Colorado Vacation - 2004
Day 3 - Going To Pick Up Momma
Saturday, August 28th
Bishop Castle
I had struck out early on my own to Colorado. My wife took Amtrak from Kansas City on Friday night, and I was to pick her up on Saturday morning in Trinidad, Colorado. Unknown to me, her train was three hours late getting into Kansas City. Saturday morning, we checked on my dads laptop and found that her train was now five hours late, after having to deal with major storms on the way from KC. This wouldn't put her in Trinidad until early afternoon.
The original plan was to for me to pick her up in Trinidad, where we would spend a few hours looking around, then go back to the cabin so she could spend some time with my mom and dad before they left on Sunday. This plan was totally scrapped, because of the time limitations. The parents ended up going with me to pick her up, just so that they would end up with some time together. We ended up just eating a late lunch in Trinidad, then heading back to the cabin.
We decided to take a different route back, getting off of I-25 north of Walsenburg onto Hwy 165. This took us through the San Isabel National Forest, an area that none of us had been before. This is a very nice drive, it reminds me more of the northern side of the state, in regards to forest and terrain.
As usual, we were in a hurry to get back to the cabin, so we didn't really stop for much of anything. Then I saw a sign for Bishop Castle. I had heard about this before, and even saw a report on it at AroundColorado.com. It was totally a fluke that we ended up there.
The owner/builder was there while we were visiting. Lets just say that he has some definite opinions, and he likes to share them with others. No matter this guys politics or mental status, this is a pretty amazing structure.
(click thumbnails for full size picture)
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| The front of the castle. This was all constructed from materials that he "gathered" from the national forest next to his property. Apparently the Feds have a bit of a problem with that. | The two towers, also showing the large amount of ironwork attached to the structure. I am deathly afraid of heights, and that was enough to keep me off of these walkways. The construction also made me question if I really wanted to walk around up there. |
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| The inside if the main hall, actually on the second floor of the structure. If you look closely at the stove next to the window, you will see the flue pipe running up to the top. This pipe then exits the wall into the dragon head. I assume that the smoke exits through the dragons nostrils. | My wife, outside the window on the other end of the main hall. She wasn't interested in walking on the ironwork either. |
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