Bodie

What a day in Bodie!!!  So interesting to think a down is left, basically abandoned!!!  It was a functioning gold mining town from about 1875.  And once reached a population of 10,000 people.  The last known residents left after WWII.  It became a historic state park in 1962.

It is in the most random of places!!  As we drove up the 395, there was a lot of nothing on all sides of us, but trees and brush.  The road to Bodie is a quick turnoff at 270.  If you blink, you'll miss it.

Once you turnoff, the road is about 10 miles in ( roughly 7 miles paved and 3 miles of dirt). 

As soon as we turned to this remote road, the stories started formulating in my mind about how they chose such a remote place and how did they find gold?  Who chipped open a rock and found wealth enough to attract a town of people to come and set up camp?

Gotta love history!  But the question is, who's telling the story correctly?

As we tooled around the town, mom decided to wait for us at the front of the park where people are coming and going.  As she was perched, she met a lot of fascinating people, one of which had parents who actually lived in Bodie!!  

According to this gentleman, some of the history wasn't totally accurate.  But when the town saw the real story, they weren't interested in change the accuracy of the history.  Interesting, huh?

So whose history are we getting?

It's a well known fact that history is all subjective.  I honestly believe that most of the information we get is a 'form' of what happened.  And for the most part we are okay with that.

But what I found interesting is that even when faced with the facts, the historical society of Bodie didn't change their 'facts'.  And I'm guessing because it either wasn't interesting enough, or if they went and changed the 'known' history, it would cause much doubt to future guests.

So they left it as it was!!  Crazy!!! 

It didn't really matter to us.  The fact that a town was left standing in 'arrested decay' was interesting enough to us!!!

You would think that people would take little souvenirs and there would be nothing left of the town, but the truth is, people leave it as is for a reason.  There is a well known curse that if you take something from Bodie - even rocks from the land - you will be cursed with bad karma.

In the museum there is a notebook of actual letters from patrons who returned the 'God forsaken' items because of the bad luck that followed them home.

Some even reported seeing ghosts of the town trying to warn them from taking items.

It was all very fascinating.  So when we got back to the car, we made sure to shake every last dust particle from our socks and shoes.  There was no way we were going to be followed by bad Karma!!!

And as we drove out the rain came to make sure the dust on my car stayed in the city as well.  Someone was looking out for us it seems!!!

Today we are in Tahoe.  Not sure what today holds, but we'll keep you posted!
Happy Sunday