Jaci Dawn

Last Friday it seemed like life moved as fast as molasses in winter.

The visit with the lawyer took 45 minutes. Then we had to go to the court house to file our updated paper. Of course, at the court house, we ran into people we knew. And Terry, being an ex-cop, knows everyone.

He ran into another ex-cop.

The quick stop at the court house took almost an hour. And I will say this for small towns and county court houses: there’s no metal detector at the door! No security! It’s wonderful and takes me back to a more innocent time.

The Clackamas County Court House in Oregon City has one entrance now: on the side, through imposing metal detectors manned by burly guards who rifle through your purse. You can’t take nail clippers into the court house.

I carried my purse into the White Pine County Court House. Inside my purse are two knives. No one even asked.

We paid the water bill at City Hall and we wandered over to Murdoch’s Towing to pay a bill. I let Terry go in to pay that bill.

While I was sitting there, waiting for him, it occurred to me that I should get a photo of the business right across the street.

Ely doesn’t hide her brothels behind a “high board fence” or out past county lines.

Ely embraces her brothels.

According to Wikipedia, the VIP Spa is probably not a licensed brothel, but the Stardust Ranch is.

You can read more on Nevada’s “institutions” here.

I honestly never think about photographing brothels. It’s one of those things that are not on my radar. They just are. But sitting in Terry’s truck and waiting for him to pay the bill at Murdoch’s spurred me to think like a tourist. Really: do you want to photograph the murals around town or get a photo of what really happens in Ely after the sun goes down? Hands down: the brothels win.

I took a ghostly photo of Ely the night we pulled in.

Doesn’t look like much, you say? Well, I say: take another look!

It really isn’t all bugs on the windshield.

Tomorrow I’ll just share Ely pics. It really is a picturesque little town.