We Like It Old and Saggy...

Being in school for historic preservation means two things...

#1. We like old things 

#2. We like climbing around old things

Luckily in Whittier, there was something to satisfy both our cravings. 

Here it is; this is our Everest. 

This lovely building is what is affectionately called the old barracks. It was built during WWII to house everything...and it is full of asbestos. In fact so much so, they can't tear down the building because the city can't afford the abatement treatment. Well, I am sure you can guess what's next, yup, exploration time. So after peeking in through the windows, Kathryn and I knew what we needed to prepare for.

Wet, dark, and dinosaurs. 

And wet, dark, and dinosaurs, we were ready for. 

Check it...rain jacket, waterproof hiking boots, head light, and...bandanna and gameface (for the dinosaurs).

Exploration time. Here is what we found: 

An old auditorium; 

Some creepy hallways;

A torture device aka broken and twisted light;

A poem to my dear friend Hannah Brasch;

And some "special services."

But most importantly, we found the roof!

And the views that came with it!

Oh don't worry, I climbed up that little extra portion too via ladder. 

Now here is where I must say, I did get a tad bit scared. Let me draw your attention to the abundant amount of water all over the roof. Look again at the picture with Kathryn in it, well I started walking to the middle of the roof when I felt the whole thing sag! Kathryn felt it too! So I took another step and, yup, sag. And we like saggy. But it felt like a ripple of water, but on the entire tar covered roof! I told Kathryn to get back inside the building as I assessed the situation and what my next, best move would be. After she made it back in, I acted on my concluded best move; I turned my heels and ran. It was a tad bit freaky. So after catching our breaths because you can bet we were holding them (and I was sucking in), we started our journey back down. We paused midway through because we heard other people (and it caught us off-guard)! So I asked Kathryn grinning ear to ear, "do we scare them?" She responded, "no, they might kill us." Fair enough. 

After a few silent minutes, Kathryn and I left yet another place unscathed to find something else awaiting that needed to be checked out. 

A very mysterious sloped wall with perhaps an even more mysterious rope! So us being us, we followed the motto, "if it is there, it is going to be used." We just had to see where it led! And humorously while attempting to climb said LOST-like wall, our friends, whom we hear in the building, found us! They yelled to us from the building and we proceeded to have a conversation with them that went something like this...

People: Hey! You go exploring?

Us: Yeah! We checked it out top to bottom!

People: Find the bowling alley?

Us: Nah, it is in the basement and that basement is full of crap! You have to basically crawl on top of a mountain of junk!

People: Auditorium? 

Us: First floor, you can get to it from the back of the building. 

People: Roof?

Us: Open, but be warned, it sags. 

People: What are you doing now?

Us: Getting ready to scale this LOST-like wall. 

People: Sweet! Good luck!

Us: Thanks! You too! 

And just like that, Kathryn and I went back to scaling. Once at the top, we had to bushwhack it through overgrown weeds all the while saying "hey bear!" because if there were bears, we wouldn't have the slightest idea. It was that overgrown. But we finally emerged to find a road that led us to an overlook which conveniently allowed us to take our Lewis and Clark pictures. 

In the end though, Kathryn and I left yet another place with all ten fingers and ten toes. But have no fear, we left our mark on that old building, or should I say we left with a mark to display...in our apartment. Archaeologists look away!

It might be little, but as Kathryn described it, it is pirates' booty! And speaking of booty, there will be plenty more of it next post. Stay tuned.