Hey there! So it seems that we have one last post from our Arizona trip! It's the craziest, creepiest one of them all! The area this weird community was in, is called Desert Center. On our way home, before we reached Desert Center, we stopped by the "shoe tree" and left some shoes in our name :). We also found a few other cool things. Many miles later, we finally reached Desert Center. We didn't exactly know what we were going to find here, but we knew it was a deserted town. I have passed it many times, and always wanted to stop and check things out! We stopped at the Cafe, along the highway, and soon found an entire abandoned community near it! We took a dirt road and eventually came upon what we found to be the creepiest "town" we'd ever been in. The dirt road led us to pass a huge warehouse, drive-up loading docks, sheds, over 65 "houses", many more abandoned buildings, a barn, a big building and a few trailers. We also came across a pool and tons of strange cement basin-type things. This place was so unexplainable, not even the photos do it justice! We drove all the way to the end, and worked our way to the exit. Surprisingly, this entire "community" was mostly untouched! It was incredible to finally come across something abandoned, without it being completely tagged and vandalized. The inside of this building was super dark and eerie. We used the built-in flash on my Canon to take the pictures. Is it weird that I expected to look back at these pictures and see a dead body or a ghost or something?? We couldn't see anything, so I didn't really know what the inside looked like, until I looked back at the pictures later. The first small building we came across was one with barred windows and a single chair inside. We called this "the punishment room". Seemed appropriate. We then moved along to the 65-some "houses" that were beyond strange to us. I still, to this day, feel creeped out by them. What in the world were these odd structures for? We think someone had stacked all the beds in one house and then all the rest of the items from each house into another. So for literally the last 10 days I have been researching this area and could not find anything!!! I was getting so frustrated and was about to give up, when I finally figured something out. I decided to drop a pin on one of the buildings, via cell phone. I searched the address and nothing but real estate websites came up. Most of them said this, "Flat 318.95 acre parcel. Great location -flat parcel with great potential. Easily farm crops and fish - previously used to farm asparagus, jojoba, grapefruit and tilapia. Utilities and facilities in place. Gas, electrical, phone and septic system on property. Water provided by well and easily distributed to irrigation system (over 22 miles), faucets and hydrants throughout property, in addition to the 27 concrete, in-ground fish tanks and 3 levee ponds. Commercial scale packing and shipping operation possible with sizeable covered packing area and large walk-in refrigerator with drive-up loading docks. Easy freeway access, minutes from I-10. Property includes single-family residence. Potential uses: nurseries, orchards field crops, grazing farm animals, packaging plants, guest ranches, tennis clubs, golf courses, relay towers, distribution center, etc." This place is still extremely strange to me, and I want to know more! What are those 65+ "houses" used for? What large materials were they bringing in to the loading area? I found that it may have been called FBI Farms, or Jatropha Plantation. I believe it closed around 2009. I also found that the Jatropha seeds were used to produce biodiesel. The large cement basins were part of their aquaponic system. Water was pumped from their well into the fish tanks. From there, the water went into the nursery field and then into the dirt ponds. From the dirt ponds, it stayed until they needed it in the main fields. The system allowed them to make an organic fertilizer. I just want to know more!! Some things may forever remain unanswered. Oh well. Want to see our jumpy pics? My picture of the day is one that I feel explains this bizarre place. It just gives the vibe of how strange it was to see nearly 70 "houses" lined up. These houses were tiny, too! Thanks for reading! Until next time, Ciao
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On our way home from Kingman, we stopped off at a ghost town; Oatman. We drove along Route 66 for a while and enjoyed the scenery, before reaching Oatman. We found an old mine right off a windy part of the 66. It was so, so neat! We wanted to go inside, but it was too far down and dangerous to get to. Oatman is a former mining town, in the Mohave County, of Arizona. At an elevation of 2,700 feet, the town became known in 1915 when prospectors found $10 million in gold. Within the course of a year, the population of the town hit 3,500. The town had several other names, but was named Oatman, in honor of Olive Oatman. Olive was a young girl from Illinois, who was taken captive by the Yavapai Indians and forced to work as a slave. She was later traded and adopted by the Mohave Indians, who then tattooed her face to represent the tribe. In 1855, she was released near the current location of the town Oatman. Today, wild Burros roam the streets and can be fed with carrots, purchased in the town. This restaurant is covered top to bottom with signed dollar bills!! There are thousands!!! Oatman is definitely a fun place to visit! It's great for kids and it's awesome on the weekend, because they have little skits in the street and car shows. The picture of the day is one that made us laugh so hard. Jesse wanted to get some kettle corn. The burros were waiting, so he waited in line with them ;) Thanks for reading! Until next time, Ciao
Throughout our trip to Arizona, our plan was to be as adventurous as we could, do as much as possible, spend time with family, and visit any/all abandoned things in Kingman (and along the way). I'd have to say, we were very successful! I am so pleased with how the trip went, and the fact that we got to spend some great time with my sis, her husband and their baby! The day I'm writing about today, is one of our favorite days, in Kingman. We started out the day trying to first find an abandoned community of houses. We couldn't find it, but we found a cool house along the way. We continued on to find what we had heard was called Luana's Canyon AKA Slaughterhouse Canyon. The story goes something like this... During the 1800's and the gold rush days, a gold miner and family lived in the canyon; in a small wooden shack. The husband would venture out, via mule, into the mountains to search for gold and gather food for him and his family. His wife Luana stayed home to care for their children. One month, the husband never returned. Soon, the family began to starve. Luana lost her mind, unable to watch her children continue to starve. After murdering her children, Luana put on her wedding dress, during a rainstorm, and chopped up her children. She chopped them into several piece, went to the river and tossed their remains in the stream. The next morning she returned and died while mourning the loss of her children. Tales are still told that some days you can hear her crying within the canyon. Sadly, the wooden house is no longer there. We were very disappointed after spending literally hours trying to find it. Hmph, on to the next adventure! Jesse and I, my sis, her two friends, my niece, and my brother-in-law took my brother-in-law's big truck and went off roading. We were in search of finding an abandoned mansion we had heard about. We were dying to go ever since we heard of it!! We didn't have perfect directions, and barely had cell service! It took us about an hour to get to a point where we had to stop because the truck couldn't go any further. The trail was too narrow and too rocky. We all ended up walking (except baby Charlotte) about 2 miles, until we found the mansion. Even though it was 90+ degrees, we still enjoyed our hike. Our first encounter was with this cow, in the middle of the road! He eventually moved. LOL. I will include the directions, at the bottom of this post. Like I said, we parked the truck under a shady tree and started our hike. We all found it so neat that there was water, as we got closer to the mansion! The sun was beating down and shining so brightly! Some pictures, unfortunately, have sun spots. :( And finally....THE MANSION!!!.. I fell in love with the arched doorways, the vines leading up the mansion; and how well preserved the building was! History lesson: In 1929, during the Great Depression, the two-story mansion was built. Built by the Gold King Corporation, the structure is made up of 6-inch reinforced concrete, high arched windows and doors, and some beautiful wall decor (that still exists). The mansion was built to entertain wealthy investors as well as the mine foreman. The Gold King Mine produced gold, silver, copper, and lead. Sadly, production never reached the level the miners had hoped for. In October 1929, the stock market crashed and brought an end to the mine and beautiful mansion. The Hualapai 4 Wheelers have since adopted the mansion, in order to keep it vandal- and trash-free. We walked over to explore the mine and found a few rusty sheds, spread out, and several large holes (about 15 feet?) There is no longer any glass left, but the building was surprisingly very well preserved! The Moss Mansion and Gold King MineThe mine was actually quite difficult to get to. It was up a very steep hill, full of slippery sand and rocks. That is what is left of the main mine. Like I said earlier, there were multiple, but this was the larger one. Now, here is the only picture (I think in existence) of the mansion and mine, in working use. (Sorry for the poor quality!) Directions to The Gold King Mansion and Mine: [Please note: This route to the mansion must be done in either a 4-wheeler truck or jeep,or some type of quad/desert vehicle.] Head East on the I-40, from Kingman Take the Blake Ranch Road exit, and drive roughly 10 miles, until you reach this sign.. Once you reach this sign, turn right onto the dirt trail road. Drive as far as you can, and hike the rest of the way. There are definitely some tricky parts to get through. Good luck! The picture of the day is one that is quite special! It is our very first jumpy picture together!!! YAY! Thanks for reading!! We have one more post from our Arizona trip. Until next time, Ciao Hey there! So, this is going to be a quick post of an abandoned house Jesse and I found off of Hualapai, in Kingman AZ. This house isn't very old, and no one ever lived in it. The house wasn't quite finished when it was deserted. I love this style and the cool rustic shed, in the backyard. Enjoy! So we first drove on Hualapai Mountain Road to see what the beautiful mountains had to offer. During the winter, these mountains are beautifully covered in white snow! We brought along my niece, Audi, so she could ride in the car and stick her head out the window to enjoy the scenery too! :) (She's a German Short-Haired Pointer!) Is she not the cutest?!! I love her so much!!! Cutest, sweetest dog ever! After we enjoyed the view, we headed to an abandoned house we saw along the way. So this house has been abandoned for a few years now, and as you can see, people have destroyed it a bit. The biggest vandals in this house? Birds. Birds have taken over and moved into this house. Never have I ever seen this many bird feathers, in my life! Even though the house was unfinished, I loved the wrought iron throughout, with horse shoes on it! Although the house wasn't old, creepy and was infested with birds, it was still quite neat!! Picture of the day.... Thanks for reading!! Until next time! Ciao |
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