Paint Mines and DInner in an Airplane

Me: Ready to go?
Mark: Ready to go where?
Me: Paint Mines.
Mark: What's that?
Me:  It's an Interpretive Park and I've heard it's...
Mark: Interpretive park?  Like where hippies run around naked and dance and sh*t like that?
Me:  Maaaayyybeee...

Here's the thing.  Colorado has lots of places that are off the beaten path and this is one of them.  We've told Colorado natives about going here and all but one of them has never even heard of it, but they are missing out on visiting a really cool place.  

So if I were to say that this place is out in the middle of nowhere I wouldn't be lying.  It is about 35 miles east of Colorado Springs and about 40 miles west of Limon (which everyone knows is in the dead center of nowhere).  And to make matters worse, Siri seemed to think that we had no desire to drive on paved roads so she took us on every farm-to-market road she could find to get us there.  

What are the Paint Mines?(click on the highlighted words for more info if you want)  For those of you who don't want to click on the link here's basically what the website says:

The Paint Mines are named for their colorful

clays that were collected by American Indians

to make paint. Brightly colored bands, caused

by oxidized iron compounds, are found in

varying amounts throughout the may different

layers of clay. When the outcrops erode, a hard

capstone allows columns of clay to be

preserved beneath them, creating fantastic

spires called hoodoos. Selenite (gypsum)

contributes to the color, and white quartzitic

crystals dazzle the eye.

Well when you first get to the park you wonder what all the fuss is about.  It looks like flat plains and dead prairie grass and nothing much else. But once you hike down into the canyon things change dramatically. 

And even though we tried our very best, we didn't find any naked dancing hippies!!

On our way home we drove to Colorado Springs and checked out this place to eat that has been featured on several Food Network shows.  It's called "The Airplane Restaurant".  Now normally we don't go to places that are theme based but this one was wacky enough that we just had to try it.  

Basically what this place is, is a Boeing KC-97 tanker. The owner of the restaurant bought this plane at auction once is was decommissioned and built a restaurant around it.  The plane itself has been gutted and outfitted with booths but the remainder of the plane has been left intact.  We got there early so we were able to sit and eat in the plane.  The food...eh it was so-so but we really didn't expect much more than "airplane food" lol

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!

FDGD 2017

Me: Oooh goodie!  FDGD is coming up. Want to go?
Mark: Sure.  I mean what is FDGD?
ME: Ummmm...remember we went last year?
Mark: We did a lot last year, remember?
Me:  Ya, well its *mumble mumble mumble mumble*
Mark: What in tarnation did you say? (Ok so he actually never said in tarnation)
Me: Frozen Dead Guy Days
Mark: Um isn't that the weirdo thing you dragged me to last year?  The one that I said, "Don't ask me to do that again next year"?
Me: Uh kinda... but you already said sure so I guess we are going!

And that folks, is how we ended up at FDGD again this year!  I know it was a little sneaky but that's how I roll sometimes!  This year we asked our friends Linda and Rich to join us. This was their first time seeing this crazy festival and if Rich has anything to say about it, it will be their last.  Linda said she's up to going again next year.  Sound familiar?
         

      Here's a great video for those of you that want to learn more about FDGD. (Click on the arrow in the middle of this picture)

This year they had their usual events:
                                  
                                     The Hearse Parade

                                     The Polar Plunge

                                     The Coffin Races

                                 The Frozen TShirt Contest

And this year they added two new events:

The Newly Dead Game (like the Newlywed Game)

AND

The Brain Freeze contest....
Which we didn't go to.  There was a band playing in the event tent that the Brain Freeze contest was being held in and they were charging everyone a $20 per person cover to listen to the band prior to the *free* event.  Um no thank you.  So the premise of this contest is that people voluntarily chug a 32 oz. Slurpee and the person who can drink it all first was declared the winner. And for once, I had no desire to participate in this contest because:

1) I HATE brain freeezes.
2) They make you SIGN A MEDICAL RELEASE FORM prior to participating in this contest.  If that doesn't make you think twice about doing this, then you need to come to Colorado next year and be a participant.
3)  I HATE brain freezes. No seriously, I HATE them!



This is how about 1/2 of the attendees of FDGD dress:

Oh and we had bratwursts served out of a paper cup for lunch.

No I don't know why they serve them like that. 

No it doesn't make any sense as to why they serve them like that.

No it didn't make them taste any better served out of a cup.

Just don't ask...after all it's FDGD !!!

PBR

Okay so not everything we do for fun is exclusive to Colorado.  Case-in-point, this weekend we went to a PBR (Pro Bull Rider) sanctioned event in Castle Rock. 

 

Now here's the back story to this outing (isn't there always with us?).  See, Mark and I have finally figured out that we need to pack for any kind of weather up here even if the forecast says that it should be "nice" outside.  This entails packing up and bringing at least 40 lbs of equipment per person, per event.  Yup, gloves, hats, heavy boots, lightweight boots, heavy jackets, lightweight jackets, medium weight jackets...you get the picture.  The event advertised that it was going to be held at the Douglas County Fair Grounds. We had no idea what kind of facilities there were there so we did a Google Maps satellite search and saw a huge outdoor arena and a few smaller buildings and we figured that it was going to be held at the outdoor arena.  After checking the weather (that said it was going to be in the 50's with high winds) we decided to brave the elements and go anyway because we had already purchased our tickets in advance. We put everything in the truck and headed out, drove to the arena, arrived, and started putting on our 40 lbs of outer wear.  That's when we noticed that everyone else was walking towards one of the "smaller buildings" with lightweight coats on.  Much to our delight this event was being held INDOORS!!  (did you hear the choir of angels sing?) So we ditched the heavy coats, hats, gloves etc. and headed inside one of the heated, wind-free buildings!  In hindsight I guess we should have realized that most "outdoor" events will probably be held indoors in Colorado in February. (head thunk)


About the PBR.  I guess the bulls must have been pretty good because only 4 of the riders managed to stay on the bull for the required 8 seconds. (That's about 9 seconds longer than I could ever stay on one) Here are a few shots of the 45 rides we saw. These guys fell off:

 This guy stayed on:

They also had a mechanical bull, vendors, fair food and a small pony ride for the little kids. 

And unbeknownst to us, they also have something called the Mini Bulls.  This event is apparently a big deal these days.  The bulls are bred to be extra small and very YOUNG kids are riding them.  What shocked us more than anything is that they said these kids compete all over the US and basically follow the PBR circuit with the men.  They start these kids off really early- 8 years old to 9 years are in the Pee Wee Division, 10 years old to 11 years old are in the Junior Division and 12 years old to 14 years old are in the Senior Division.  I don't know about you but with all of the stuff they are finding out about CTE I'm surprised that parents are letting their kids participate in this sport at such a young age. But they do and no shock here..none of the kids made their times either.  It was a fun way to spend a cool, blustery day...INDOORS!

One of the mini bull riders