Today we stopped at Felicity California. We have driven by several times in the past, but never stopped, till now. Roy had some information about the "Town" that made it sound interesting and we were looking for a place to wait for the rest of our climbing team. The item that had us most curious was the circular stairway leading to nothing. So we went over and checked it out. Of course we figured that the place was some sort of tourist trap designed to separate us from our hard earned money, so we parked away from the main buildings and went over to the stairway. What we saw surprised us for we had found a little desert magic.
Roy looking at the circular stairway
On the ground we saw a plaque stating that the stairs were from the Eiffel Tower. Needless to say, our interest was growing.
Sign saying the stairs are originals from the Eiffel Tower
We then walked over to a large wooden framework of squares, filled with either white or a reddish colored rock. Roy quickly recognized that this was a life sized chess or checker board. Made me think of the 1960s TV series The Prisoner.
This chess board is large enough to accommodate human chess "pieces"
Well, we were hooked by this point so we headed over to the main buildings and stopped in at the museum and gift shop. There we met a woman who said that she was the mayor's wife. She started telling us about some of the things that are going on at Felicity and opted to pay the money and go on the tour. Call us tourists. The mayor's wife said that we needed to watch a movie, but it was currently showing so she had the mayor show us around for a few minutes.
Roy hobnobbing with the mayor
The mayor explained the story of the Eiffel Tower stairs and showed us the sundial. The arm of the sundial is modeled after Michelangelo's Creation of Adam on the roof of the Sistine Chapel.
The finger is pointing to the church on top of the hill overlooking Felicity.
The Arm of God
Soon we were escorted to the small theater where we watched a short but informative video about Felicity. After the video we then met up with the mayor's wife and went into the pyramid that covers the Center of the World. We participated in a short ceremony during which we stood on the the actual spot that is the Center of the World, made a wish and then received a certificate from the mayor's wife.
Roy being congratulated by the mayor's wife as he stands on the Center of the World
After the ceremony, the mayor's wife gave us some more information and told us to explore the grounds. The items of note that we hadn't explored were the non-denominational Church on the Hill and the granite history of the world panels. We thanked her for her time and promised to return, since it was about time to meet up with our other climber partner.
The Church on the Hill, is on a manmade hill
We took a quick final look around and then headed back to the freeway.
The Pyramid that covers the Center of the World
We shall return!
No comments:
Post a Comment