We had two weeks booked at Rocky Top Campground in Green Mountain Falls, CO, because we had so many places to visit and things to do in the area. First up was a trip to Old Colorado City.
It was a clear day up on Pikes Peak.
Today, Joani said we were going to start "small". I did not question her and had no idea where we were headed. The name "Magic Town" did not help me envision what she wanted us to see either. But when we entered Magic Town, I was blown away.
Michael Garman sculpted his own world in such intricate detail we spent hours marveling at what he had created. His cityscapes were one-sixth scale and everything was created in his studio. The pictures below might look like paintings but I assure you they were three dimensional.
Below you can see Joani inspecting some of the works in the 3,000 square foot museum. Michael Garman says it is "a gigantic playground for the mind, part carnival, part dollhouse, part sculpture".
He started building his gritty Americana wonderland in 1975 and has been adding to it ever since. He opened Magic Town 10 years later after investing more than a million dollars in the project.
When we entered, we opted to play their scavenger hunt. We each were given a list of things to find somewhere in the museum. Did I mention the holograms? I had to listen to a hologram of the cook talking in Rosie's to find out what he was offering to make his customer. On a small poster in one diner, I found another answer - how much was a Pepsi in Magic Town (it was 5 cents.)
One of my favorite scenes.
Tiny newspapers are all around as they would have been in the '80s.
I appreciated the humor of the topic shown in the USA Today paper.
This was my second favorite scene. So much detail.
The two below were sporting a lot of tattoos and talking with a third guy just outside of Weird Willies Tattoo Parlor. In the bright window beside them, you could see a shirtless man and Willie with his tattoo needle.
Notice she set her bag of groceries down while they were talking. You could see the wrinkles in the paper bag, a six-pack of drinks and a box of cereal.
Look at this old guy sitting at the bar below. Notice the PBR can on top of the old dial pay phone, the plaster missing from the lath and the advertisements tacked to the walls.
We were alone in the museum, but it didn't feel that way.
Each alley and many rooms had holographic vignettes playing softly, so you could hear them as you walk by.
The couple on the left side (a hologram - they look a little blue in the photo) are carrying on a conversation.
Details abound but no place more than at the Crown Theater where Casablanca was showing. When you looked inside the open doors the movie was being played in black and white on some kind of screen.
A very interesting man, Michael Garman. He was told in 2008 at the age of 70 that he had two years to live.
He just turned 80 and released a new statue that he has worked on for 10 years.
We watched a video about his creative process and learned he now has several employees helping him reproduce his sculptures. Michael actually walked through the store into the museum while we were there. That was when I learned he lived above the museum and all of the production was in the basement studio beneath the museum.
I noticed how much the buildings in Old Colorado City looked like those in Magic Town.
We have got to go there.
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