>> you want thrills, you'll get them all at the roller derby. >> talk about hell on wheels! >> she's the paragon, the symbol for roller derby. >> i wear hot pants all the time. >> she was a star. i mean, there's no doubt about it. >> a star who leaves an attic full of roller derby history... >> let me see this. they're very, very, very small. >> ...to her lifelong fan. >> this is ann's last jersey. >> why did she leave you her inheritance? >> the answer -- it's a little tricky. >> whoopsy. [ laughs ] [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ]

♪ >> i'm jamie colby in san francisco today, home of the bay bombers. if you know that is the most storied franchise in roller derby, then you watch too much saturday morning tv. and if you don't know what i'm talking about, no worries! just strap on your helmet because you are in for a rollicking good time. >> my name is jim fitzpatrick, and when one of my childhood idols died in 2006, she left me hundreds of her mementos from her roller derby career. >> hi, i'm jamie. >> hi, jamie. nice to meet you. i'm jim. >> inside his house, jim fitzpatrick has arranged his strange inheritance into a shrine, to the woman who left it to him, annie calvello, the hottest star from his favorite sport's glory days. >> a lot of fans went for different reasons. some of them, it's obvious. they went to see girls. some went to see the fights. >> calvello keeps driving. and she's past four and hit in

there, knocked down... >> it's back in the 1960s when the gutsy roller goddess makes a big impression on 8-year-old jim fitzpatrick. but let's not get ahead of ourselves. 1929 -- that's when we'll begin ann calvello's story, here in san francisco, where she grows up the oldest of six children. tony calvello is ann's younger brother. >> ann was a tough one. [ laughs ] i can remember getting in a fight in front of the house, and she came up and broke up the fight, then i was the one getting hit. >> as a teenager, ann takes to the latest craze -- roller skating. >> she might have been termed a "tomboy," and very often better and faster than the boys. >> around this time, a movie theatre chain owner named leo seltzer comes across a mind-blowing stat. 95% of americans have tried roller skating at one time or

another, so he creates a new sport -- roller derby. >> my father came up with this idea -- "let's put the competitors on roller skates." >> jerry seltzer is leo's son. >> the women would skate for 12 minutes against the opposing team. then the men would come out and skate for 12 minutes against the opposing team. >> here is the pack now, a girl has broken away from the pack. she is called jamming skater. for each one of the opposing teams she passes, she'll get a point. >> calvello keeps driving. >> it catches on like wildfire. [ cheers and applause ] >> were the audiences co-ed? >> the audience got more and more co-ed, and that was one of the secrets of roller derby. the wives come, the girlfriends come, and their boyfriends and husbands become fans. >> in 1948, the seltzers send scouts to san francisco to look for skaters, and 18-year-old ann calvello sparkles at a

tryout. >> ann calvello was a heck of a skater. >> later that year, roller derby makes its television debut in new york, and before long, stations across the country are picking up the game. suddenly, roller derby stars are household names. >> annie calvello, and calvello's on the move. >> it didn't take our skaters long to learn that the bigger personalities they became, the more attraction they had. >> down in right, they just tore off the front half of ann calvello's jersey, and this gal is a little angry. uh-oh! she hit the referee and gets ruled out of the game. >> we actually had a rule how far could the women zip down their jerseys, and there's one who violated it all the time. that was ann calvello. >> she was very proud of what she termed her "tickets." that's what they referred to their breasts as -- tickets -- and she'd say "tickets up!" and she'd stand up real straight.

she was really quite funny. >> every grudge match needs a villain. ann is happy to oblige. >> watch it! she's got more trouble! >> everybody wanted to come and see ann, primarily to boo her. >> were those real fights, or were they laying it on? >> let me tell you what i would say to the skaters. "we do not want fights. but if you're gonna fight, you better fight because there's nothing worse than a phony fight." >> judy arnold skated against ann calvello. >> annie loved being the villain. >> and now three shamrocks start to finish the job! >> most of the skaters off the track loved her. >> oh, there's bad blood here! >> on the track, things change 'cause you want to win. >> there she is, right behind the hammerlock. >> but ann's not just a roller derby queen. she's also a world-class packrat who saves every knee pad,

jersey, and piece of fan mail from day 1. >> 1948, when she's a teenager, she's recruited to skate for the first time professionally, and this was her original skate case. >> this is her helmet? >> this is one of ann's helmets. she kind of decorated hers with scarves and she added her name to it. and she was a leo, very proud of it, so she -- >> that's pretty cool. >> yeah, engraved that into it. >> women born under the sign of leo are said to be difficult to resist, and a handsome roller derby referee named roy langley can't. they wed in 1951 and have a daughter named teri, but the marriage soon goes over the rail. >> roy was very jealous of any attention that ann got, especially from men. i believe he expected them to be settled, and that wasn't what ann wanted to do. >> what ann wants is to go back

to roller derby, and she does. the couple divorce, roy's mother raises teri while ann tours the globe. >> when she was on the track, she wasn't only queen of the track. she was queen of the world. ♪ >> color tv allows ann to amp up her flamboyant style. >> annie would color her hair. >> when i come back, you're gonna be so sorry... >> she'd do part pink, part green, part blue, and in those days, that was not the thing to do, but annie did it. >> one of her nicknames -- demon of the derby. after a few broken schnauzes, the most famous is banana nose. >> banana nose! >> banana nose! >> then in the late 1960s, she grabs the attention of a certain 8-year-old boy. >> it was a saturday morning, and all of a sudden, i see this

bizarre sport. >> tickets up! how jim becomes a superfan and then ann's heir. next... >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. real life roller derby star judy arnold was the stunt double for which actress in the 1972 film "kansas city bomber?" the answer after the break.

>> so, which actress used judy arnold for her stunt double in the 1972 film "kansas city bomber?" it's raquel welch. judy wore a brunette wig to do raquel's action scenes. >> by the late 1960s, ann calvello has been burning up the roller derby track for two decades. jim fitzpatrick is a young boy watching tv when he first sets eyes on the demon of the derby. >> it was 1968. >>those of us who loved him... >> bobby kennedy was assassinated, and it was a saturday morning, and they had the funeral procession, which was airing on all the channels. >> the only alternative for a sports-crazy kid... ...an independent tv station airing a raucous battle. >> they were skating at this

wild, blinding speed, hitting each other, banging each other. people are falling. >> he's hooked and unable to avert his eyes from the veteran vixen with the bod of a 25-year-old. his strange inheritance contains the proof. >> these are her shorts while she was on the midwest pioneers, and she was already at this point, 41 years of age. >> they're very, very, very small. >> "if you got it, flaunt it," the saying goes, and ann does. >> i wear hot pants. i mean, at 42 years old, people say you shouldn't wear hot pants. i say, "hey, look, when you're my age, you should look so good in hot pants." >> as jim grows up, he doesn't outgrow his roller derby fascination. he takes up skating himself, and after high school scores a job on the track crew with the hometown bay bombers. it's a skate in the door. >> one night, i walk into the oakland auditorium, and the owner comes over to me and he goes, "you're skating tonight."

that's when i went, "holy crap, am i ready for this?" >> jim goes on to skate with teams across the u.s., in bueno aires, and on a u.s. all star team in japan. >> i pursued my dream. >> you were too determined. >> yeah. >> but after 5 years, injuries forced jim to switch jobs to part-time ref. next thing he knows, he's facing off with ann calvello, now 56 years old and swinging a handbag. >> she grabbed the purse, took the straps, she swung it around, and she nailed me on the side of the head. >> in time, that lump on jim's head will get replaced with a soft spot in his heart for a battered and aging roller derby queen still busting chops but worried about fading away. that's next. >> i can't believe i'm doing this. >> here's another quiz question for you.

ronnie robinson, one of the top roller derby stars of the '70s was related to what more famous figure? boxing champ sugar ray robinson, former first lady michelle robinson obama, or baseball great jackie robinson? the answer when we return. my father passed this truck down to me, that's the same thing i want to do with you. it's an emotional thing to watch your child grow up and especially get behind the wheel. i want to keep you know, stacking up the memories and the miles and the years. he's gonna get mine -but i'm gonna get a new one. -oh yeah when it's time for your old chevy truck to become their new chevy truck, there's truck month. get 18% of msrp cash back on all silverado 1500 crew cab lt pickups when you finance with gm financial. that's $9,000 on this silverado. plus, during truck month make no monthly payments for 90 days.

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>> so, who was roller derby star ronnie robinson's famous relative? it's a. his dad was boxing champ sugar ray robinson. >> by the mid-1990s, jim fitzpatrick has left behind his days a pro roller derby skater. the profession, he says, isn't

what it once was. >> the sport has gone through so many ups and downs. the traditional roller derby was a totally legitimate game, but there have been other people that have come along, and they've just taken it in a whole bizarre direction. >> just wait till you see these skaters take on the 14-foot high wall of death. >> i've seen some that have had a wall of death... >> he's getting him onto the rail! he's putting him in the pit! >> ...an alligator pit... >> i can't believe what we're witnessing here tonight! >> i got to go! >> the changes don't seem to bother annie calvello. even as she nears 70, she's still selling those tickets. >> they want all the young girls, you know, with the nice figures, but i don't have a bad figure, and they're real! >> what's all too real -- the off-track life of an aging roller derby demon who never remarries, never saves money, and makes end meeting pushing carts and bagging groceries at the safeway.

it's around this time that jim runs into ann at a roller derby reunion. he's compiling a book about the history of the sport. >> i kind of put it together for just some of the skaters as a keepsake. i started asking her questions for my book. >> over a string of long interviews and sharing stories, they become close friends. so close that jim's by her side when ann learns she has eye cancer, then it spreads to her liver. ann confides to jim her worry that she'll be totally forgotten when she's gone and her wish for one last night in the spotlight. >> she really wanted to skate, and she was 70 years old, and i really thought that this is not a good thing to do. >> in august 2000, ann calvello skates before cheering roller derby fans one last time. >> she doesn't take you know what! [ whistle blows ] >> and there they go! ann calvello puts him up into

the rail, and look at her go! one lap to go. if she gets there first, she's gonna win this thing! she can get it... and she got it! she knocked him down with an old roller derby move! old banana nose is back, and what an outpouring of love for ann calvello. >> that red jersey is the last thing ann calvello places in her lifelong collection of roller derby memorabilia. >> i'm gonna miss all you guys! >> and then she delights jim by announcing she's leaving much of it to him when she dies. >> i go by my own rules! >> it's on march 14, 2006 ann calvello hangs up her skates for good, succumbing to cancer at age 76. >> i remember going over to her apartment, and it was a sad day. and when i saw what i had, i was blown away by it. >> jim gathers up his strange

inheritance -- trophies, pennants, fan letters, skates, knee pads, jerseys, and more. >> this is the madison square garden's program for the first ali-frazier fight. they have a section in here on other great athletes that performed in the garden, and sure enough... >> it's ann! >> yeah, two pictures of ann. so she represented roller derby. and then this is after she had some real knee problems and she was starting to wear a special brace. this is touching. ann saved all of her fan mail. i even have a lot of her letters when people were wishing her to recover after the brain tumor surgery. >> stuff any roller derby fan would covet. >> jim, you ever have any of this stuff appraised? >> not really appraised, but what i have noticed over the years, i've seen people sell items on ebay. there was one jersey that was sold for about $3,000. i think ann is just as much if not more of a star, so... it might go for more. >> but as you're about to see, jim has another idea for his

strange inheritance, one he'll try out in his new position as general manager of the storied san francisco bay bombers. coming up, how do you bring back roller derby's glory days? it won't be easy... >> i promised my mom i'd wear these. >> what's your "strange inheritance" story? we'd love to tell it. send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com.

>> now back to "strange inheritance." >> roller derby legend ann calvello saves practically everything from her 50-year career -- skates, jerseys, programs, photos, pennants, trophies, and on and on and on. fellow derby legend judy arnold is glad she did. >> annie had a heart to preserve what she did. i think it's wise that she did

that. i didn't think that way. >> when ann dies, she leaves all this to jim fitzpatrick, her lifelong fan whom she inspired to join the roller derby himself. he's sure it's worth many thousands of dollars, but knows ann had a plan for him. why did she leave you her inheritance? >> i love the sport, and she knew that i was doing the best i could trying to bring roller derby back to where it should be. >> jim now manages the san francisco bay bombers, one of the first teams calvello skated for. but if roller derby has a future, it's now in the hands of skaters like stacey blitsch. malibu stacey who skates for the l.a. firebirds is in town to face the bombers. >> oh, my goodness! hello! >> so she, jim fitzpatrick, and judy arnold teach me some tricks of the trade. >> so, jim, what are you gonna teach me today? >> we're gonna start out with a whip. and a whip is a way of propelling a skater or teammate

down the track. it accelerates their speed. >> now it's my turn. i'm gonna do this. stand by. ♪ i promised my mom i'd wear these. >> whoopsy. [ laughs ] >> let's try that again. >> right, left. right, left. hey! >> she's got it! >> okay, i'm getting the hang of this. >> that's it? [ laughs ] no biggie. >> hey, if raquel welch can use a stunt double, so can i. thanks, stace. >> walking... >> it's clear i'm not gonna help

jim reach his goal of returning roller derby to its former glory years, but he believes his strange inheritance might. see, jim understands that while some fans like him might get hooked on a sport after catching it on tv... >> bay bombers! >> ...usually fandom is passed down from a parent or grandparent. he figures it will only help if he can draw connection between today's skaters and those who raced around these banked tracks in generations past. >> today's game is dedicated to the original roller derby legend and former san francisco bay bomber ann calvello. >> that's where his strange inheritance comes in. >> we love this and we want to try and carry it on and carry the tradition on. >> yes, there are some empty seats, but jim sees a promising mix of kids, moms, and old-timers who take in ann calvello's treasures, fondly

remembering old banana nose. >> i loved to see her, the way she used to fight and skate around. she was wonderful. >> come on, baby! take her out! take her out! >> so, can ann calvello's heir bring their sport back to the days of big ratings and sold-out stadiums? >> star of the night, annie calvello. [ whistle blows ] >> it sounds like a pipe dream. >> get in front, [bleep] get in front! fight! >> calvello's on the move. the fans are very excited about this, look at them stand up and watch. >> you never know. [ cheers and applause ] in fact, the federation of international roller sports has been lobbying for decades to get the derby into the olympics. skaters say they were almost a demonstration sport in 2016, but they lost out to rugby and golf. better luck next time, jammers.

i'm jamie colby. thanks so much for watching "strange inheritance." and remember -- you can't take it with you. >> his dream? big as a t-rex. >> when everybody else told him he was crazy, he just said, "no, i'm gonna build dinosaurs." >> his creation? a land before time. >> he was almost an engineer when it came to dinosaurs. >> can it survive without him? >> a lot of attractions that were the vision of a single person, all of a sudden they're gone, demolished. >> depends on his daughter... >> when you have an absolute passion, you think that other people feel the same way you do. >> his granddaughter... >> are you living on the edge, kiki, to make this all happen? >> a little bit. >> and his great-granddaughter. >> has your mom ever said, "we need to talk about the future of the park"? >> never. [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ]

[ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] >> i'm jamie colby, and today i'm in southwest oregon, on the breathtaking pacific coast highway. if you've ever made this drive, you may have visited this strange inheritance and even met the heir trying to save it from extinction. >> my name is kiki mcgrath. my grandfather was really into dinosaurs. i inherited his version of jurassic park from a bygone era. >> hi. i'm jamie. >> hi, jamie. i'm kiki. >> great to meet you, kiki, and i like your friend. it was pretty clear i was in the right place. >> this is my grandfather's creation. let's go take a look. >> that "creation" is prehistoric gardens, which sits in a lush stretch of old-growth forest, with ocean mist filtering sunlight through its towering trees. i would camp out here,

and i don't camp. but be careful! giant monsters lurk. triceratops, wow. the grounds are teeming with dinosaurs. feast your eyes on 'em. there's the plate-covered stegosaurus... a towering t-rex... a soaring pteranodon and many more. each imposing creature a life-size replica of an ancient past, including this 46-foot-high, 86-foot-long brachiosaurus. >> four years from start to finish... >> amazing! >> ...to build this one. >> i just really can't believe the scale. the story of these creatures begins in 1907, in gordonsville, minnesota, where ernie nelson is born. young ernie can't stop drawing on his sketch pad, especially the prehistoric

creatures he sees in national geographic. definitely a creative character, according to his daughter bennii. was he always an artist? >> he always drew. he came out of the womb carrying a pen. >> a few decades later, in the 1930s, ernie gets married and has two kids. he settles down on the west coast and opts for a stable career path. >> he owned a gravel company when he was very young, and he was a public accountant in eugene, oregon. >> an accountant ever on the lookout for a more creative living. his dream job? a cartoonist at walt disney studios. he gets the offer, then talks himself out of taking it. >> he had two children, and it was during the depression, so he decided he just couldn't pick up and leave. >> so, ernie keeps counting beans for another two decades, knowing deep inside he's missing his true calling. then, when ernie's 47 years old,

he makes an announcement during christmas dinner that stuns his family. >> he goes out to the car, and he gets this cement dinosaur. it was a tyrannosaurus rex, and he brings it in, and he sets it down, and then he said, "this is what i'm going to do." we thought, "what?" he said, "i'm going to build dinosaurs." >> did you all think maybe he had had too much to drink? >> no one said a word. they felt that he had gone off the deep end. >> "no, really," ernie explains. he intends to open a roadside attraction filled with dinosaurs! he reveals he's been fascinated by the creatures his entire life. >> i said to mom, "why would he do something like that?" she said, "i'll go any place he wants to go." >> was that true love? >> yeah, that was true love. >> and it turns out his timing couldn't be better. >> ernie knew what he was doing when he started his attraction in the early 1950s. >> doug kirby is the author of

two books on roadside attractions. >> the golden age was after world war ii. gi's came home. they had families. they were starting to have money to buy better cars and take summer vacations. the u.s. highway system was built out across the whole country. attractions could find an audience. then all of these things started to crop up. >> these entertaining, and sometimes bizarre, roadside attractions become an american phenomenon. ernie the accountant figures a dinosaur park is a sure thing. what made your dad think that this was gonna be a winner? >> when you have an absolute passion for something, you think that other people feel the same way you do. >> before he can bring forth his creation, ernie must find his eden. he comes across 70 acres of lush forest in southern oregon, right off the famed 101, pacific coast highway. it's listed for 17 grand. did he have the money to buy

that property? were you rich? >> no, no, ultra-poor. they had practically no money when they came down here. >> but ernie works his accounting magic, selling his home and business. and presto! he has the cash. now he's ready to flesh out some dinosaurs. he researches the creatures exhaustively, drawing up sketches and blueprints. i mean, he was almost an engineer when it came to dinosaurs. >> yes, the steel frame went on and then, after that they put metal lath, and they molded it, and then on top of that they put cement. >> then comes the fine artistry. ernie adds details and hand-paints precise features -- eyes, scales, teeth. look at the skin texture even. >> yes. >> but ernie does take some artistic license, adding splashes of bright paint and vibrant patterns. >> grandpa didn't know the exact color scheme, but he said it was the man behind the

paintbrush that chose the colors. >> and "the man behind the paintbrush" chooses colors that draw customers. >> part of the formula with the roadside attraction is people want to be able to take pictures that they can share when they get home. ernie had an eye for what would make a great photo. painting things in bright, garish colors was a way to make those dinosaurs pop out. >> after a year of construction, ernie's ready to open his prehistoric gardens. so, what was the reaction initially? >> they loved it. >> and not just the tourists. do you have some recollections as a kid of playing in that park? >> oh, my gosh, do i? like, i just got chills, yeah. >> ernie's great-granddaughter tells us why. that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question... the film "jurassic park" made an infamous villain out of the velociraptor. how big was the dinosaur in real life? the size of a...

the answer after the break.

>> so, how big were velociraptors in real life? the speedy dinosaurs were only the size of a turkey. >> it's 1955. accountant ernie nelson has quit his office job, uprooted his family, and depleted his life savings to create a

roadside dinosaur attraction in southwest oregon, along the pacific coast highway. that's a big jump from being an accountant. >> he just had a real drive. he wanted to create something and share it with everybody. >> on new year's day, ernie's "prehistoric gardens" is finally ready. signs point the way from the highway. admission's 50 cents for adults, a quarter for kids. to the family's relief, tourists flock to it, just as ernie predicted. so, what was the reaction initially? >> they loved it. we would walk with them through the gardens. we would point and tell them what the name of the dinosaur was. >> the family enlists every visitor to spread the word. >> we used to put on bumper stickers. it said prehistoric gardens on it. it showed a picture of a tyrannosaurus rex. >> bennii spends almost all her time at the gardens during the park's first few years. and her daughter, kiki, born in

1957, does, too. in fact, when bennii divorces in 1959, she moves away, leaving kiki to be raised by her grandparents in the family home, right on the property. kiki watches her grandfather expand his shangri-la year after year. >> i remember rvs and trailers parked everywhere. >> was it magical to watch him create this? >> magical, yes. he would get, like, a just big, you know, grin on his face when he would see kids coming in, and they'd be squealing with the parents. i think it was really important for him to see people be happy. >> after high school, kiki ventures beyond the dino park but within a year returns. what brought you back? >> i really like being around my grandparents, and i didn't want to do anything different. >> it was a life kiki would also want for her daughter, rain, who's born in 1982 and spends her childhood playing amongst the massive dinosaurs.

do you have some recollections as a kid of playing in that park? >> oh, my gosh, do i? like, i just got chills, yeah. my whole childhood was that park. my friends and i, we'd kind of climb up the stegosaurus or we'd climb up the elasmosaurus and slide down his back. we would even hide in the bushes sometimes and make noises and stuff when the guests came by. [ laughs ] >> but the world has changed in the four decades since the 47-year-old accountant chucked everything to open his prehistoric gardens. the "jurassic park" generation doesn't see these guys so much as prehistoric creatures but corny 1950's kitsch. fewer visitors turn in to the aging park that's increasingly difficult for its octogenarian founder to maintain. >> the '80s and the '90s were really, really tough, and my great-grandmother had a stroke. so, that set the family back. there was some tough times, definitely. >> did dad ever consider selling or closing? >> oh, no, oh, no, unh-unh.

that was his baby. he loved the prehistoric gardens. >> loved them till the day he dies, in 1999, a dinosaur himself at age 91. his funeral is held right in the park near his favorite creature -- that 46-foot-high brachiosaurus. >> and it rained, and it hailed, and it snowed, and there was sunshine. it was very, very magical, very magical. >> a few months later, ernie's wife, kari, passes away. the will does not say who should inherit the business. did your grandfather sit down at some point and say, "here's what i want to happen with the park"? >> no, i think he was hoping that someone would carry it on, but i don't think he thought about who was going to do it. >> ernie's daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter now must choose. keep his dream alive or cash out? it's near the coast, if not right on it.

you know what that property is worth. >> mm-hmm. mm-hmm. >> did you ever think about selling or closing the park? that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. the answer when we return.

>> the snorkasaurus is the family pet of fred and wilma flintstone. >> in 1999, ernie nelson leaves behind 70 acres of oregon coastland, evenly dividing the property among his two children

and granddaughter, kiki. the inheritance includes his prehistoric gardens, a roadside attraction, featuring 23 life-size dinosaur replicas that ernie created himself. >> he loved dinosaurs. like, he absolutely loved them. when everybody else told him he was crazy, he just said, "no, i'm gonna build dinosaurs." to think of how much strength and tenacity he had. >> but now that he's gone, the fate of the 44-year-old dino park is unclear. ernie's daughter bennii, now in her mid-60s, has no interest in taking over the reins. >> i don't have a sense of business. i don't have the drive. >> so, she and her brother opt to put the dino park, family home, and surrounding forest up for sale. originally purchased for $17,000, it could be a dino-mite windfall. bennii's daughter, kiki, agrees initially, then has

second thoughts. >> i didn't want the gardens to go with the whole lump sum because i didn't want it to go to someone that didn't have the passion. >> that's because prehistoric gardens isn't just a park to kiki. it's the only home she's really known, and she's never wanted to leave. you love it that much? >> i kind of feel a little bit of my grandfather in me. he had to be there every day, and i feel that. >> you couldn't live without that. >> no, i don't think so. >> so, the three heirs carve out 44 acres of ernie's land along the ocean. bennii and her brother get that. it's valued in the millions. the remaining 26 acres, including all the dinosaurs and the roadside-attraction business, go to kiki, now a single mom in her early 40s, and raising her teenage daughter, rain. did people say, "what, are you nuts"? >> yeah, they thought she was crazy, you know, like she's sitting on a gold mine, and she's keeping it.

>> running the dino park proves more difficult than either mother or daughter imagines. >> i resented the gardens when i was younger, just because it took my mom away from me all the time. >> fifteen years later, the job's no easier. >> she works there every single day -- 12-, 14-hour days. she's the janitor. she is the ticket taker. she has to clean the dinosaurs. she does it all. >> planning any vacations? >> not right now. >> ever consider a sick day? >> not really, no. >> nowadays, about 200 guests visit the park daily during peak tourist season. at 12 bucks for an adult and 8 for a kid, the park brings in around $150,000 a year. but there's not much money left over after taxes, landscaping, and costly dinosaur repairs. he looks like he may have had an injury. >> pteranodon did have an injury. a tree came down on his cute,

little wing and broke it. so, it was just dangling for quite some time, but, as you can see, it needs a little bit more work again. >> are you living on the edge, kiki, to make this all happen? >> a little bit. it's kind of a one day at a time. >> she's constantly putting the park before herself. sometimes she had to put it before her family. >> do you get it? >> i get it, but i don't get it. i get it because it's her legacy, and it's what she knows. but it zaps her energy, and it takes away her life. >> a life, rain says, that could be so much easier for her mom. >> when things are tough, i've been, "well, mom, you know, you could sell it and retire and live on the beach," but i don't think she'll sell it. >> so, you're never gonna let it go? >> no. >> and yet, with all her determination to continue her grandfather's legacy, has kiki made any plans for the dino park to outlast her? has your mom ever sat you down and said, "we need to talk about the future of the park"? >> never. it's a running theme in our

family that nobody talks about it. >> doug kirby has seen this scenario many times before. >> a lot of attractions that were the vision of a single person -- you can feel their enthusiasm around everything. by the third generation, it's tough to say whether that's gonna be a generation that's gonna carry it on. i've seen great parks that, all of a sudden they're gone, demolished. >> kiki's best hope for a successor is her daughter, rain. oh, and did we mention that she got married and ran off to europe? do you think there's more than a 50% chance they'll step up, like you did? >> probably 75. >> not 100. >> not 100. >> could you ever see, rain, going back to oregon? what's your "strange inheritance" story? we'd love to tell it. send me an e-mail, or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com. my father passed this truck down to me, that's the same thing i want to do with you. it's an emotional thing to watch your child grow up

and especially get behind the wheel. i want to keep you know, stacking up the memories and the miles and the years. he's gonna get mine -but i'm gonna get a new one. -oh yeah when it's time for your old chevy truck to become their new chevy truck, there's truck month. get 18% of msrp cash back on all silverado 1500 crew cab lt pickups when you finance with gm financial. that's $9,000 on this silverado. plus, during truck month make no monthly payments for 90 days.

>> now back to "strange inheritance." >> kiki mcgrath inherited

prehistoric gardens, a dinosaur park which her grandfather, ernie nelson, first opened in 1955. she's dedicated her life to keeping the roadside attraction in the family and in business. what about when you can't do it anymore? >> well, hopefully someone in my family will want to continue on. >> that puts the pressure on kiki's 34-year-old daughter, rain. she's married and living 5,000 miles away, in london. >> i'm really happy right now. this is where i want to be, and it would take a lot to go back and work at the gardens. >> but in the back of your mind, could you ever see, rain, going back to oregon with your husband? >> not full-time. it's a part of me, but i don't want to be defined by it. >> that may not be so easy for rain. >> so, there's just a lot of guilt that i feel, being this far away from home and, you know, not being there to help her.

but -- sorry, guys. >> meantime, back in southern oregon, prehistoric gardens still has the power to delight travelers who pull over, stretch their legs, and check out ernie nelson's dinosaurs, not yet extinct. >> i've heard of this place since i was a kid. this place is kind of legendary. >> i think it's a must-see because a couple people just built this by themselves. it's just a great thing to see. >> don't you ever come out here and say, "i can't do this anymore"? >> mm-hmm. yeah, i do think that, but when i come out to the registry room and look at these different remarks that people have made, it brings back a feeling of resurgence. >> oh, my goodness -- "haven't been here in fifty years"? >> mm-hmm. >> a boyhood fascination never outgrown compels a frustrated accountant to build a dinosaur playground. the future of the prehistoric gardens may be uncertain, but for now, this

strange inheritance remains a testament to the will of bennii's father, kiki's grandfather, and rain's great-grandfather to seize his dream and share it with the world. >> it's more than just a park now, because it's so ingrained in the history of the place. it's not just our park. it's everybody's now. >> a lot of people tell me that, that go through the gardens. they tell me it's magical. i hear that all the time. there's a magical something out there. >> but whatever happened to the other part of ernie's land that kiki did not inherit, here along the pacific coast highway? her mother and uncle sold it for 1.6 million bucks and split the profits. the new owners have kept the land undeveloped and say they plan to one day either donate it to the state of oregon or place it in a trust in order to protect its magnificent rain forest forever. i'm jamie colby.

thanks so much for watching "strange inheritance." and remember -- you can't take it with you. the >> i will nominate judge brett kavanaugh. >> u.s. to take away our constitutional rights. gerri: president trump tapped a republican favorite setting the stage for a grueling confirmation battle. trained at the dow posted its best day in the month of over 320-point. the start of a summer rally.