Friday, March 13, 2015
We are in Anaheim, California. And, yes, that’s where Disneyland is. It’s also where summer is. It’s 90 out right now (2 pm), on it’s way to
a high of 93. It’s actually been a nice
week this week in the 70’s and 80’s.
Today’s a quiet day for us, so I’m holed up in the air conditioning and
Steve’s off at the Apple store trying to get his computer fixed. It keeps giving him problems with his mail
application.
But we have a nice spot in a nice park.
Obi and I spent some time this morning lying
out on the grass. Since he’s gone blind,
he loves laying outside, enjoying the sun and smells. But eventually it got too hot for him and he
barked to go in.
When I last wrote, we were in Death
Valley. We went to Scotty’s Castle the
next day. It’s an amazing place with an
amazing story. It’s a rich man’s retreat
in a desolate place.
Scotty was Walter Scott, who never actually
owned the villa. Scotty had traveled
with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, did some prospecting and was a great con
man. One of his cons was selling shares in a non-existent gold mine. Albert Johnson was one of his investors. He ran a family company in Chicago, but had
trained as a civil and mining engineer at Cornell. He demanded to visit the mine and Scotty
planned an elaborate charade, including a shootout, to keep him from finding
out the truth. The plan collapsed when
someone got shot (not seriously) and Scotty confessed all. Johnson was furious and headed home. Later, he realized he hadn’t had that much
fun in years and got back in touch with Scotty.
The two of them became fast friends and explored and camped in Death
Valley. Johnson’s wife eventually wanted
to come, too, so Johnson decided to build her something comfortable to stay in,
starting in 1922. The site they chose
was close to a prolific spring.
One of our guides called it the ultimate
unfinished home improvement project and I think he’s not far from right. This is a project that grew from having a
reasonably comfortable place to stay, to an estate, with servants quarters and
guest houses. Johnson was an engineer
and he kept tinkering and adding. He
powered the house with water from the spring, which worked fine until he
decided he needed a pipe organ, which took more power, so he installed a
generator. And of course he had build
something to house the organ and a power house for the generator. Since no one at the estate played the organ,
he had a player machine that played both the organ and grand piano on rolls
like a player piano.
So Johnson had a great time building the villa,
but perhaps he had the most fun listening to Scotty’s tall tales. People would come to visit and Scotty would
sit in the living room, introducing Johnson as his banker, and tell the stories
of finding his gold mine and building his castle. Johnson loved seeing everyone believe the
tale and the villa became known as Scotty’s Castle. The National Park Service now owns the castle
and runs the tours.
Inner courtyard and original front of the
castle:
The Johnson’s obviously had money and paid
attention to detail. The texture on the
outside walls had to have been time consuming:
And it was repeated as additions were made, so
it all looks as if it were built as one.
Here’s a bridge between the main house and one guest
house, which was where the organ is also housed.
The fireplace in the great hall:
There was exquisite tile work and iron work
everywhere.
The pool in front of the house was never
finished, but they had tile to use if they ever decided on a design. This is half of the pool from the bridge
crossing the middle:
And this is the some of the tile in the
basement:
After we left Scotty’s Castle we headed for a
place in Death Valley called Artist Pallet.
I didn’t know what to expect but here’s a picture:
This picture doesn’t do the colors
justice. These are real rock
colors. They were sherbet colors. Pink, orange, violet, green, vanilla. Totally amazing.
We’re headed out tomorrow, so itb’s time to
start packing up. Hopefully I’ll be able
to blog again soon.
Deb
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