Tips, leads, stories from travelers, plus Roadsideamerica.com Team reports on quirky museums, ironic monuments, and must-see oddities! Trip planning caution: Some tips may not be verified. Over time, attractions change, move, burn down. What's a vacation without a little risk? Submit your own tip.
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- Tucson, Arizona - Valley of the Moon - Vague Recollections I am delighted to know that the Valley of the Moon is still around, even if it is only open for special events. I never knew his name until reading about the Valley of the Moon on RoadsideAmerica.com, but I remember several things about my birthday party and George Legler in 1951.
The guests gathered at dusk and were told to wait for a magical guide. Mr Legler appeared in an all-back outfit, complete with a large black hat and a thin black veil that covered most of his face. He looked like Zorro. When he approached, we all screamed, and then he started speaking in a soft calm voice about the things we needed to do to enter the magic grotto. One specific thing I remember was that he made the sign of a cross on our hands with some liquid.
Once inside the magic grotto, Legler performed some basic magic tricks, which seemed really wonderful to those of us pre-television kids. Either after or before the show, there were some picnic tables available for birthday cake and ice cream. In the 1950s, Legler's rabbit magic show was written about in Life, Look or Post magazine, because for years, my mom kept a copy of it. [Victoria Clark, 07/11/2009]
Valley of the Moon:
Address: 2544 E Allen Rd, Tucson, AZ [Show Map]
Directions: NE of downtown, E of Campbell Ave. Just north of Prince Road, between Tucson Blvd. and Country Club.
Hours: For special events or by appt. (Call to verify)
Phone: 520-323-1331 - Alpine, California - Dinosaur Land - Vague Recollections My grandparents lived on Old Hwy 80. Their original house was torn down to make way for the new freeway, and they built a new home on the lower half of their property, closer to the road now known as Alpine Blvd.
I remember Dinosaur Land -- I visited the park that first summer it opened. It was such a thrill meandering around the park with its fiberglass dinosaurs and artificial marsh pond(s), but like most children, it was always exciting to spend time with grandma. The thing I found most captivating were the peacocks; the male Indian Blue Peacocks in all their glorious splendor strutted about freely around the park.
I remember the fiberglass horse and gorilla in their elevated places along the roadway. For a couple of years there was also a giant fiberglass Santa Claus which could be seen from the road. It lay discarded at the base of my grandparent’s property, where my grandfather posted a sign reading "Fill Wanted." [Christine, 01/27/2010]
Dinosaur Land Remains:
Address: Alpine, CA [Show Map]
Directions: East of San Diego, Tavern Road exit, East on Alpine Blvd, on your left just after the stop sign in the middle of town (and after the Alpine Inn and the Woman's Club). Drive into the mobile home park, a driveway for a house into a small wooded area. You should see Bob as soon as you turn in.
Hours: Private property. - Alpine, California - Dino Park remains - Vague Recollections I was raised in Alpine, CA. For years we had a few landmarks that we just got
used to -- a fiberglass horse out in front of the fiberglass plant, a fiberglass gorilla on
top of the Log Cabin restaurant, and my favorite -- two huge dinosaurs looming off the north side of Alpine Blvd. The remains of a defunct dinosaur amusement park (Alpine Blvd was Olde Hwy. 80 before the new freeway came through), the dinos were in an enclosure with a huge wrought iron, creepy looking gate, and they had grass grown up tall all around them. There was a triceratops in the back, but the biggest one in front was a brontosaurus. As years of weather destroyed the monster, it came to have crawdads living in the water that had accumulated where it's stomach should have been, and we would sneak in and catch them. It was a very satisfying sight, having a dinosaur right in town. Years later, a nursery took over that land, but I don't know what is there today. [Stacey, 01/11/2004]Dinosaur Land Remains:
Address: Alpine, CA [Show Map]
Directions: East of San Diego, Tavern Road exit, East on Alpine Blvd, on your left just after the stop sign in the middle of town (and after the Alpine Inn and the Woman's Club). Drive into the mobile home park, a driveway for a house into a small wooded area. You should see Bob as soon as you turn in.
Hours: Private property. - Buena Park, California - Knotts Berry Farm - Vague Recollections Does anyone remember the tall building that had a window with a woman's leg
hanging out of it? And the leg would kick and kick? I think you would hear screams (the
woman) and the leg would rhythmically kick the side of the building; it had bloomers and some
bright red crinoline or something, very 1800s. It was there when I was really little, and it
scared me to death!
There was also an exhibit that had a spooky looking dummy sitting in it (was he in a jail?) and he would talk to you. Some guy was hiding somewhere, and he could see you but you couldn't see him. He would talk in a microphone, and tell you what you were doing and what you were wearing -- it was always creepy. That sort of thing would never fly these days, but in those early days of TV, it was fun! The thing is, my mom told me that she had seen this exhibit when SHE was a girl -- so we're talking the early to mid 40's! How long was that exhibit there, and when did they remove it? [Stacey Scott, 02/02/2003]
- Calihan, California - Blowing Anvils - Vague Recollections A few tips have mentioned "blowing anvils." My folks used to take my family
(five kids and a grandmother) to Northern California to camp and pan for gold. One of the
highlights of the trip was a festival in Calihan, California, home of a giant dredging machine
with huge buckets that used to dredge up gravel to process for placer gold. The festival
included a mock hanging, and blowing up anvils. They had two anvils and placed black powder
between them and then lit the gun powder. Big bang and anvil flying apparently amused the
pioneers of this region back in the day. It was fun for us kids, though -- An idyllic time of my
youth. [M. Salcedo, 08/29/2001]Blowing Anvils:
Address: Calihan, CA
Directions: Off I-5 -- go to Yreka, then Ft. Jones, then to Calihan.
Hours: Long gone.
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