Sepia Saturday #171 California's Version of a Castle!!

California is a fairly new state. Wiping out first the native American population and later the Mexicans, California didn't have enough time to build castles as this one in Wales:

So instead of these old, beautiful relics, we have instead new castles fashioned after the lovely historic ones.

I give you for an example a castle we stumbled upon yesterday on our way back from an Indian casino (ironic, isn't it, that the native Americans who are left are now all thriving from the gambling casinos? What great revenge!) We wanted to take a break from the tedium of taxes and celebrate that we had finally sent ours off to the accountant. How best to celebrate? Go and lose a bunch of money at a gambling casino!

On the way back from the casino what should we behold than this sign along the side of the road:

I thought this would make a great post for this week's castle theme. Don't you love this sign with the attractive reflector light on top.

We drove down the gravel road with lemon trees bordering each side only to come across another hastily made sign. This one was all done up with glittery lettering and seems to be a favorite spot for birds to perch:

Our anticipation of seeing a real Cupid's Castle was building to a crescendo pitch. "Oh I think I can see it off in the distance. It kind of looks like a castle."

Then we got to the gate and entryway and sure enough, each rock column was topped with a cupid. This must be the place.

We kept driving and finally arrived. Here it is - Cupid's Castle:

That little shed in the foreground kind of spoils the effect. But you can clearly see by the turret that this is a bonafide castle. Maybe not quite as gorgeous as Sleeping Beauty's Castle in Disneyland, but for California, it's pretty darn authentic.

Climb the steps and just beyond the welcoming lions (what, they ran out of cupids?), there's the entry to the castle.

Cupid's Castle has seen better days. It seemed very desolate and I doubt if anyone has stayed here in years. If you click here for their website you'd think it was a different place: and it's worth it just to see the owner, Connie win the 2009 Irish Stew Cookoff!!  Cupid's Castle.

We left this fairyland and found our way back to reality - especially when looking in our wallets. What happened to all our money??

Jump over the moat and click here for more castle stories,  Sepia Saturday.