Bodie State Historic Park is located in the high desert area east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, just north of Lee Vining, California. It is a harsh place--scorching hot in the summer, followed by long, bitter winters. We visited Bodie in September 2005--and on the first of two visits, I was surprised at how bitterly cold it was that windy, rainy day. Miners are a tough breed, but it wasn't just miners in Bodie--a town of over 10,000 people once lived there: shopkeepers, teachers, bartenders, blacksmiths, bankers...the list goes on and on. And these people brought their families: children were born and raised in Bodie during those boom years--a childhood I can't even begin to imagine. Bodie was a bustling, lawless town where it is said at least one murder happened each and every day! "There's a story about a little girl whose family moved from San Francisco to Bodie. Depending on who tells you, or where you read it, she wrote either: "Good, by God, I'm going to Bodie" or "Goodbye God, I'm going to Bodie". Once you get through this site, you'll have to decide for yourself." source: http://www.bodie.net/