Bishop Castle In Rye Colorado - Climbing To The Top & Interview With Builder / Roadside Attraction
Bishop Castle - Rye Colorado 2023
Transcript
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welcome everyone out of the woo here as
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the recording of this it is Thursday
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July 20th 2023 I am in Colorado Pueblo
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Colorado this mural behind me I've
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noticed that downtown has a lot of
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paintings and a lot of murals I will
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probably show over the next series of
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days around here today
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last well let's start with late last
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night my parents arrived from Florida
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they are here in town as well gonna go
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see some mountains today might see a
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castle
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gonna head towards the area known as Rye
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which is about 30 miles kind of explore
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that area
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and just see where the day leaves not
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only myself but my mom and dad who are
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here in town I'm inviting you to join me
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here in Colorado
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shall you one thing that Downtown Pueblo
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has as well is an edible landscape
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meaning
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a community garden that uses grounds
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typically planted for decorative flowers
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instead of the ground is used to grow
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food
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an edible landscape
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see there's some interesting faces over
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here
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made out of the the plant holders
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as well nice little mural here some
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seats
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seeing so many paintings through town
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face
1:32
here's a bear
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with a heart
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check out this Kawasaki 1000. like
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something like sea of chips
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a Downtown Bar and across from that is a
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very unique sculpture over there it's
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like a has a water fountain a waterfall
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on the side
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you turn this corner and there's really
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an expansive mural with a lot of famous
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faces
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Little Rascals
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Chaplin Carlin Pryor
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Carol Burnett I'm not sure who this is
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the glasses
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Harvey Corman
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Lucille Ball
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I was thinking maybe this was Bogart but
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I don't think that is Humphrey Bogart
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these mostly all comedians
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Bogart really wasn't known for that now
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approaching the town of Rye
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r-y-e
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letters spelled out here
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elevation 6 800 feet
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it's the downtown area
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dated 1920 on the side of that building
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the Cozier building
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there's a cafe up there
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fire danger sign and this is the Rye
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Fire Protection District see the clouds
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above the mountains off in the distance
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I believe those are the wet mountains
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this is the old parsonage
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Circa 1885.
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it's okay
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you want to explain what a parsonage is
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now
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oh definitely somebody lives here that's
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like a little spot to stick his head out
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right there
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so evidently this used to be a parsonage
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now that just uh people probably live
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here maybe the pastor still lives here
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here in town There's Circa 1885.
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oh
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a few more there's a lot of dogs in this
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town
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there might be more dogs than people the
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guy walking his wolf out here
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what kind of dog is that
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that's what I thought it was a wolf
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um
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where'd you get it oh for some folks
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that used to raise and rescue them
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outside of Durango
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10 years ago
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yeah he's 10 years old I got him when he
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was four months
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I'm usually like dogs but I would kind
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of scare him a wolf dog well I I have
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respect for him let's put it that way
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you're not utilizing the self pumping
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gas nozzle
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put this whole thing down like that look
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we're getting gas here at the Valley
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Market what's the price of fuel here
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too much
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three what does that say 398
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what's it in Florida
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3 19 last time we played for it
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I think it's kind of interesting and
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cool about this place of Valley Market
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so it's a grocery store I thought it was
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just a regular convenience store it was
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a full-on grocery store and there was an
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active video store
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we also have chicken to go Chesters they
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have an active video store in here green
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horn Valley I'm in the valley right now
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from our service and video I guess
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they're not renting anymore though
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they're just for sale thought maybe you
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could run it's always exciting to see an
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looks like it's DVDs
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rarely will you see an active video
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store
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chick flicks romance drama
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you could even get empty CD cases
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for a quarter
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and they're even coated here
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no VHS or blue rice
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and no longer running I guess they just
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only do
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for sale
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some of our little boat out there
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fishing
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I have four or five miles from where we
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just were up in the map maybe even like
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seven miles up into the mountains there
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are a few people also parked out here
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and I must say the mag the size the
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magnificence of the
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this structure is much more impressive
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than I was expecting when I heard there
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was a castle up here I thought it was
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going to be just like a bigger house but
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this thing is huge
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leaving a warning here do not leave
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valuables visible in your car they are
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thieves
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breaking into vehicles in the area
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and it is a full-on castle this is this
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is no joke
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you see a little walkway over here
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all these different areas you can climb
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up into see the signage plenty of porta
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potties
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anything on here I should be looking for
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or just the whole thing in general
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Bishop's Castle's under construction
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proceed past this point with Extreme
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Caution
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freedom of speech and expression
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you might experience foul language
9:57
if you do not agree or have not read
9:57
this sign you will be asked to leave
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you're asked to leave by the manager of
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the property you must do so immediately
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this place is awesome look at this tree
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going up the side this is like a
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drawbridge here
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oh yeah look at that
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so if I was to build a castle I would
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want it to have a drawbridge
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yeah so that's my first thought
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sometimes people will use the term
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castle and then you'll show up and it's
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not as big as something like this this
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is a this is a full-on capsule
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look at this
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yeah
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I had thought it was going to be kind of
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Defenders and stuff an artistic type of
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like in-depth oh man there are people
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way up there
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I don't think I've ever read a sign like
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how you might experience foul language
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this Roadside Attraction is rated R
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list of either goes a little gift shop
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over there
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as well and you got the
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little archways you got the staircase
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you got leading up to the
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pot there's even a dragon
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head up there
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place called Courtyard concessions right
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look at it from this angle
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I am impressed I am really
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compressed with us
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and I have to climb to the top
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I'm here I gotta go up there I want to
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see what it looks like at the very
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pinnacle
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of this Castle
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this is maybe one of the most impressive
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artistic castles that I've ever seen out
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in the middle of nowhere like they're
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whittling some wood over here carvings
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you got the little work shed there
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I'm hoping there's like some sort of
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like information placard on here
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this took some time to construct look at
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the
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almost looks like
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something out of Wizarding World there
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Harry Potter up there with a dragon I
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gotta admit any fire but there is a
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dragon head somewhere
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Diagon
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are you gonna go up in it
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I'm gonna go up there you guys want to
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go
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you got to come down those steps
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gotta go up and down it might take me a
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little while
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going up
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thank you
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wow that's nice in here
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you got some stained glass up there
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fireplace
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this almost looks like the main
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area like of a church almost like with a
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congregation would sit modeled after
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that
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lots of stained glass
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lots of different corridors that you can
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go through
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so you got like this winding wrought
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iron staircase here
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goes all the way to the top
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one Bell here another Bell here
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I'm just continuing up going up higher
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and higher
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you can see
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other people in the other Tower
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that freaks me out bro that right there
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freaks me out oh it doesn't connect
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as you can tell we're not a fan of
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heights
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oh it's not that bad you'd be all right
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I mean this is no this is pretty high
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yeah it's pretty hot I think the thing
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that's getting me is like the like
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patchy work of the like right
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I know I think is it structurally sound
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because we're like way above the dragon
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head right
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I want to go up there
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this is a Stairway to nothing I just
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came up here you just got to jump off
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whenever you get there oh no is that a
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ladder there is a ladder down there okay
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this is sketchy
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it's like shaking oh I'm good I'm not
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going over there no no I'm good this
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thing is look at this thing
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no no I'm good I'm not going over there
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the stairway
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Stairway to nothing and then there's a
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rickety staircase
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a little shaky
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what this thing is shaking too much
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yeah this is sketchy
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oh wow
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it's beautiful up here but this is
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you can easily fall off this
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oh my gosh
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this thing is swaying in the Wind
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and very very shaky the wind blows or
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someone's walking down the stairs this
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whole thing
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just starts to shake just go faster like
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it's hold by like a little bit of
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wrought iron and a little bit of welding
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that's about it
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look at this thing
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we're going across that bridge
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I've been here
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and I've already been up to the scariest
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part so exactly that's the scary part I
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gotta go up there oh have you really
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yeah I can show you how to get there if
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you want to I want to go there
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is it really yes
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my aunt's probably wondering when I'm
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coming back
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to view if you can make it up you might
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as well take pictures
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a taller Tower I'm gonna go back down
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all right so back down to this level now
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and I'm gonna go up the other side here
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which I think is where the toe there's a
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basement
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you can also go down here
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is this where I think it leads this is a
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different kind of staircase this is made
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out of
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rocket brick
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okay I was just told this does not lead
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to the top platforms we're going to
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cross over here you can see down
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and then kind of head over to another
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yeah just all fall out the window
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all right so that's where this was right
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there and above is like another story or
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10 or 15 feet higher
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and there's the dragon there
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looking out towards the mountain and
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then down here
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his dad sit down there
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and then there's the
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the front portion in the drawbridge
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and the gate has really got to be
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careful when you walk this look oh my
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goodness wrong step careful of that
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first step well 18th step it's a doozy
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there's a hole in the floor right here
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watch that right there big hole okay
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yeah this is up here there you are hi
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oh yeah this is called the armpit
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I actually like that it is pretty I like
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being on the stone much more than the
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all right take a picture of me bye
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give me that give me that
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structurally sound Stone kinda
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wow
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you can go up even higher yeah yeah holy
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Lord
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I've come this I've come this far
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away
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I'd probably do one person yeah let me
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go up and then I'll come back down
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small staircase windy staircase
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okay so it's right here it's this one
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little seat
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this is really frightening this is the
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tallest point are you at the highest
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part I'm at the highest point there's
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like a little chair here well I'm using
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the last
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last stair is a seat
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I did it on the king of the castle
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I mean I thought that was high
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whatever you do
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don't look down oh my God
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why am I doing this so it probably
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doesn't even translate much to camera
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too well
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but yeah this is
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way up here and very
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very rickety okay I'm going back down
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I don't know why I did this
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so this is the seat here
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it's the king's chair you got the little
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backing here
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look at this back don't wait don't rush
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your head don't race her back against
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that don't use this as like a
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sit here but I don't know about that
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I'm going down
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that's the king's chair up there
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the wind is blowing now which doesn't
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help doesn't add to my confidence of
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being up here
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right
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there at the very top
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it's okay on the edge there using this
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pole in the middle as a handrail
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I just the way my mind works you think
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that any of these these iron look at
22:43
that creaking had any case could just
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buckle and you would just plummet
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straight down
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it's just all holding on
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into the brick but
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what's the saying something could go
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wrong it will go wrong
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but it hasn't thankfully oh
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that's a weak step
23:07
I made a noise okay going down to the
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park that's like really
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broken here you got the hole there
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um let's see if I go that way or I go
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this way
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okay I'm gonna grip onto here just do
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this skip that one all together skip
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that one too
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yeah yeah I'm gonna skip that one
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feeling this in my legs and knees
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skip that one too
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another Bell on the other side so these
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are the two bell towers
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there's a second Bell
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this Bell Tower the second one I went up
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in was taller than the first one
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almost down all right I'm gonna start
23:51
making my descent
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I went to the top
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scary
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I saw the stained glass yeah
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it was too much of a
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having the wits frightened out of me to
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look at I'll get a better look when I go
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back through
24:19
this is just an amazing view window out
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to the mountains there
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well it used to be like a little
24:39
something here
24:41
it's been roped off all right got some
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chickens over here and some roosters
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there we go I bet they have these they
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have eggs
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you know the guy lives here in one of
24:52
those trailers so you they have video on
24:53
the bottom floor do you watch the video
24:54
I did did you see the man I saw him
24:57
walking across the thing the man that
24:59
created us here he lives here oh
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I was coming out of the castle and he
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was walking with two other people
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because our reason I recognized because
25:08
I had just watched the video
25:10
and he was in it did the video say how
25:12
long how long it took him to build this
25:15
car 1969. 69.
25:19
where the video was it had a sign that
25:22
said this is where he started 1969 did
25:26
that particular the floor
25:30
it showed like the spot that he first
25:33
first started in the construction yes
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it was 1969.
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so almost almost 50 years he lives here
25:41
and there's a there he is right there it
25:43
was over there right there right there
25:46
how long did it take you to build all
25:48
this
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24 years
25:51
44 years
25:53
it's 1969. yeah
25:56
what was the back story on it what was
25:58
the purpose of getting it started
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well it was people like you looking at
26:02
it
26:02
when I was a young teenager years ago I
26:06
looked to the West these Mounds were a
26:07
mystery to me because my dad was
26:09
satisfied with drinking beer with his
26:10
friends in the backyard so I started
26:12
riding a bicycle up here I went to
26:14
Wetmore twice beautiful once and when I
26:17
got to uh Rye on up there was too steep
26:20
but pushing the bike
26:29
let me use his cabin and they were
26:29
bringing groceries to me and they met
26:31
just Texas detection subdivided property
26:34
the rigging Homestead and uh it's a
26:38
surrounded by public land the national
26:40
forest on three sides and two average
26:42
utilities of the Woods
26:44
and I made the down payment in 1969
26:55
45 years of it it's a work in progress
26:55
still still working on it yeah I'm
26:58
retired now
26:59
do you have other people helping you out
27:01
and working Dad's doing it now okay
27:03
well I climbed all the way to the top I
27:05
went all the way to the king's chair I
27:07
don't know what you call it but the
27:08
chair that's all the way at the top yeah
27:10
that was kind of that was that was kind
27:12
of scary for me I don't believe in Kings
27:14
you don't believe in cakes the Warfare
27:17
okay
27:19
what do you call the chair at the top
27:21
you have a name for it just a bench just
27:23
a bench bench okay
27:26
got the same measures as the uh in the
27:30
balconies around it
27:34
well I appreciate you talking to me what
27:34
was your name all right Jim
27:37
Bishop's Castle named after named after
27:39
yourself sure all right Jim thanks so
27:41
much all right so they asking people to
27:44
contribute a little bit to keep this
27:45
place going so I'm gonna throw a 20 in
27:47
there is no charge it's all from
27:52
people that come here to visit that want
27:53
to help out the cause
27:55
so I decided to help out the cause
27:57
there's no admission I would have paid
27:58
easily paid 20 to get in it this was a
28:00
roadside A Roadside Attraction that had
28:03
an emission fee so it's no different
28:05
than paying an admission fee
28:06
should always uh give a little give a
28:09
little fun to people who are trying to
28:11
create something very very nice talking
28:13
to Mr Bishop too bad more more and more
28:16
everything it's about money
28:18
Jim Bishop
28:20
Castle Builder
28:22
we got to meet Jim Bishop the castle
28:23
Builder
28:25
I would have never known if you hadn't
28:26
watched that video and said there he is
28:29
on the log bench I know I could see the
28:31
I could see the Dragon
28:42
containers that uh like uh Morrisons
28:42
used to be and all these food places
28:43
that would have large amounts of food
28:45
and they'd have these metal trays and
28:48
people flew up they threw him out and he
28:51
would go collect all these and that's
28:52
what those are made out of he he made
28:55
the dragon out of out of the junk yeah
29:04
serving traits so serving trays yeah
29:04
okay you know like when you get a large
29:06
amount of food and people like a buffet
29:09
style type thing and they'll heat them
29:10
up in that yeah and a lot of the
29:13
cafeterias used to have them yeah we go
29:16
collect those all this stuff
29:20
he was not a rich man all right gonna
29:23
start heading down
29:25
back down the incline back to the rental
29:27
car
29:29
this is pretty steep
29:35
so my
29:35
nickname of the king's chair
29:37
frowned upon
29:38
it's just a bench
29:40
Mr Bishop said
29:49
you gonna get a photo up in the chair
29:49
look at this chair it's got the like
29:50
leather straps on it there just be
29:51
careful getting up there
30:15
I am very impressed with this
30:15
very impressed a lot of hard work a
30:18
lifetime of hard work a little tunnel
30:21
over here
30:34
but it looks pretty uh
30:39
that's the wall he was working on last
30:39
time we came here it must have fallen
30:42
like a cave down in here look at this
30:57
my God that is the angle right there
30:57
awesome
30:59
incredible
31:14
look at this is like a
31:15
trailer that has it on it
31:30
yeah looking at this from here so
31:30
there's someone walking across I walked
31:32
halfway across that bridge it's like a
31:34
bridge to nowhere
31:35
and then I went up in that sphere up
31:37
there that ball
31:39
and then I also went to the top of not
31:41
only that Tower but also the very tippy
31:43
top of that looks like that rocket up
31:45
there
31:46
all the way to the top of that chair
31:59
Crossing through or passing through
31:59
Wetmore is the name of this town
32:02
our way back to Pueblo
32:05
and there is the legendary Steakhouse
32:07
right here which does not look like it's
32:09
open anymore
32:11
the legendary Steakhouse is closed says
32:13
1879
32:18
trying to read what this says home
32:18
cooking
32:58
also the post office right here
32:58
yep that's a little guy right there
33:01
rusted out mailman
33:16
oh wet more post offices on the national
33:16
register of historic places I see that
33:18
sign right there
33:20
it's interesting
33:35
it's all in it
33:35
yeah it's the classic that's pretty nice
33:37
it's in good shape
33:47
back in Downtown Pueblo now
33:47
just checking out some of the other
33:49
artwork and murals around here it's
33:50
almost
33:51
I don't say every wall but a good
33:53
portion of the utilized space that could
33:56
be a painting
33:57
has been
33:59
there's a horse right there
34:01
up in that tree and just as I was
34:03
noticing it there's a little information
34:05
on why there is a horse and a tree lucky
34:08
has a legend a saddle form paper mache
34:11
horse that was Swept Away in the
34:13
historic district in 1921 was later
34:15
found in a tree 15 miles away
34:23
that's why there's horses in a tree and
34:23
that's gonna do it for today
34:36
from Pueblo Colorado
34:36
did some fun stuff
34:38
my parents
34:49
you guys are very intrigued why there's
34:49
a horse a tree
34:55
saw The Bishop's Castle it's all some
34:55
small towns saw some beautiful mountains
34:59
I'm gonna be in this series for area for
35:01
a series of days
35:03
I'll see in the next video
35:06
the Vlog