We are snugly settled into our campsite at Sunhaven RV Resort in Apache Junction, Arizona. Apache Junction is located in the eastern part of the Phoenix metropolitan area at the intersection of Apache Trail and Old West Highway. It was originally an unpaved stagecoach trail to the nearby Superstition Mountains. The Superstition Mountains are home to the legendary Lost Dutchman gold mine. We have a beautiful view of the Superstition Mountains from our living room windows.
Wherever consort and I land in our travels, we check our favorite website, Atlas Obscura, for unusual sights in the area to see. The first locale that piqued our interest was the Mystery Castle located in the foothills of the South Mountains which are, believe it or not, directly south of Phoenix. Phoenix is the fifth largest city in the US. From where we are parked in Apache Junction, it takes about 30 to 45 minutes to reach just about anywhere. So prior to heading to the Mystery Castle, we determined several other locations worth visiting in the same area.
Our first stop was The Farm at South Mountain where we enjoyed a delicious lunch. We ordered sandwiches, egg salad with avocado and chicken salad with pecans -- roast beef for consort -- on freshly baked bread, which were served up in wicker baskets. We took our picnic basket and found a table on a beautiful patio shaded by overhanging Palo Verde trees covered in bright yellow blossoms. The food was delicious and the atmosphere serene.
From The Farm, we drove a short distance to the foothills of South Mountains for a tour of the Mystery Castle.
The builder of the house, Boyce Gully, was originally from Seattle where he lived with his wife and young daughter. One of his favorite pastimes was building sandcastles with his daughter. As the story goes, the father-daughter team would spend hours building intricate sandcastles only to see them washed away as the tide came in. Gully's daughter, Mary Lou, asked her father to build her a big strong castle that could never be washed away, maybe somewhere in the desert where there is no ocean. During his time in Seattle, Gully was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Upon learning of his diagnosis, Gully left his family without notice and moved to the foothills of the South Mountains, a remote area south of downtown Phoenix.
Gully began construction of the castle in the early 1930s and finished shortly before his death in 1945. The castle has 18 rooms and 13 fireplaces. All of the materials used in the castle came from the land where the house was built or recycled materials Gully acquired locally. There are intricate patterns in the stonework, recycled tractor seats used as chairs near a fireplace, and lots of colored glass built into the walls. Mary Lou and her mother moved into the castle sometime after Boyce Gully's death, and Mary Lou continued to live in the permanent sandcastle her father built for her until she died in 2010. This really unusual castle has been featured in numerous magazine articles and has had curious visitors hoping for a glimpse inside since completion. We were very impressed!
After inspecting every inch of the Mystery Castle, we headed into downtown Phoenix for a stop at the Phoenix Museum of Art. I had read about an exhibit of fireflies created by artist Yayoi Kusama. The official name of the artwork is, You Who are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies. The exhibit consists of walls of mirrors and a mixed media installation of LED lights. It was truly amazing.
We were also treated to a fantastic display of Ansel Adams photography and an enchanting exhibit of miniature model homes replicating rooms from 13th century Europe all the way through 20th century America.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And you are the one who'll decide where to go!
~Dr. Seuss
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