Beirt baile na h-iarnróid

Chuaigh mé go dhá iarsmalann faoi deireadh. Tá beirt i mbailte na h-iarnróid ann. Roinnte siad geimhreadh agus gaoth--agus carraigeachaí de luach.

Chuir cuairt mé go mBoron i gCalifoirnea--agus múseam umhal--ar feadh ar coicis seo caite. Tharlaíonn miandoireacht borax ann. Tá fásach is mó go léir ar fud an bealach gnótach na hAigéin ó Thuas ann.

Fhill mé go Utah aréir! Chonaic mé an Loch Salann Mór. Ansin, thiómaint Léna i stiorm sneachta go Sléibhte Wasatch go dtí gCathair na bPairc. D'fhán ag na loiste na scíala is níos iontach i Ghleann na Fianna in aice leis.

Thug mé caint faoi Caoimhin de Barra, an scribhneoir nua, don Chomhdáil Thiar Mheiricéa ó Léann Éireannach. Bhain sult as Léna agus agam ag plé an craic leis eile ina h-óstan mar sin fheictear. D'ith agus ag ól ina tithe tábhairne (ach, bhí drioglann Siar Ard, go fírinne) in gcríolár an bhaile d'aois fós.

Mar go raibh múseam in aon bhaile na h-iarnróid, mar sin sa tír eile. Bhuel, ní raibh muid an iarraidh a íoc deich dollar gach chun dul isteach an ceann ansin. Chuala muid faoi "Teach Sínis na Joss" trasna na teorann ina h-Evanston, Wyoming, an lar de réir na Iarnróid na h-Aontas Aigéin ansin agus gual anois.

D'imigh muid Utah. Duirt leis an stiurthoir ó An Muséam na gContae Uinta i h-Evanston. Thaispéain sí duinn sin agus an Teach Sinís fréisin. Is maith linn an beirt acu--agus an teach tábhairne timpeall an chúinne ina sean-bhaile eile ó Thiar. 

Two railroad towns

I went to two museums recently, They're in a pair of railroad towns. They share sand and wind--and rocks of value.

I paid a visit to Boron in California and its humble museum during the past two weeks. Mining of borax happens there. The vast desert is all around the Southern Pacific's busy tracks.

I returned from Utah last night! I saw the Great Salt Lake. Then, we drove to the Wasatch Mountains in a snowstorm to Park City. We stayed at a very wonderful ski lodge in Deer Valley nearby.

I gave a paper about Kevin Barry, a new writer, to the Western American Conference of Irish Studies. Layne and I enjoyed discussing the craic with others at such a charming hotel. We ate and drank well in pubs (but, one was High West Distillery, truthfully) in the heart of the old town.

As with one rail town's museum, so with the other. Well, we did not want to pay ten dollars each to go inside the one there. We heard about a "Chinese Joss Museum" across the border in Evanston, Wyoming, an old center on account of the Union Pacific Railroad then and coal now.

We left Utah. We spoke to the director of the Uinta County Museum in Evanston. She showed us that and the Chinese House too. We liked both of them--and the brewpub around the corner in another Western old town.

Grianghraif/Photos: Lora Hartley, Museums of the Mojave/ Múseaim na Mojave; feach eolas faoi/see information about the Uinta County Museum/ Múseam na gContae hUintah anseo/here.