Mystery Location

Mystery Location is something we started in 2001.  We put on a picture of some obscure or unique location and our readers guess where it is.  The first one to correctly guess and E-mail the location to us, wins.  We select a small gift from whatever town or area we happen to be in and send it to the winner.  We have discovered that everything appears to be somewhere on the Internet.  So our challenge is to select mystery pictures that are not easily found on the Internet.

Below are the past mystery locations, the stories that went with them, and the winners.


Location 1 - September, 2001
This is the location of our first Mystery Location Challenge.  It was identified by our daughter-in-law, Melissa.  She had never been here but she is proficient at using the Internet.

I had looked on the Internet to see if it would give away the answer, but I hadn't thought about the on-line Yellow Pages.

She won a jar of Habanero-Pickled Garlic and a jar of Texas Hot Chili Olives from the "Olive Pit," one of our regular stops along I-5 in Corning, California.  You think these prizes sound gross?  Maybe to you, but she ate most of mine the last time I saw her, so I bought her some of her own.

Oh, in case you're wondering, the Tee Pee Drive-In is located in Grand Coulee, Washington.



Location 2 - November, 2001
Our next Mystery Location read as follows:

Our daughter-in-law, Melissa was easily able to identify our first Mystery Location by using the Internet, so here's a harder question for her.  Where is this picture taken?  (Don't worry Mel, I'm just kidding.)

Actually, I took this picture to capture the look of being out in the middle of open country with the sharp gray color of an afternoon thunderstorm.

But here is our next challenge and there may be no web clues here.

What stretch of highway has these two attractions within 10 miles of each other?

1. An area where spring water is rich in iron oxide and forms rust colored mounds.  Native Americans used this area to collect material for body paints, and . . . .

2. A small river has cut a deep, 200 foot, gorge through the rocks.  A wooden walkway cuts back and forth across the gorge.  This is the top of the gorge.  Cheryl and Mitch are on one crossing and Max, his uncle and cousins are by the waterfalls overlook.  I took the picture from yet another bridge.
These were the only clues given, but once again, Melissa won the contest.  This time we sent her an T-shirt from Sedona, Arizona.

This Mystery Location is located in Eastern British Columbia, where the south end of Highway 93 joins Highway 95 going into Northern Idaho. The north end of  Highway 93 joins into the Transcanada Highway between Lac Louise and Banff, Alberta. Both the gorge and the Paint Pots are along Highway 93, (which was the correct answer to the Mystery Location.)

From this point the water drops about 100 to 150 feet into a 20 to 30 foot wide canyon.  Maybe gorge is a more accurate word.  The water then flows through the gorge for about a quarter mile before it levels out with the terrain again.  The trail crosses back and forth across the gorge providing many picturesque view points.  The place above is known as the Paint Pots.  The water has a high concentration of iron oxide.  The water rises to the surface and over time, the iron oxide precipitates from the water to form a solid rim.  This rim grows, and as the water flows over it, it slowly grows into a mound of solid iron oxide.  The common name for iron oxide is "rust".



 
Our next Mystery Location read as follows:

Here's my next challenge.  Our first two mystery locations were solved by the same person, our daughter-in-law, Melissa, (Mel).  In both cases Mel solved the mystery by using the Internet.  The last challenge was very difficult to solve by using the Internet, but still she did it.  My next challenge is to come up with a location that someone else can solve before Mel does.  I call for your help.

Here's what it will take to beat her.  Mel's on the Internet often and is usually one of the first to open our e-mail.  She is driven to solve these mysteries and is extremely proficient at using the Web as a research tool.  (She's now even an expert on iron oxide.)  I will try to pick a recognizable location that is difficult to solve by using the Internet.

We've got over 100 people on our distribution list -- we have people all over the country and even in Japan and England that regularly check our webpage.  Someone else should be able to win.  Together we can beat Mel! 

But beware, Mel is a driven person -- she doesn't give up.  One night she called and asked for a clue -- she said she couldn't sleep at night -- she kept waking up thinking about the Mystery Location.  First thing in the morning she'd be back on the Internet.  Our son, Brady, would come in at night, see her on the computer and say "Ed is killing you."  I told Cheryl that maybe we should disqualify her, but Cheryl disagreed with me and said we should hire her for some kind of research project.

Please, somebody out there -- identify our next mystery location quickly.  We're not sure she can stand another long duration mystery, and Brady will thank you.  She told me that she reviewed every National Park webpage in the country trying to solve our last location.  (Ha Ha, it was in Canada.)   How's that for a challenge Mel?  I bet Mel won't be able to sleep nights just anticipating the next mystery location.



Location 3 - December, 2001
The next Mystery Location read as follows:

Our daughter-in-law, Melissa, has won our first two contests.  Now my challenge is to come up with a location that someone else can identify before she is able track it down by using the Internet.

 

A guy I used to work for in the Structural Test Laboratory at Boeing won this one. Here's Bill's response

"Could the Mystery Location possibly be an old grandstand south of Phoenix just off of I-10? Don't know the name of it but seems like I have passed by it a number of times...and the ground looks kind of deserty. Let's guess that it might be the famous race car track.

The location is correct, but it is really an old horse track.  The stables are now a storage facility and part of the property is an RV park.  We were going to stay there a couple of years ago but they were "kid unfriendly" and the indoor pool was stuffier than the management.

We were in the Seattle area when Bill identified this location so a box of smoked salmon seemed an appropriate prize.



Location 4 - January, 2002

Here are the Mystery Location pictures for January, 2002.  Identify the name and location of this place and win.

Good luck!


 
 
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