Today was such an eventful day! On top of what I'm about to tell you we did, we also drove in 3 states AND went to Calico Ghost Town! So awesome, though. So after Calico, we kept on truckin' and made our way to what I call Lake Dolores and Rock-A-Hoola. This is an abandoned water park that has been abandoned since 2004. It used to be so awesome when it was first abandoned, because it wasn't so destroyed and tagged up. It made me so sad walking through the park because I hate that people are so destructive. Anyway, I hope these pictures can give you insight on just how cool this water park used to be! I'll include a few original photos from when it was at its prime. For a quick history lesson on Rock-A-Hoola... The waterpark is located in Newberry Springs, just off the 15; in the Mohave Desert. In the '50's, a man named Bob Byers purchased the land and built a man-made lake, which he named Lake Dolores; after his wife. Within a decade, a small camp ground near the lake was opened to the public. The site evolved into a waterpark within the next 25 years. Many rides and attractions were added in order to lure in people traveling between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. In the late 1980's the park closed, due to a downturn in the popularity. Byer's sold the then deserted waterpark in 1990 to a business trio, who had plans to grow the park. In 1998 the park was renamed "Rock-A-Hoola" and was known for the constant playing of rock and roll music. In only three seasons of the park re-opening, the trio were already three million dollars in debt! In 2000, they filed for bankrupsy. The property was then returned to Dolores Byers (Bob Byers died in '96). A month before her death, Dolores sold the property, in 2001, to an investment group. The park was renamed "Discovery Park" and had $400,000 in renovations. After cutting back hours and only being open on weekends, the park closed in 2004. So, we found a huge piece of glass, propped it up on a wall in the "Locker Room", and took a selfie! Now, I want you to see a few old pictures of the park, when it was in its prime! And now for the jumpy pictures! Directions: I took the 15 toward Vegas, exited Harvard Road and turned left onto Harvard Road, crossed over the freeway and turned left onto Hacienda Road. Take that road all the way until you see the water park on your right. Arne's Royal Hawaiian MotelArne's Royal Hawaiian Motel opened in 1957 as a motel for people to stay in, when passing through a town called Baker. Baker is just off the interstate 15. The hotel had 43 rooms in multiple buildings, two-stories, a pool and a game room. According to reviews, this hotel was a 1-2 star motel and was in horrible staying conditions. The motel was abandoned in 2009. Despite how apparently disgusting this motel was, what remains is pretty cool. If you are familiar with Bates Motel, this motel definitely resembles it quite well. The hotel was known for having a tropical tiki theme throughout, with retro furniture. Address: 7940 West Baker Boulevard, Baker, CA 92309 What an eventful day it was!!!
Thanks for reading!! Until next time, Ciao
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This weekend, Jesse and I decided to make a trip to Kingman, Arizona; where my sister, her husband and baby live. We chose to drive through Vegas on our way there. While driving, I spotted a ghost town called Calico; so we exited Ghost Town Road, off the 15. Intrigued, we drove about 4 miles and found the site. We didn't know what to expect, but, what we found was definitely what we wanted to see! We paid $8 each, and made our way in to park and explore. If you are unfamiliar with Calico, it is an old mining town that has been around since 1881. The founders named it 'Calico', due to the peak being "calico-colored". It once held 500 mines and produced over $20 million in silver. At its prime, Calico had three hotels, five general stores, a meat market, brothels, bars and three restaurants and boarding houses. In 1890, the estimated population of the town was 3,500! Around 1986 was when silver lost its value and Calico lost its population. All miners packed up and moved away, leaving the town abandoned. Calico then became a "ghost town". In an attempt to revive the once booming town, a cyanide plant was put in, in 1915; to recover silver. Walter Knott, founder of Knott's Berry Farm, later purchased Calico in hopes of returning it to its original condition. The town was donated, in 1966, to San Bernardino County, thus making Calico a County Regional Park. In 2005, Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed Calico as "California's Silver Rush Ghost Town. This next building I was in love with!! Besides staple building materials needed, this structure is made of hundreds of glass bottles! The art it created was so beautiful to my eyes!! Enjoy.. Inside was actually a doggy store full of all types of dog treats, cookies, food and clothing. So random... Until next time, Calico! The picture of the day is from the glass bottle building. As I was walking out, I looked up and the bottles in the wall looked as if they were glowing. After I took this particular picture, I realized they looked as though they were right-side-up. Thanks for reading!! Until next time, Ciao
Hey there! Jesse and I have been so busy lately, we haven't had time to hike. He randomly had 2 days off, so, naturally, we jam packed those days with fun activities! We had been dying to go out to Jacumba and hike to all the abandoned trains out there! Tuesday was beyond perfect to go! Jesse packed his giant "survival backpack" (as usual) and we headed to Jacumba. We drove to DeAnza Springs Resort (a clothing optional community), paid $5 to park all day, and started our hike! We honestly walked through bushes to get to the railroad tracks, and then walked along them the entire time. It's not too difficult to find. We chose to bring along one bike, since I have bad knees and was slightly worried about the 14 mile round trip hike. We ended up only hiking about 7 miles total; choosing not to go all the way. Less than a mile in, you'll come across the first abandoned train. We spent a good amount of time inside and on top of this train. So awesome and fun!! Some of the seats had tiny mattresses. LOL. I love all the spirals, though!! We found several bird's nests. Jesse shrieked when he realized the birds were alive and inside one of them! I'm not sure why I found it so cool that it was a two story train! He's always such a gentleman!! All of the hues were muted and gave off an 80's vibe. It was a tad eerie, but fascinating more than anything. We made our way to the front of the train and found all of the control panels. The textures and colors of the entire train came across as a form of art to my eyes. So engaging and fascinating. We searched everywhere to find a date to figure out how old this train is. We finally found one stamped on a window in the control room, dated '81. Jes was dying to go on top of the train so we made our way up, before we continued on the hike. [Please note: I am terrified of heights!!] Please excuse my hair. To say it was a windy day is an understatement. And now for our goofy-adventurous side, if you will. Am I allowed to have bragging rights? ;) I do call him "Mr. Perfect" for a reason! On to the rest of our train journey. There are many bridges, but it is extremely peaceful out there! Never count me out. We enjoyed the beautiful patterns in the mountains. An alluring mountainous view. Jesse wanted to 'capture my face' when I saw where we were heading next.. By the looks of this one, it was definitely older than the last, and possibly from Mexico. We sat for a little while, on the train, ate a snack, and played music on Jesse's phone. We saw a bird's nest above the door, by where we were sitting, and suddenly the birds woke up. I sat on Jesse's shoulders to get a picture of them! So cute, yet creepy lookin'!! Don't worry, I just used spit to write our name on the train. Left me with a few blue-stained fingers, LOL. We both wanted to continue on, but the wind was at least over 80 mph. It was not only cold, but pushing us over..even Jesse!! At times it was hard to walk and even ride the bike. We made it back to the first train and took more jumpy pictures. We most definitely want to come back and do the entire hike! There is much more to this hike that we did not see. After leaving, we knew we would drive passed the Golden Acorn Casino, so we stopped in. They didn't have any deals for signing up, so we decided to walk over to a restaurant and check out the $7.77 Prime Rib Dinner. Sounds unappealing to me, but we just had to. It's funny how minor things entertain us, and draw us in. The dinner came with either soup or salad (we chose the sausage soup) and the sides we got were mashed potatoes and "veggies". The mashed potatoes were actually quite good. My meat was super dry, the soup was good, and the green beans were soaked in butter. Oh well, at least we can say we ate the $7.77 dinner, right? HAHA! Picture of the day? Our prime rib dinner...LOL! Thanks for reading!! Until next time! Ciao
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AuthorA passionate lover of food, adventure, traveling, and enjoying life! Archives
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