Sometimes you land in a place and it becomes obvious very quickly that it is a pretty accurate representation of the real thing. That’s definitely the case with Scotty’s Castle, a replica of a Death Valley tourist attraction. (You didn’t know Death Valley had tourist attractions, did you? Me neither). They’ve even surrounded it with images the real-life landscape, giving a very different kind of look.
This doesn’t seem to be an effort of the National Park Service, which maintains Scotty’s castle, but rather a vehicle to show off the skills of the Chant Newall Development Group. As such, while the build is very accurate, it also is sorely lacking in information about what Scotty’s castle is, the significance of various rooms… nothing. A tourist attraction without the tour guide.
Well, there is a movie you can watch, but even though it is near the rez point I didn’t find it until much later. It’s not immediately obvious or on the path to the castle. I also couldn’t watch it because my viewer would lock up every time I tried. Maybe the video is very informative, I don’t know.
That said, there’s enough interesting stuff inside and outside to encourage you to poke around the nooks and crannies of the island. Many rooms are empty, others contain some very nice sights.
It’s all very, very pretty, and very professionally done. It’s certainly worth a look, and from the real life pictures I’ve found, it appears to slavishly follow the original. You don’t see that often, but they pulled it off. Amazing.
But… squirrel-eating coyotes not withstanding, the build is so accurate that I don’t feel a need to go and see the original. But then, wandering through old houses isn’t my idea of a fun vacation activity, either, so if you like that sort of thing, you may be thrilled. As for me… nah. Impressed? Definitely. Going back? Not on my to-do list.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Scottys%20Castle/119/62/30
Beautiful build. Thanks for highlighting it. The movie immediately took my CPU usage to 100% when I tried to play it … viewer locked and I had to manually end it and relog. So it wasn’t just you.