Tuesday, January 3, 2012

The 10th day of Christmas.


Today I talk not about work which is where I'm at {hopefully} {I'm writing this a couple of days before work starts again because I anticipate a lot of business and tiredness what with a 12 hour drive ahead of us along with getting ready for work the next day...I digress} but I'm writing about "fun outings" and "local color".

I'm a big fan of things that are unique to their geographical locale and that are not a big "traditional" attraction. Some examples:
I'm sure know that there are many, many more in our great country {& world} but these are places I know. Anyway, this past week in Arizona I added a new one to the list. It even uses the seemingly prerequisite word "mystery" in the title.

The Mystery Castle.
Emmy Award?
The back story is a Seattle man  in the 1930s {more or less} who was diagnosed with The Consumption/Tuberculosis and a six month life expectancy. He fled, abandoning his wife and young daughter, to Arizona to live out his days. He was actually cured, lived another 15 years and spent that time building an elaborate "sand castle" for his daughter whom he never saw again. This man was dedicated to using found materials and reusing things that others might discard so picture a stone and mortar structure with lots of interesting and non-traditional building materials {hubcaps and a Saguaro cactus, for example}. It certainly doesn't look like a Disney castle.

The daughter, upon her father's death, received notice that she was the proud new recipient and owner of several hundred acres in the Arizona desert which included this building.
She came and lived the rest of her life in what came to be known as the Mystery Castle until she died in 2010.
At some point Life magazine did an expose on this little gem and people started coming for tours which the proprietress welcomed and these tours continue to this day though her bedroom is off limits because her geriatric cat still resides there.
The actual structure is pretty great; it incorporates the land, for sure, being made mostly of stones and mortar but including old bricks and found/salvaged glass.
The interior reflects the eclectic decorating/collecting style of the builder and his daughter. It reminded me of a grandmother's house; there was so.much.stuff.
Apart from some neat-o relics {an old oven built into the stone wall, a tamale cart from Nogales circa 1930s as seen above} there were TONS of tchotchkes {knick knacks}...TONS of them. Many focused on cats
and clever phrases.
I loved it.


I enjoyed the rock-pet collection.
We had a fun time taking the short tour and meandering around while enjoying the view of the Phoenix Valley. I can't imagine having lived there like the "princess" did for so long!! I love visiting places like this one where history, even if it's not perfect {stuffed cats everywhere}, is preserved and embraced. I think that maintaining where we come from, we being society in general, is exceptionally important when we live in such a transitory time {constantly changing technology, news, diet fads, etc.} because it helps...it helps me at least...to keep track of the "big picture" - the newest things aren't the most important. Certain things always remain the same. Traditional ways of doing things {building homes, for example} aren't always the best.

Plus I love collecting trivia.

What sort of unique local attractions do you love?
xoxo, natty ♥

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