncle Edgar Weisinger. Henry Clay INGRAM and his family migrated, sometime in the 1890s, from Georgia to Houston County, Texas.Henry C. Ingram was born in Jones Co., Georgia, in 1858. Elizabeth (GREEN) INGRAM was born in Monroe Co., Georgia, in 1854. The INGRAMS had, earlier, moved from Jefferson Co., Georgia to Jones Co., and the GREENS had moved to Monroe Co., from Wilkes County. While in Monroe Co., Elizabeth's father married a woman by the name of DILLARD, whose ancestral-line goes back to English-Royaly! Henry Clay's daddy, Wailliam H. INGRAM, was born in Virginia (Georgia census 1860). It took me a little bit longer to figure out where in Virginia my INGRAMS were from the it did my GRAHAMS, and for much the same reasons: more than one family, and more than one theory! But.. I finally rested on That part of Montgomery County, Virginia that is now Pulaski County. There were already some INGRAMS in Jefferson Co. - or, had been - by the time my INGRAMS moved to Georgia, but, they were run-out of the County for being loyal to George III during the American Revolution, and - WHY would someone KNOWINGLY let a family settle back into an area that you had run out a few years before? In Montgomery Co. Virginia, William H. INGRAM met and married his wife, Mary CURRIN. Mary's family had come to Montgomery County from Louisa and Spotsylvania Co. William H.'s daddy, Samuel INGRAM, migrated to Montgomery County for Hampshire Co., Virginia (now West Virginia), where he and part of his step-family had moved from Orange Co., Virginia, after leaving Middlesex Co., where Samuel was born in 1718! (Samuel's journeys are in the rust-bordered counties.) In searching for Samuel's parentage, I read that this particular Ingram cln was of English-Scottish origin. Already having traced the INGRAMS back, I knew that were the English. (Journey to Hampshire Co. from Orange Co. from Middlesex Co. to Northumberland Co. traced in yellow.) I then read somewhere that Samual INGRAM's wife was named "Anne", and may have been a STEWART! So? tracing when Samuel moved, I finally guessed that he was married when he was living in Orange County! Than, I tried to figure who the STEWARTS could have been that "Anne". Came from. I think Anne's family - STEWART of Garlie - came from Scotland to Westmoreland Co., Virginia. The first landowner of the name was "William STEWART of Westmoreland and Richmond", who settled -first - on Nomini Creek in Westmoreland Co. A branch of the family then settled in what became Fauquier Co. Virginia. (Try to follow the blue trail.) William's son, James, was (probably) the father of Anne. William Stewart's father was James Stewart "of Balmuren" (Co. Antrim, Ireland), who was of the Stewarts of Garlies, who's ancestor was the Stewart of Bonkyl. In March of 1960, P. Kenneth GRAHAM (my father, 1935-2001) married Billie Jean ("Susie") DAWSON (my mmother - b. 1940), the daughter of Odell DAWSON (1913-1994) and Margaret Josephine MAJEFSKI (1913-1999) (pictuired above - about 1982 - with their great-granddaughter). Before my grandpa died in 1994, he left me a nice little puzzle to figure out! Actually, the puzzle goes farther back - to when I started growing the family-tree in 1976! Grandpa always stated he was "Dutch, Scots-Irish, English, and Indian", and, after 1994, I stareed to find those people! But.. they didn't exactly want to be found!! (As it is, I'm still not sure exactly whata nationality my DAWSONS are.) The best example of how hard imom's people were to look for is my mom's paternal-grandmother, "Georgia Ann HEUSTED, or "Agnes" as a child. Until I found her, I couldn't find her family! And, even when I did, I thought I had found the Dutch! No... My HUSTEDS (or HUSTES) "originally" came from Dorsetshire in southwestern England - somewhere close to the border of Devon and Somerset, before coming to New England (Massachusetts) in 1635. )Once I found my great-grandmother's father, it was not that hard to find her mother - or, her mother's people! And - well - the name McDANIEL point to either one of two places of origin :) But.. the farther back into America's history I got, the harder it became to find my ancestor. But, find him I did! And, the "Scotch-Irish" became, for one of those rare times, the Scots AND Irish, and McDANIEL became MacDANNEL.. then become MacDONNELL, or "MacDONALD"! And, a few decades after theMacDANNELS / McDANIELS settle in America , they married into the GOODMAN family, who had married into the HARRIS-OVERTON family.. and English Nobility and Royalty. My "Dutch"-roots weere the next to find.. have to go through a marriage of the HUSTEDS in (West) Virgina. The family BARTLETT - whose daughter had married into the Husteds - had, as a mother, a woman named WELLS. As I followed the WELLS through Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York, I found a marriage to an Apollonia KITTEL - who brought me into the Dutch West India Company! Since the mission of the Dutch West India Co. was to make money, not all of their employees werre Dutch! Whoever could make a profit for them was hired. Plus.. during the times of the religious-troubles in Europe, The Netherland was seen as a refuge for forieng Protestants! So, Some of my "Dutchmen" were Frisian, German, French, Spanish, and Spanish - Sephardic - Jew! There were quite a few Dutch, too :) And, here is my great-grandmother, Georgia Anne HUSTEAD (of the HUSTED + BARTLETT + (WELLS + KITTEL +) McDANIEL-marriages), with her baby-boy, if I remember correctly, my grandpa DAWSON, a navy gunner in the Pacific during World War 2! This was taking either during or shortly after the war. And here's the rest of Grandpa Dawson's family (that I have picture of, anyway) at a funeral - I think - in 1943 or '44, while Grandpa was in the Pacific. In the picture are (Counter-clockwise from Upper-left: My great-aunt Jewel, great-uncle Curtis, great-grandma Georgia Ann , great-uncle Malby, great-uncle R.C., great-uncle Floyd, and great-uncle Paul! Missing is Grandpa, my Great-grandpa (died in 1940) and my great-aunt Thelma, and my great-uncle Herbert, whose funeral I think this is. My Indian (Native-American) was the toughest line to trace (of the ones I've been able to the DAWSON-line is still a bit of a mystery). I traced My DAWSONS back to Georgia, than to a 1790s-marriage to a lady named GIBSON! My GIBSONS, I read, were supposedly a tri-racial family, but, I wanted as much evidence as possible - to locate my Native-American! (It is nice to know - or try to know - what tribe your family belonged to.) My first clue was the married-couple: Joseph DAWSON and Elizabeth GIBSON of Edgefield District, South Carolina. I then traced Elizabeth's family back to the Peedee River in South Carolina, where they had entered from North Carolina! Before they moved to South Caolina, The GIBSONS have settled on the Roanoke River in North Carolina (where some of my "tribe" still is), near the Native-American, and mixed-blood, refugees from the restrictive-laws (and early Indian wars) of the Colony of Virginia. And, they stayed in North Carolina until many of the same laws as in Virginia were passed in that Colony! Finally, in Virginia, I found the "roots" of my mixed-blood family! A woman by the name of CHEVERS (Irish with Royal-English ties) was orphaned at a young age and indentured until she was of legal-age! And? While she was indentured (about 1665) she gave birth to a son from a man named GIBSON, whose father or grandfather had legally been labeled a "nulatto". Now, "Mulatto", in 17th-c.Virginia, was legally used to defined the children of a white and an indian, esp. if the tribe was not know. However! In trying to trace my GIBSON's wanderings, I think I found my tribe! The Monacans were a Siouan-speaking people along the middle-James River, starting just above the rapids at what is now Richmond! Another clue to the identity was thatm when my GIBSONS did move, they seemed to move southwardm following the various Siouan peoples after they were rounded up by the Colonial-government of Virginia! This is my warclub.. or, wouuld be if I could make it :) I once took a quiz on Facebook that asked what my totem-animal was. Thew answer came back "bear": ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ Kelly took the What animal is your spirit guide? quiz and the result is You Are Guided ByUrsus Thibetanus: The Bear.... You enjoy life and are generally in an even tempered mood. As you go from day to day people know they can depend on you for your strength of character. You are not one of those that can easily uproot yourself. You like your territory, and enjoy sharing it with others who mean no harm. All together you are a very kind person. However, there is a flip side to this personality. It is the one that hides until someone or some thing enters upon the situation with obvious destructive or dangerous intentions. When this happens, your temper is not to be reckoned with. So protective are you over others who you have accepted into your life, you will fight for them and god help the one who dared to try and harm your loved ones. The bear is here to remind you that not every situation calls for a violent response. Sometimes you can get he honey without having to knock the tree down. _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ This is VERY cool, as the bear and the wolf are my two favorite animals! And.. iF what I have found out about another ancestral-line is true. I may be distantly-related to the Bear Clan of the Southern Iroquoians. aka the Cherokee! It still has to be proven, though. Anyhow, those are supposed to be bearclaws on the ball of the warclub :) The "last" (that I know of) big mystery I have in my tree is "where did my mom's dad's dad's people come from?" Although the name DAWSON comes from a Celtic form of "Davidson" (Ex: MacDai - Scottish), the farthest I can can get my DAWSONS is the 1740s in Wilmington, No. Carolina Colony! Jonathan DAWSON was a seaman who died at sea about 1750. BUT! Nobody can tell if he was a merchant or a sailor, so we don't know where to look for his records.. as of yet. In 1935, Odell DAWSON married Margaret Josephine MAJEFSKI, the third child (and third daughter) of Jacob Frank MAJEFSKI and Marianna Katazrina SZCZEPANSKA. (Mom has claimed, in recent days, that they were the "blacksheep" of their families. I kinda like that idea!) Frank MAJEFSKI and Marianna Katarzina STEPANSKI were married on 5 Sept. 1909 at (I think) Christ the King Catholic Church in Houston, Texas. My mom's mother's people hailed from Poland. coming to America in the 1880s and 1900s. The family of Jacob Frank MAJEFSKI (originally "MAJEWSKI") came to Yorktown, Texas from Berlin, Gremany in 1881, probably coming in through the old port city of Indianola, Texas. Before the move to Berlin, the family was from (maybe) around Warsaw, Poland, moving to Berlin, maybe, through the city of Turin (Ger., "Thorn". Marianna Katarzina SZCZEPANSKA (nglisized "STEPANSKI") immigrated to Bremond Texas, in 1903 (?) from Poznan (Ger. Posen). Both Warsaw and Poznan had, before 1815, been property Germany's predecessor, the Kingdom of Prussia, had claim since the last partition of the Poish Kingdom *area on thee map above bordered in blue), but Warsaw was part of Poland given to the Russian Empire after Nepolean's defeat and the redrawing of Europe at the Congress of Vienna! As of Jacob and Marianna's 50th Wedding-Anniversary, 5 Sept. 1959... they were the parents of 2 sons and 7 daughters (back row, right to left: Julia, Celia, Grannie, Willie, Great-grandpa ("Grandpa Jake"), Great-grandma ("Grannie Jake"), Maggie, Roselie, and Pearl. Front row, left to right: Joseph Jacob ("Sonny") and Martin Daniel ("Dodie"))... and 22 grandchildren! :) Grannie, Grandpa, and Mom (their only child) are 8th, 9th, and 10th from the right in the standing-row. By now.. 2009.. I think we have enough people to fill a small-town!! here were the (remaining) Majefski children at their Christmas party in 1999.. a few hours before my grannie, Margaret Josephin MAJEFSKI Dawson (lower-left corner), died in the morning of 19 December 1999. She willed herself to live just long-enough to make that party. Bottom, left to right: Margaret Dawson, Julie ("Dukie") Smith, Martin Daniel ("Dodie") Majefski, Magdelene Nesben. Top, left to right: Pearl Young, Irene (Mrs. Martin) Majefski, Cecilia Yarborough, and Willie Mae Adamson. (Rosalie "Tootsie" Taylor did not make this party.. or, at least, the photo.) ..... family-root with an "E3 crown" attached to it has at least one feeder that takes in to the PLANTAGENET-line of Medeival England! More impoertantly, to King Edward the 3rd and his wife, Philippa of Hainault. IF you can get to King Edward and Queen Philippe in you descent - THEN, you only up to, not only Europeanm ancestry, but Asian and (if the legends are to be believed) African ancestry! Edward III, K. England (13 Nov. 1311 - 21 June 1377), and Philippa of Hainault (24 June 1311 - 15 Aug. 1359). through three of their surviving sons: John of Gaunt (6 Mar. 1340 - 3 Feb. 1399), Lionel of Antwerp (29 Nov. 1338-7 Oct. 1368), and Thomas of Woodstock (1 Jan. 1355 - c 9 Sep. 1397). This is, probably, my favorite-part of Houston, and has been since childhood! And, moreso, now :) Hermann Park is southwesterly of Downtown Houston, and west of where I grew up. I always loved the Zoological Gardens in the center of the park. And, since I've grown, I have found more of the area to love! This is the garden at the corner of Fannin and MacGregor - the southern corner of Hermann Park, acrooss MacGregor from the Hermann Medical Center. Moving northeastward into the Park, past the playground, we find "Hermann Park Lake". It's almost hard to remember - but, growing up, this used to be just a big reflecting-pool! They worked WONDERS renovating it!! :) The side of the old pool near Fannin was resculpted and planted to resemble a slough - and it was helped along, later, by becoming the home of ducks and turtles.. and a family of nutria! Welcome to one of my niece' "favorite playgrounds", and one of those rare places in Texas I like! "El Comino Real", now known as the "San Antonio River Walk". As a lover of history, I love this place for two reasons: (1), this IS the "Royal Highway" through Texas, and (2) This bend in the San Antonio River is where San Antonio got it's start and where it grew up! I have other reasons for liking this area of Texas.. like the caves to explore - like Natural Bridge Caverns, just north of San Antonio, Rivers to travel on, like the Colorado River near Marble Falls (the only place I've seem WILD white pelicans!),

and places to climb - like Enchanted Rock (which I'd like to go back to and explore! The view from the top in IMPRESSIVE!) I've not only been through half of Texas, but went, about 1976, to Hawaii! This is Wai'mea Bay and Beach, on the North Shore of the Island of Oahu. The Water LOOKS shallow, but it's not! That big lava rock is use as a diving board!).. And this is Wai'mea Beach Park - the inland part! I have a feeling that many things have changed on Oahu in 33 years, but, hopefully, Wai'mea has not been one of them :) My first trip "abroad" (not too far out of the country, but, still, out of the country) was to Mexico (1981), just across the border from Brownsville and McAllen, Texas. It was not really a magnificent experience! However!! Years later (1994), I was able - as crat of a cruise, to go to the Yucatan! THAT impressed me more than th Rio Grand e valley did! And what impressed me MOST was the Mayan ruins of Tolum, perched on the cliffs overlooking the Caribbean :) An earlier cruise (1992? 1993?), took my mom and I to the other end of the Caribbean.. Puerto Rico and the U.SVirgin Islands! Thes two pics were take in the "El Yunque" section of the Caribbean National Forest in Puerto Rico! The top picture is one I took looking straight up at the base of a small waterfall (I take odd pictures like that at times). As much as I would like to go back to Hawaii or Puerto Rico, I have a new favorite-playground (as of ... 1997? '98?). I have fallen in love with the State of Nevada! And gambling has little- f anything - to do with that love :) My love has to do with the desert.. and the mountains... This is Mt. Charleston in the Spring Mountains, to the northwest of Las Vegas! I LOVE it!! It is said that, in the summer, the temperature can be as much as 30 degrees cooler on Charleston than in tha Las Vegas Valley. All I remember was, after a couple of hours driving through the desert. you finally see forests, again :) Then, climbing a bit higher, the forest turns evergreen! :) And, this is the view off the side of Mount Charlsetoin from OUTSIDE the Mt. Charleston Inn! And, this is part of the Redrock Canyon, just against the Spring Mountains, and just west of Las Vegas! About .. 2000? 2001? .. I made my first (and only, so far) trip to Elko, in northern Nevada. And, I fell in love with the Country around there! The problem with Elko, however, is the distances betwwn what I like and Elko are greater than the areas around Las Vegas! It was sun-up over the Ruby Mountains east of Elko :) Unfortunately... you can't see the sun because of the flash against my hotel-window! Why.. because the air that would have come in through the window was FREEZING!! North of Elko, you have Jarbridge (the Creek, the canyon, and the seasonal-ghosttown.) Mom went to Elko a year or so before I did, and took a toure of Jarbridge Canyon (when this picture was taken).. and SWORE she'd never go there,again!! Well, we went into Idaho to get a Powerball ticket, she took the road west to get back to Elko, and went RIGHT THROUGH Jarbridge Canyon... probably minutes before they closed the road for the winter (with the first snowfall)!! :) ..Going south or southeast of Elko, and maybe south into Lee County, west of the Ruby Mountains, you star to see what MIGHT be good grazing land in summer - it the streams aren't contaminate with cyanide and other chemicals used by the area gold-mines. What's the bigger industry, up there, agriculture or minimg?..