Eliza Turner

If you’ve ever traveled the long stretch of desert highway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas you may have noticed this abandoned waterpark in the middle of nowhere. One cannot help but wonder why it is there—who would open a waterpark here? As it turns out, the backstory of this family fun park turned post-apocalyptic ruin is rather surprising. It originally opened in 1962 as Lake Dolores Water Park and continued to expand over the years. More and more rides were added as more and more visitors began to either make the trek there or stop en route in between LA and Vegas. Eventually a campground was added for overnight stays. In 1990 the park was sold and the new owners changed the name to Rock-A-Hoola. Later in 1998 they invested countless dollars into a full renovation in which many of the buildings we see today were added and the whole waterpark had a retro 1950s style makeover. Unfortunately that was not enough to draw in more families; it went bankrupt and closed in 2...

Who knows? I certainly don’t. Of course, I know the “About” section of these types of websites usually say something to the effect of “Osie Turner is a writer and photographer living in Las Vegas,” but that is rather bland. Besides, you don’t really want to know who I am—you’re likely more interested in figuring out what it is that I do, exactly. I consider myself an artist; it is tempting to say that writing, both fiction and non-fiction, is my primary passion but photography is essentially a part of my daily life and so closely related to my writing that the two are essentially inseparable. Every professional article I’ve had published has included photos I’ve taken of or at whatever it is the article is about. Likewise, many of the photo shoots I’ve gone on have ended up inspiring fiction. Although born in Las Vegas, Nevada, I grew up in a small mining town known as Sandy Valley—about 60 miles southwest of Las Vegas in the heart of the vast Southern Nevada desert. I believe grow...