When you make it to the "Gateway of Death Valley", you really want to know you’ve arrived.
Thanks to the world’s tallest thermometer, you can pull off the highway and celebrate your arrival with a visit to the world’s tallest thermometer (or you can just stay on the highway, and keep on trucking, as it is visible from miles away)
The thermometer, measuring 134 feet, was originally known as the Bun Boy (tee hee) thermometer, and sat in the car park of the Bun Boy (tee hee) restaurant.
The Bun Boy (tee hee) restaurant is no longer in business, and the world’s tallest thermometer now casts a shadow over the now abandoned Bun Boy (tee hee) motel.
The world’s tallest thermometer is the brainchild of Willis Herron, the original proprietor of the Bun Boy (tee hee) restaurant. It cost $750,000 to build and was switched on in 1992.
After Herron’s death the thermometer fell into disrepair, but was saved by his widow, who restored it back to its former glory, and re-launched it in 2014.
She must have had an inkling this would please her husband, as his gravestone does not bear an image of himself, or his wife, but of the world’s tallest thermometer.
The world’s tallest thermometer is a kooky roadside pitstop if you need to stretch your legs between LA and Las Vegas — there’s not much else there, but it doesn’t hurt that there’s a Dairy Queen in the nearby gas station.
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Southern California #41 - last visited November 2nd 2021
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