Bishop's Castle ... Quirky in Colorado

Bishop's Castle is one man's monumental creative obsession, more than 40 years in the making.

Jim Bishop began his solo project in 1969 on land surrounded by the San Isabel National Forest, high in the Rocky Mountains of southern Colorado. Ten years earlier, at the age of 15, Bishop purchased the 2-1/2 acres for $450.

Bishop was a strapping 25 when he started building what he thought would be a one-room stone family vacation cabin ... soon, however, the project took on a life of its own.

He fell in love with building. Each room, staircase and tower came from his imagination, without a blueprint or drawing.

"Everything just seems to work," he was quoted as saying in a Pittsburgh Post Gazette article in 2006. "What’s real neat about not having blueprints is that if you make a mistake, you call it art."

And amazing art it is--including multiple rooms, a grand hall, and a maze of intricate wrought-iron bridges and walkways surrounding its towers, one of which reaches more than 160 feet. There is even a fire breathing dragon made from metal lunch pails.

The castle is a combination of rock, metal and wood. All of the rocks are gathered locally by Bishop using a national forest service "non-invasive rock hauling permit." This allows him to haul as much rock as he can without the use of heavy machinery or dynamite and without building roads.

If you go --

Bishop's Castle is located at 12705 CO-165; Wetmore, Colorado.
Directions: Colorado Highway 165 at milepost 12, five miles north of San Isabel.
Phone: 719.485-3040.
URL: www.bishopcastle.info/
Cost: Free; donations to help with future construction are welcomed.
Hours: Daylight hours. Open daily May -October; weekends November-April.
Facilities on site: Gift store featuring a variety of unique items including original ornamental iron work by Jim Bishop.
Caution: Elevation is more than 9,000 feet. Check weather conditions before heading out.

Photo: Bishop's Castle. Source: Wikipedia

BLM Hot Spring - a brief soak or longer stay

For those traveling to, or from, Quartzsite -- a funky, and oh-so-relaxing, short stop consider the soaking pools at the BLM's Hot Spring LTVA between Yuma, Ariz., and El Centro, Calif.

The Hot Spring Long Term Visiting Area sits on Bureau of Land Management property adjacent to I-8 near Holtville, Calif.

It boasts an "historic and still active hot spring" that attracts both "local and winter visitors" who come to dry camp and soak in the soothing waters.

Most of those winter visitors are RVers, from Canada and other up-north locations, who are escaping the bitter cold and snow for the milder climate of the southwest desert along the Colorado River.

BLM's Hot Spring boasts two small soaking pools that may be a bit crude for some tastes, however, both are continuously feed by natural springs. The larger of the two is quite warm at 105-degrees. There is an adjacent rainbow-type shower for visitors to rinse off both before and after soaking. (No soap is allowed.)

Many of the LTVA campers fill containers with the spring water to carry back to their RVs and tents for washing. (No potable water on site.)

If you go --

Directions: Exit 131 off I-8 to Holtville, Calif., and travel east on the frontage road approximately one mile to the LTVA.

Hours: Hot Spring pools are open 5 a.m.-Midnight.

URL: BLM Hot Spring LTVA --
http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/elcentro/recreation/ltvas/hotspring.html

Facilities: Vault toilets are located near the Hot Spring (suggest bringing own TP). The nearest dump station and drinking water are in Holtville.

Costs: LTVA permits are required from Sept. 15- April 15. (There are two types of permits: long term and short visit. The long term permit is $180 for the entire season. A short visit permit is $40 for 14 consecutive days from date of purchase. Both permits are good at all LTVAs, and permit holders can move from one LTVA to another without additional fees. Permits can be purchased at any BLM field office including: Yuma: 938.317-3200.)

Photos: Hot Spring LTVA sign; Jimmy Smith of Spokane, Wash., soaking in the hot pool (105-degrees) at BLM Hot Spring near Holtville, Calif. (Julianne Crane)

Tour America's Oldest Brewery -- D. G. Yuengling & Son in Pottsville, Pa.

In 1829, David G. Yuengling, a young German immigrant, pulled his first draft and someone in the family has been brewing hops ever since.

Yuengling’s historic red brick brewery is located on a hillside in the small working class town of Pottsville, Pa., smack in the center of Pennsylvania's coal mining country.

This highly functional piece of American history produces beer every day and offers an amazing free walking tour that is fun, informative and a pleasant break from any long RV trip.

Stops on the tour include the brewhouse, the hopstore, the hand-dug fermentation caves that were used for storage before refrigeration, and the bottling room where conveyors push thousands of bottles and cans along to be filled by one of the seven current brews.

And, speaking of brews, the tour ends at the taproom where visitors can sample a couple of the company’s products.

While the Traditional Larger accounts for 70-percent of the sales, the Lord Chesterfield Ale is extremely tasty. It is considered Yuengling's hoppiest brew.

If you go --

The Yuengling Brewery is located at 501 Mahantongo St., in Pottsville, Pa., 570.628-4890.

Tours: Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m. & 1:30 p.m.; Sat. (April-Dec. only). Allow at least 90 minutes. Lots of walking on uneven surfaces and stairs. No wheelchair access.

It is near PA-61, off I-81 between Harrisburg and Scranton. About 95 miles NW of Philadelphia.

As with all attractions when you are traveling, call ahead to confirm tour times and days.

URL: www.yuengling.com

Where to find Yuengling on the shelves: Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Washington D.C., West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and Florida.

Photos: The informative guide, Lisa, gives background on the 180+ years of Yuengling Brewery history in the taproom before the tour. (Middle) Stained glass ceiling in brewhouse. (Bottom) Traditional Lager bottles on the conveyor belt. (Julianne Crane)