Saturday, January 25, 2014

a peek around Oro Grande, CA

Playing: Boring-The Brobecks
Reading: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (Actually not as good as I thought it would be.)
In general, I have a fascination with art and artists that choose to create beautiful things out of their surroundings. After visiting Noah Purifoy's Outdoor Desert Museum and Watt's Towers, I thought it was sensible that I go out to Elmer Long's Bottle Tree Ranch. It was quite a drive, but I found the drive to be really beautiful. Seeing how Southern California's landscape changes so quickly has always been interesting to me.
Elmer Long still lives on the property, so if you have any questions, he's more than happy to answer them and give you tours of the area. He's been working on his creation for more than 14 years now and started collecting bottles with his dad as a child on camping trips. Most of the materials he found are things that others tossed away, so it's really incredible to see how he has preserved pieces of history that would've otherwise been lost such as rifles from WWII and glass bottles of Aunt Jemima maple syrup.

Since I went that far to take a look around the Bottle Tree Ranch, I decided to look at the town surrounding it. I liked how rural everything was and it was very picturesque. There's something about how nostalgic and worn in everything looks in places like the desert or inland California that I really enjoy. I like broad, open spaces, but I could never live there. I would choose to live in a big city over a rural area just because I need a lot of human interaction, even if it's just walking in a big group of people.
About a five minute drive away from the ranch was an ostrich farm, so I had to check it out and I realized I actually really like ostriches. They were all curious about us and were really friendly. They would watch me walking around and follow me the way Jacques does. (Seeing them being this cute and amiable makes me feel kind of guilty about owning two ostrich skin purses.) If you decide to check out the ranch or the ostrich farm, I highly recommend getting to Oro Grande earlier because there was a conglomeration of antique shops called Antique Station along the same road that was all closed by the time I got there and I wished I could've seen it.

PS I just got tickets to see New Politics with my friends, so I'm really excited about that. It'll be the sixth concert I've gone to this school year.

19 comments:

  1. ohh how fun!! i think i would really like to see what aunt jemima glass bottles looks like!! i love vintage kitch!

    ostriches are so cute!!!

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    1. It's funny to see how things change over time, even if it's the same brand. Ostriches are actually cuter than I thought they would be in real life.

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  2. Have fun at the concert soon c:
    The glass bottle trees looks cool!
    Love the history behind it! In
    AUS, you can actually ride an
    ostrich or that's what I've heard
    lol.. Xx

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    1. Thank you! I've heard that too about Australia and certain countries in the Middle East. My brother and I really want to do that. (Also, we saw it in an Indiana Jones film.)

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  3. Looks fun!!! Omg the ostrich are huge. I would freak out hahaha

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    1. I was a bit nervous approaching them at first, but they were really friendly.

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  4. What an interesting place! I like how rural areas always have little gems worth visiting!

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  5. Beaufitul pics!!
    www.mrsbluejeans.blogspot.com

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  6. Oh, this place looks fantastic! It really does look like a forest, so neat.

    And thank you, dear, so much for your kind comments!

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    1. No problem! I was surprised at how many "trees" he had made. It's really incredible.

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  7. omg that looks so neat. its so diff than your other photos :D I love the Ostriches haha cute

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    1. Thanks and it is! Not a single food photo :P

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  8. So lovely!

    <a href="http://www.fashionhypnotised.com/> FASHIONHYPNOTISED</a>

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