Bishop's Castle

Me: Hey!
Mark: *Mouth twitches*
Me: What's with the mouth twitching?
Mark: Nothing.  So "hey" what?
Me: Wanna go to Bishop's Castle?
Mark: What is that and were is that. Oh never mind...I know it's got to be better than Frozen Dead Guy Days again.  Ya let's go.



So basically this place is a one-man show.  A man named Jim Bishop who lives near Rye, Colorado has single-handedly built this castle.  It started as a simple cottage but has since turned into Bishop's castle.

Outside of Bishop's Castle

However it wasn't built without lots of blood, sweat, tears and controversy.  Seems old Jim Bishop has has his share of legal issues with the US Government off and on for most of the years that he has been building this place.

There were signs everywhere!

Level 1

West side of the Grand Ballroom.  Countless weddings have been held here.

East side of the Grand Ballroom

View of the Grand Ballroom from above

The Fire Breathing Dragon- although NO fire comes out of this dragon.  False advertising haha

Jim's carving

Towers and spires and spheres

Stairwell.  Notice that there are NO handrails at all. 

View of the arched bridge.  No support is underneath this thing and it is WOBBLY!!

View from the tippy top of the spire

Atop the highest Spire- again there are NO handrails on any of the stairs

But all that aside this place is IMPRESSIVE; especially since he has no formal education in architecture or engineering AND that he did this all without any help from anyone else.  It has three stories of interior rooms complete with a Grand Ballroom, towers and bridges and a Fire-Breathing Dragon coming out of the front of the castle.  It is 160 feet tall at the highest spire and it kind of reminds me of Hogwarts (but with no concern for safety). In both towers, going up to the crow's nest and the high sphere, there were no handrails in the narrow spiral staircases, there were holes in the railings that surrounded the outside of the building, there were holes in the floors, ice on the stairs, construction tools lying around, etc.  I thought Mark was going to have a heart attack when he saw some very small kiddos running around the place unattended. Fortunately there were no accidents while we were there.

Notice all the holes that kids can fall off of...Mark was having massive anxiety lol

This platform was wobbly as well

Mark on the bridge that connects the two towers.

Now Jim (the builder) is quite, shall we say, animated.  While we were there he was on a rant about the government and was using some highly inflammatory language.  (I don't think he's been told that Obama isn't in the White House anymore) As one of the website about this place states: "PARENTS ALERT: Bishop's Castle may look like Hogwarts, but Jim Bishop is no cuddly Dumbledore. He's a tough-talking man with strong beliefs, and sometimes he expresses them bluntly and loudly. If you or your children want to avoid potentially offensive rants (involving politics and race), you may want to steer clear".

Nuff said.

On the way home Mark actually said that this place was really cool and I had a good suggestion about going there!!!

Could I be on a roll? I think I just felt my mouth twitch too!