Category Archives: travel

Argenta, NV

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Places that you may have never heard of

Friends know that I’m a big fan of traveling and do so frequently by car. Whether I’m visiting relatives who live far away or I’m vacationing at distant places, it’s usually a cross country trek.

Anyone who has traveled on our extensive road system has driven past signs denoting names of places of which they’ve never heard. Those places that especially stick out to me are ones that have colorful names. One of my “hobbies” is to note these names and later (sometimes weeks, sometimes months later) find out more about these places.

Located along Interstate 80 in north central Nevada, one of these places is Argenta, Nevada. This is what I learned.

Argenta is a ghost down in central Nevada. In the mid 1860’s prospectors discovered silver in the area. The town was planning to develop as a shipping center for the nearby mines and in Austin to the south. However, the town of Battle Mountain had stronger ties to the silver industry and by 1871 the entire town moved to Battle Mountain making Argenta effectively a mining ghost town.

Argenta remained vacant until 1930 when barite was discovered nearby. This mine in Argenta Mountain was operated by the Baker Hughes Company until it closed in 2015.

This is one of the Baker Hughes operations alongside a railroad siding and Interstate 80

Well, that’s the short story about Argenta, NV.

Yet curiosity remains high and I hope to report on other interesting names of places that are part of my hobby.

More of my places that you may never have heard of are here

Aragonite, Utah
Beowawe, Nevada
Dunphy, Nevada
Jackpot, Nevada
Mercury, Nevada
Rhyolite, Nevada
Vedauwoo, Wyoming
Wamsutter, Wyoming

Virtual Art Museum

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from the digital archives

In one of my previous careers I was a frequent traveler.

Since the early 1980s, business has taken me to France dozens of time. During my free time I’d often visit the extraordinary art museums of Paris.

Musee d'Orsay
Musee d’Orsay in Paris

In the early years I was able to photograph most of the artwork. However, a few years later many of the museums began to put a moratorium on taking photographs.

With the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, none of us are able to visit these art museums so I’ve come up with an alternative.

Below is a small set of artwork that I have photographed and collected over the years. Most were taken at the famous Musee d’Orsay.

I hope you’ll enjoy this artwork as you take a walk through my virtual art museum

Also available is my Virtual Art Museum video for those of you who prefer to just sit back and watch the masterpieces scroll by.

[Click on any of the paintings to enlarge]

Vincent Van Gogh

Church at Auvers
Vincent Van Gogh

Thatched Cottages at Cordeville
Vincent Van Gogh

Dance Hall in Arles
Alfred Sisley

Footbridge at Argenteuil
Henri Matisse

Luxe, Calme et Volupte
Edgar Degas

Dancer with a Bouquet Bowing
Edouard Manet

Berthe Morisot with a Bouquet of Violets
Paul Gauguin

Yellow Haystacks
Vincent Van Gogh

The Siesta (after Millet)
Paul Gauguin

Vairumati
Paul Gauguin

The Red Dog
Vincent Van Gogh

Self portrait
Claude Monet

Woman with a Parasol
Gustave Caillebotte

Floor Planers
Claude Monet

Le Dejeuner
Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Grande nu
Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Portrait of Julie Manet
Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Young Girl Seated
Vincent Van Gogh

The Church at Auvers
Claude Monet

Les Coquelicots
Pierre-August Renoir

Bal du Moulin de la Galette
Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Dance in the Country
James Abbott McNeill Whistler

Whistler’s Mother
Claude Monet

The Boat at Giverny
Thomas Couture

The Romans of the Decadence

For those of you who prefer to view these artworks more leisurely, here’s the same Virtual Art Museum video.

Virtual Art Museum
“Here Heather” Music by Lee Bartley
Photos by Arnie Lee

Written by: Arnie Lee

Aircraft Nose Art

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Artists at Work

I’m lucky to have had several interesting careers. One of these was to develop flight simulation software.

Among the most enjoyable parts of our business was to attend the well-known summer Oshkosh air shows. At Oshkosh are acres upon acres of aircraft of all makes and models from vintage to classic to state-of-the-art to futuristic.

visitors viewing the warbirds at the Oshkosh air show

As a history buff, I love wandering among the hundreds of war planes covering the fairgrounds. Rather than show you the warplanes themselves, I’ve collected a series of artistic pictures that adorn the noses of these aircraft.

Enjoy the nose art that inspired our courageous airmen in years gone by.

[ Click on any image to enlarge ]

Written by Arnie Lee