Bodie, Ca

"By 1880 the phrase "Badman from Bodie" described the town's rambunctious inhabitants, earning the community a reputation for violence that rivaled Tombstone, Deadwood and Dodge City."~http://www.bodiehistory.com/

One of my favorite places, ever, is Bodie, California. In 1859 gold was in this area and by 1879, Bodie had a population of about 10,000 people at its peak! But the weather is pretty harsh there, so hot in the summer and sets records for cold weather in the winter, plus there were a few fires and eventually the last gold mine closed in 1942, making it a ghost town.

As I am inexplicable drawn to forgotten places; abandoned houses, graveyards, factories, and towns,this place is perfect as there is so much to see at one particular spot. The former residents just left, there are all kinds furniture, cloths, canned food, cars just littered all around the park.

My last trip to Bodie was in July of 2007. I don't know what we were thinking exactly, it was wicked hot! But my sister and I were determined to go for a road trip before I moved to Pennsylvania, so away we went. My family lives near Fresno, CA so we drove all the way through Yosemite (always beautiful!) and camped by a reservoir near Bridgeport, Ca. Like I said, it was SO hot, we were both on the edge of heat exhaustion. We tried to swim in the reservoir but it was warm, Mono Lake was warm and smelled weird... so we got ice cream at the general store in Bridgeport! Ice cream makes almost everything better...

I would highly recommend visiting Bodie, if you get the chance. It is being maintained in a "state of arrested decay" so it wont be around for ever and it is so interesting/fun to see this part of our country's history! Just don't go in July...

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