I think it was when I was in college in Baltimore that Nat and Ian (my boyfriend at the time and my best friend) went to Bishop Castle south of Colorado Springs. I had never heard of it before, and I was so bummed they went without me! Ever since then I’ve wanted to go. It became part of my plan for Dan’s birthday, since the May Museum is in south Colorado Springs anyway. We both loved it! You can walk around anywhere you want, including to the top of the castle’s two spires. It was really windy – and super scary! But it was also exhilarating, being up so high and holding onto just little iron railings and letting the wind whip you around. I’ve heard that the creator of the castle, Jim Bishop, regular stands outside shouting his “message” into a megaphone. He wasn’t when we were there. He was sitting outside the makeshift gift shop (the gift shop and an outbuilding were destroyed in a fire in March), looking really forlorn. I remembered that I had seen on the website a few days earlier that his wife, Phoebe, had died on August 19, the week before we were there 😔
I made a 1 Second Everyday video of the day – see it here.
This looks so so so incredible, I would love to visit. The last part of your post almost made me cry, though – the contrast between your photos of such a grand, beautiful building (and the personality in that sign alone!), and your description of the man who built it, sitting looking forlorn. damn.
If you ever come to the western US, I’ll meet you and we’ll go there! There’s lots of neat stuff around Colorado Springs – it would be so fun to show you since you always saw it through my photos :)
There are a TON of those hand-painted signs. Even though their (and his) message is extreme, I love them and this place and the fact that this man has dedicated his life to something so wild and amazing.