Miramont Castle, Manitou Springs

Soooo, a new day dawns, and we're off to see another sight!  We found ourselves in Manitou Springs again, getting ready to tour Miramont Castle.  We had been told by the Visitors'Center that it had been in the process of being rehabilitated for years and it was really something to see inside now.  But first, we saw the Manitou Incline.  This is what remains of the old 3 foot narrow guage funicular railway that washed out during a rockslide in 1990.  There are over 2700 "steps," more or less, depending on what maintenance has been done recently.  Here's my picture, this is as close as we would get.  They grade is as much as 68% and the top is about 2000 feet higher than the base, which is already over 6800 feet above sea level.  There are signs all over warning hikers not to attempt it unless they are physically fit and able to complete the hike.  There is no vehicular access, to any portion of the trail, so the only way out in case of panic or injury is by the kindness and physical capabilities of fellow hikers.  In other words, if you get hurt, the only way out is down, carried by complete strangers.  Not my cup of tea, for sure.

Here is a public photo of the actual trail.  Not exactly a walk in the park, is it.

So, we were really intent on seeing this beauty. inside and out.

But first, let's see how what dangers lie in wait...

So, we pulled up our socks and went on in to the basement of the mansion, where Margie was waiting to take our money for admission.  Always admission fees, always.  But, I guess it's worth it, since all monies go to restoration and maintenance costs.  Knowing we were in the basement was a bit incongruous with what we were seeing. The front desk was handcarved and tremendously ornate; and the stained glass window in the stairwell was just stunning. 

We made our way under the staircase, into a maze of small rooms, each displaying memorabilia and artifacts all relating to the Manitou Fire Department.  I've always been a fan of Smokey Bear, and there was a whole window dedicated to his story.  

They had one of the original hose wagons of the town, which was pulled by the firefighters themselves, until one of the town's leaders had the means and generosity to lend them one of his prized horses, day or night, whenever the need arose.  I'm sure the guys in the photo were relieved when that gift was bestowed!

We made our way up the grand staircase, and into the drawing room, where guests were entertained.  Miramont, which means "look at the mountain" construction was started in Fall, 1895.  It was built by and for Fr. Fancolon, and his widowed mother, who supposedly financed the whole project.  They had travelled the world due to the father's diplomatic career, so he was very familiar with the chateaus and estates of Europe, and wanted to replicate them for his mother.  The entire castle was constructed of the native green sandstone blocks you see below.  

You can see the extent of the tableware they stored, just for entertaining visitors.

The monk and his mom only lived here a couple of years, after which, The Sisters of Mercy took it over as a tuberculosis sanitorium.  While the monk was here, The Sisters prepared all the meals in a smaller house, down the hill, and transported everything up to the castle.  After they were given the castle, they installed a small kitchen to prepare meals onsite.

This is the main staircase, which has been lovingly and painstakingly restored (some of the spindles have been recreated by the Historical Society).  It covered the 3 stories of the castle.  The 4th story was for servants only, and you'll see THEIR stairway in a moment.

Every room had a magnificent view of the mountains (remember, the name of the estate translates to "look at the mountain").  This is from the solarium, which was actually turned into and operating room for The Sisters.

This was mom's room... 

And here is the austere and narrow stairway for the servants' use.  It was VERY steep, and closed to the public. 

And here is the monk's room; a little smaller and plainer that mom's.

We interrupted our tour to visit the Queen's Tea Room for lunch.  They were kind enough to reserve a table for us...even though we were two of only 6 patrons for lunch that day.  We told them it was our 30th anniversary, hoping they would at least offer us a small dessert, but, nope, not a thing.

I had to admit though, it was a charming little room and the food was beautifully presented.  Dick got his favorite Reuben, and I got a fruit, nut and Spring greens salad with a delicious raspberry vinaigrette.  No crackers or breadsticks or anything extra, so, if you go, just beware that portions are not exactly overwhelming.  My lemonade was made using the mineral water from the natural springs of the town.  It was fizzy and a bit Alka-Seltzery tasting, but once I got used to it, it was actually pretty tasty.  In truth, it was better than the raspberry tea that Dick had ordered.  He agreed, but he didn't want to make a fuss and trade it in for a lemonade.  In retrospect, had he known our drinks were 3 bucks each, he says he would have traded for one that tasted better.

We resumed our tour up on the 4th floor, the servants' quarters.  There were 3 rooms this size, which were each shared by 2 servants, and 1 room much smaller, that is now off limits, and used as a closet.

Each floor of the castle is stepped up the mountainside so that you can exit them all and still be on "ground level."  As a result, the stone walls must be anchored into the mountainside.

It was only about a foot from tip to tip!

The gardens were on each level, and they were overgrown, but still very calming and quiet.

This is one of the "tuberculosis cabins" that The Sisters of Mercy had built on the premises.  We were actually very fortunate that there was another party of guests that had arrived shortly after we finished our lunch.  As it turns out, it was a lady about my age, her mom and a friend.  Her grandpa, who has since passed, was the caretaker there for years, and the mom was raised on the grounds.  She and the grandma are the original founders of Manitou Springs Historical Society, and spearheaded the entire restoration efforts.  It's been done over several years, and the original grant was for $15,000.  The rest of the millions were raised by gift shop sales, admissions and Tea Room luncheons.  It's amazing how much work and love has been poured into this remarkable building.

The mom told me that back in the old days (well before my time), if you suffered from tuberculosis, your remedy was cold, dry air.  You were quarantined in cabins like this until you either recovered or died.  Pretty stark, eh?

After leaving Miramont, we ventured on down to Rock Ledge Ranch, down at the base of the enormous rock structures of Garden of the Gods.  Unfortunately, the Ranch happened to be closed during this time.  We were permitted to walk the grounds and visit the animals (who took absolutely no interest in two hot people and a really hot puppy dog).  There were some pictures taken, but only the Good Lord knows where they were put.  Don't ask - it was an ordeal just to get where we are today, and that's good enough.  

Last night, I heard Hurricane Dorian was headed straight for Inverness, as were Lolly and Allen.  This morning, I heard they arrived safely yesterday evening, around 6 pm, and this afternoon, I have seen the predictions for the cone to be much farther east, and to remain off the coast of Florida, sparing most of the state the brunt of the storm.  I've spoken with Bob Wallace, and Brandi & Mike, all up in Lake City, and they are all hunkered down and stocked up on water and have their generators fueled up and ready to be put to use.  Hopefully, things will, literally, just blow over quickly, and not cause catastrophic damages.  

 Y'all stay safe!  Till next time...

Stockyards City, Bricktown, Mansions and Rt 66 Oddities

Where's Waldo now?  Why, still in Oklahoma City, of course! Yesterday we hit Stockyards City.  Why plural?  I have no idea.  No one in town knows why; even my friend Google can't tell me!  But, there's definitely an S on the sign that stretches over South Agnew, on your way in to Exchange Street.

We were there on a Friday, and they only run the "stampede" and auctions on Mondays and Tuesdays, so we were bummed that we wouldn't see any longhorns this trip.  We did manage to find the candy and pop store, though...what a treat!  Talk about eye candy, check out the bar and hutch!  Just beautiful workmanship.  

In this part of the country they call soda, POP.  It was weird the first time we heard it used that way, but we're getting used to it now.  There were all kinds, that's for sure.  In fact, there was an entire room devoted to dusty bottles of your favorite flavors.

Like bacon.  Who wouldn't want bacon flavored soda?

And some not-so-favorite, like pickles, Ranch dressing and sweet corn.  Weird. Just plain weird.  Nope, we didn't buy or try any!

They had fudge too, lots of it, and penny candy that was $9.99 a pound!  We didn't buy or try any of that, either.  Saving room for ice cream, I suppose.  We asked the young lady behind the counter where all the statues were, and she sent us down the street to the bank on the corner.  So, off we went!  Here are the statues placed in front of the bank.  In 1909, farmers and ranchers invited packing industry leaders to the state to find a location for stock yards and packing houses.  Within a year, Packingtown was born and brought with it saddle makers, boot makers, cafes and hat shops. At one point, the livestock complex featured 2400 jobs in a city of 60000.  But, even though the early 60's saw the demise of many packing houses, the stock yards were still going strong.  The name was changed from Packingtown to Stockyards City.  Auctions replaced individual haggling, and they are still taking place twice a week and the stock yards remain a vital link between Oklahoma's heritage and its future.  In October 2000, town leaders unveiled a 13 foot high monument sculpture to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the stock yards..  "Headin' to Market" features a cowboy on horsebak, corralling a steer toward the stock yard gates.  The statue is dedicated to the sculptor's grandson, who died when he was only 5 days old.  There is no mention of the buffalo at the foot of the granite base; I can only assume it's a part of the series that have been placed, sometimes painted, all over town.  In Lexington, NC, they placed pigs, in Ocala, FL, they placed horses, Norfolk, VA, they put horses, Denton, TX, they put bulls, in Bremer, IN it was cows.  Apparently, here in OKC, it's buffalo.  

As impressive as these statues might be, they weren't as had been described to us by the campground owner.  He had said there were a whole lot of 'em and they were, in his words, huuuuuge.  So, we asked another shop owner, and he knew exactly what we were looking for....but those statues were down in Bricktown.  Down behind Bass Pro Shops.  OK, so I remembered that we had passed a bridge labeled Bricktown when we were down by the Myriad Gardens.  I wrote about them here.  So off we went, in search of Bricktown and the infamous statues!

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Surprisingly enough, those statues were pretty darned elusive!  We found a little Riverwalk-type park, and in trying to locate a parking place where we could stop and check it out, we found the Bass Pro Shop.  It was then that I remembered what the shop keeper had said about the statues being behind Bass Pro.  So, we drove through the parking lot and found ourselves in another, almost empty lot.  When we looked up on top of the hill, we glimpsed what appeared to be a whole wagon train of sculptures.  This was what we had come to see!!!!  Officially, it's called The Oklahoma Land Run Monument, and if you cannot read the inscription on the stones shown below, you can just click on this little linky to get the full story.  It is really interesting, so do give it a read.  It even explained how the nickname "Sooners" came about.  Truly, that is something I've always wondered!!  

OK, OK, OK, so you don't want to click the link, but you want to know how they came to be known as Sooners, right?  Well, I'm nothing if not agreeable and obliging, so here ya go:

April 22, 1889, was a day of chaos, excitement, and total confusion in Oklahoma.  This was the day of the incredible, and notorious, first Land Run, when 50,000 people rushed into the Unassigned Lands of Oklahoma Territory to stake their claim for free land.  Over two million acres in Oklahoma, both farm land and town lots, had previously been measured out by the government.  The vast crowd of hopeful settlers massed all along the border.  All were armed with a flag, to claim their stake -- farmers and scholars, Yankees and southerners, the rich and the poor, black and white, soldiers and laborers, even women riding side-saddle.  At the sound of a cannon shot at noon, the anxious settlers surged forward in a tumultuous avalanche of wagons and horsemen all in one breathtaking instant.  Many did not achieve their dream; in the chaos of the mad dash, people were crushed, horses fell, wagons toppled, and fights ensued.  Besides, hundreds, maybe thousands, of settlers had already snuck in over the border a day or two sooner, to claim the choicest land.  These "sooners", pretending to be exhausted from the mad dash, even having run their horses around in circles to get them all sweaty beforehand, made a show of slamming their flags into their chosen ground just as the first legitimate settlers appeared in the distance.  Dozens of the U.S. surveyors, in spite of it being illegal, had also already staked their claims, prompting years of court cases afterwards, some of which even went to the Supreme Court.

You're welcome.  

If you HAD clicked that link, you would have known that these sculptures are cast at one and a half times lifesize, so you know a 6 foot man would be portrayed as 9 feet tall.  See, I *can* do math!  Haha, no I can't....it was specified in the article.  Y'all know I can't do math, what were you thinking?

This one's a panorama, so be sure to click on the photo to enlarge it and get the full impact.

As we made our way out of town, we came across a sign pointing to the capitol building.  Well, we have nothing but time on our hands, so we turned and followed it!  I knew that most of the interior is undergoing renovations at this time, so it's mostly closed to the public, but the outside renovations are complete.  We happened to be in the left turn lane, when we came upon it, so this was as close as we got, sorry for the blur.  

Next directional sign we saw was to the Overholser Mansion.  Henry Overholser is considered the Father of Oklahoma City, and his was the first real mansion built in the city, in 1903.  It was his wife's (Anna) wishes that it be turned over to the city or state when the time was right.  Their son-in-law sold it & all the furnishings to the OK Historical Society in 1972.  It appears to be truly magnificent. 

Here's another of those painted buffaloes around town:

Mr. Overholser may have had the FIRST mansion in town, but by now, it's certainly not the only one in town.  In this Heritage Block, we found many other examples of beautiful old homes, in various styles.  But all of them, huge, even by today's standards!

It was early afternoon by now, and it was time to begin thinking about heading home.  Always on the lookout for quirky and interesting, we pointed our car towards Route 66, aka, The Mother Road.

  (In his classic novel The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck called Route 66 the "Mother Road" because it beckoned to desperate migrants fleeing the Dust Bowl as they moved west in search of jobs in the 1930s. But in the years after the Depression, the highway took on mythic status as America's main street for adventure.Dec 31, 2014 )

You can read the slightly sordid history of the Tower Theater right here.  Suffice it to say, we did NOT stop in to see the picture show, even though it's probably more family-friendly at this point.

It was sad to see the disrepair of the Geodesic Gold Dome that once housed Citizens State Bank.  It has gone through several iterations and owners, including foreclosure in 2012.  Even though it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003, the current owners have not been able to restore it to its former glory.

Down the road just a bit, is the Milk Bottle Grocery.  It is one of the few triangular buildings in the city.  The milk bottle was only placed to advertise the local dairy industry.  

This little pedestal marks an entrance to the city's thriving Asian sector.  Who knew?!

After seeing all this, we were famished!  We saw a poster that advertised CiCi's Pizza runs a Happy Hour from 2 pm to 4 pm Mon thru Fri, so we Googled for the one closest to our camper and headed that way!  We arrived about 20 minutes too early, so we walked the aisles of Sprouts Fresh Market for that time and found blueberries and cherries on sale.  After stuffing ourselves on delicious pizza (one of the few places offering Mozzarella cheese ONLY), we went back to the market and picked up some fresh berries and cherries.  We went home tired, but happy and full as could be.

Stay tuned for Saturday's adventures!