Bodie
Askin' me to pick a favorite ghost town is like askin' someone to pick their favorite kid. It just can't be done – you love 'em all too much. Now in spite of my "thing" for urban decay, this was the first time I'd been to the biggest, best-preserved ghost town in California (and possibly the whole West).
First off, take the whole day. Get there early. There's a whole lot to see and you'll need to do some walking. Admission is $7 per adult (well worth it) and the brochure/map is $2 (also well worth it). Special tours are held throughout the day and if you miss it, that's it. This is why we missed the stamp mill and I'm
still a little ticked off about it. If we'd done a little more research, we woulda
known. The last 3 miles are an unpaved gravel road (well maintained) but really, once you're there the parking lot is paved, so it's time to do the whole damn thing.
The buildings are sealed off with strategically placed decrepitude visible from the windows. Several of them are in an intermediate state of being "restored," by which I mean more like "stabilized." Others, like my dope crib, pictured top left, really are falling over and step carefully least you fall through the porch or on an authentic square nail.
Anyway, I can't wait for my next trip to Bodie – it's vast and there is a whole lot to see and learn. There's a little museum/gift store that I'd sure like to see expanded with more educational exhibits. The do-it-yourself non-coded architecture is a testament to human ingenuity, and the town itself has a rich history of boom and bust, eccentric characters, crime and craziness. Now I heard a rumor that the funeral mariahs in the museum area that still have the coffins in the back of the hearse, also hold the mummified remains of one of Bodie's "soiled doves" and the other of a tubercular child, and I'm going to say for the record that I will not believe that nonsense 'til I see them with my own eyes!
Raven Jake's Observations 