Another great source for travel inspiration is bbc.co.uk. Scroll to the bottom of their homepage for a travel section. There are usually great resources listed there. Recently I read a feature called "Best 'Middle of Nowhere' Places." (found here) and was alerted to a California gem called Scotty's Castle.
Scotty's Castle is located way out of the way in Death Valley. It would take me 9 hours to drive there (and that's the only option for arriving there). Talk about "Middle of Nowhere!"
Pretty cool huh?
So the history of the place goes something like this: There was a guy named Death Valley Scotty. Well, that wasn't really his name, but it's what everyone called him. In the 20's he began selling stakes in his Gold mine in Death Valley, proclaiming far and near that there was gold in them thar hills!
Well. He lied.
And one of his investors began to suspect his shenanigans and set out for to see the mine himself. I'm not sure what ensued, but it ended with the investor and Scotty forming a fast friendship and the investor building a giant "vacation home" in Death Valley, Scotty's Castle.
Death Valley Scotty lived in the Castle year-round and told everyone that he built it from the profits from his gold mine. Sneaky little buzzard, wasn't he?
In any case, I want to go. There are tours of the castle offered year-round, for those of us who deign to drive that far out of the way to see it. It's a beautiful throwback to the heyday of the 1920's and 30's: The days of newspaper fortunes like those of the Vanderbilts and William Randolf Hearst.
Where do you want to be today?
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