Does anyone else like to travel to abandoned places?

[robertpaulsen]

Occasionally, my wife and I enjoy doing this. They're usually fascinating, especially if there is a history attached with the place.

Recently, we traveled to the Santa Susana Pass in southern California. While the area is infamous for the Spahn movie ranch where the Manson family resided in the late 1960s, there is another movie ranch that we visited: Corriganville. This ranch named after western actor/stuntman/Man in a Gorilla suit actor Ray Corrigan, was open to the public as an amusement park from May 1, 1949 until 1966 when Bob Hope closed the ranch.

We've written more about it on our blog and also shot a few videos of the area. Here's the first one:

[Staph]

1. Years ago we bought my dad a book titled Ghost Towns of the Old West.

Since then, we've tried to find and explore many of those towns. Some are still pristine, and fascinating to wander through. Others have been found by the kind of folk who like to record themselves knocking over standing rocks in protected areas.

I need to get back on the road!

[robertpaulsen]

4. I wish I had that book!

I'm a big fan of old western towns, especially ghost towns. A couple years ago we visited Chloride in Arizona, which was really cool. The one we really want to visit is Bodie. I can't remember if that's in Nevada or California. That's a road trip I'd love to do.

[Staph]

9. I think that this is the book.

https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Towns-West-Lambert-Florin/dp/0883940132

[Major Nikon]

2. A few times

Maverick County Memorial International Airport

This airport is near Eagle Pass, TX. It's not actually abandoned because it's still an active airport although they only average less than 2 flights per day. During WWII it was used as a pilot training base so there's lots of concrete and old hangers that have long since been abandoned. Inside the terminal they have lots of pictures dating back to WWII which show the hangers and dozens, if not hundreds of aircraft parked out on the apron.

I just happened to be passing through and had some time to kill so we wondered around the old spaces.


Thule, Greenland

When I was in the USAF, I had a temporary assignment to Thule AB. Next to the base is an abandoned fishing town that was moved by the Danish government when the base was constructed. There are numerous homes and a small cemetery there. The homes are nicely preserved since it remains cold enough for wood not to rot.

[robertpaulsen]

5. Both places sound awesome.

I've never been to an abandoned (somewhat) airport before. Sounds like that place has a pretty rich history worth exploring!

I hope that Thule, Greenland is still as well preserved as it was when you saw it. It's always great to see abandoned places as they were - serving as a veritable time capsule. I don't think there's anyplace like that I wouldn't want to travel to. Well, except for Chernobyl. That kind of scares me.

[jonno99]

3. Yes. My partner? Not so much. Sigh... nt

[robertpaulsen]

6. Sorry to hear that.

I guess I'm lucky in that my wife was the one who turned me on to exploring abandoned places when we first went on vacation in Nevada. Reno used to have an old abandoned hotel, but I can't recall the name of it.

[jonno99]

7. Perhaps you're a fan of the western writer Louis L'Amour? Those are the

types of places he would explore - along with any local legends - as ideas for his stories.

Maybe someday...

[robertpaulsen]

8. I do like L'Amour!

I particularly enjoyed Hondo. I really should read more of him.

[jonno99]

10. For fans of L'Amour I always recommend 2 books that are off the beaten path:

- 'The Walking Drum'. This is one of his "non-westerns", and which I believe, is the last book he published. Sadly, it was meant to be the first of a larger project, which of course he never got to.
https://www.amazon.com/Walking-LAmour-Published-Bantam-Hardcover/dp/B00HQLTL24/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1473988271&sr=8-2&keywords=The+Walking+Drum

- 'Education of a Wandering Man'. This is essentially his auto-biography. It is absolutely amazing how much this man read.
https://www.amazon.com/Education-Wandering-Man-Louis-LAmour/dp/0553286528/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473988240&sr=8-1&keywords=Education+of+a+Wandering+Man

Otherwise, yes I'm a big fan of his westerns too. My first exposure was during summer camp when I was a young lad. One of my cabin-mates had a copy of 'Flint' which he let me read, but I was unable to finish. It was years later before I found a copy and was able to finish it (this was long before Amazon of course).

In the meantime I read all the L'Amour books the public & school libraries held - including Hondo of course. L'Amour was a romantic - in the classic sense. And like many I love his stories - which more more often than not tell a tale of the "unstoppable man". Who doesn't want to be that guy?

[robertpaulsen]

11. Thanks for the recommendations! Here's our latest video.

It's literally just up the street from Corriganville Park. The Santa Susanna Railroad Depot has a remarkable history of its own, but what made it really special for us was that it also displayed the history of Corriganville and filled in a lot of questions that we had about it.