We were happy to leave Reno in our rear view mirror as we were not impressed with “biggest little city in the world”. We drove south and through the downtown area of Carson City in search of cheaper gas before hitting California. What a beautiful city! Clean, grassy and vibrant.
We continued down the 395 (starting to work on the Cali lingo) which took us on the east side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. What a wonderful drive, although we saw some burned out areas from the wild fires:
Once we crossed the border into California we had to go through their state border patrol. How audacious is this state? The agent asked where we were coming from and I stated Reno and then he let us pass. The first gas station that we saw had these prices:
Really? Welcome to the great state of California! Good thing we spent the extra time and found gas in Nevada and saved $2.40 a gallon!
We pulled over in the little town of Bridgeport because as we drove through they were having a car show and there were a few places for lunch. Bear enjoyed getting out and walking around a bit. After viewing a few cars we wanted to go into the brewery and have lunch while sitting on their patio. No dogs allowed – even on the patio. Bummer! We walked across the street carrying an orange flag to eat at the Jolly Kone.
Burgers were tasty, but the patty was very small. Bear enjoyed his! We both got an ice cream cone, soft serve like my pickleball skills, and they were good.
Katrina dropped hers while taking a picture and Bear enjoyed lapping it up. The place was nice enough to replace her cone.
We pulled into the Boulder Creek RV Resort just outside of Lone Pine:
Our spot was nice, but the entire place is gritty with no grass. What do you expect in the high desert? Since we got in a little later than normal, we decided to run back into town and eat at a cute Texas BBQ place. The food was fairly good. After a quick meal we went back to the Busse Bus and relaxed while watching the US Open Women’s Final.
Beautiful sunsets over the Sierra Nevada range and Mount Whitney, the tallest mountain in the Continental United States at 14,505 feet.
The next day we headed up to Manzanar, one of the ten internment camps that the United States put US Citizens of Japanese descent into after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. I believe that this is one of the biggest blights on our storied history.
Manzanar opened in the spring of 1942 and closed near the end of 1944 and housed over 11,000 first or second generation Japanese Americans. It was comprised of 36 blocks with 16 barracks in each block. Each block also had a women’s latrine, a men’s latrine, a laundry building and a ironing facility. The entire compound, about one square mile, was circled with a five-string barbed wire fence and eight guard towers. There were also buildings for mess halls, churches, schools, a hospital, a theater, an auditorium, administration buildings, fire station, and recreation fields. There was also a factory where the detainees created military camouflage netting.
There was a cemetery where roughly 140 people were buried during the time of their internment. The Japanese created a memorial to commemorate their lives:
Do you see anything interesting about this flag?
Beginning in 1992, refurbishment of Manzanar has been underway to preserve and remember how Japanese citizens were treated during WWII. An interesting fact is that after the United States were attacked on September 11, 2001 American Muslims have been making a pilgrimage along with Japanese Americans to Manzanar on an annual basis.
We really enjoyed learning about Manzanar and the history of the United States and the Japanese who lived there. In particular we enjoyed the reminder of the quote from Dr. Martin Luther King:
In the afternoon we visited the Museum of Western Film History located in Lone Pine.
Unbeknownst to us, the foothills of the Sierra Nevada called Alabama Hills were where hundred’s of movies and TV shows were filmed starting with silent movies in the 1920’s through Science Fiction movies. Although the heyday was the 1930’s and 1940’s, the backdrop of the mountains are still used today for commercials and alien planets backdrops. Here are some of the older films and TV shows that I had heard about that were completely or partial filmed here:
And some of the newer ones that my younger readers my know:
We learned that there is a film festival hosted here every year. It might be fun to attend one year.
We headed back to the coach and made dinner. Steaks on the grill and brussel sprouts:
Tasty and yummy!
The following day we took Bear and drove into the Alabama Hills, the scenic area nestled between the jagged peaks of the Sierra Nevada and the Owens Valley. It consists of nearly 30,000 acres just west of the town we were staying in, Lone Pine and is formed of rounded rocks and eroded hills. Prospectors sympathetic to the Confederate cause named their mining claims after the C.S.S. Alabama, the Confederate warship responsible for wreaking havoc to Union ships during the United States Civil War. This is the region where so many movies were filmed that we learned about at the museum yesterday. Here are some landscape pictures:
And a couple of pictures of cacti:
We were also able to take Bear on some hikes. The first one was to Mobius Arch:
Bear loved running free in his little booties as the ground was very hot:
We then drove over to see the Eye of the Alabama:
The Heart Arch:
Some more landscapes:
Now I don’t condone graffiti, but I thought that this one was hilarious:
Kinda like a female Jabba the Hut!
We got back to Boulder Creek in time to sit by the pool. Unfortunately, the wild fire smoke rolled in and blotted out the sun. Good news for me as the sun is not my friend! Another wonderful meal at the coach of salad, turkey burgers, and tomato and mozzarella salad.
Yea though I walk through the valley of death…..
We got up early to drive into Death Valley
to catch the sunrise at Zabriskie Point. Here’s a map to orientate you to our visit:
We drove in from the west (left) side of the map to the circled #3. It took us over two hours! Although it was somewhat smoky due to the California wild fires, we were able to appreciate the vista:
From there we headed over to Dantes View (#5) to look down into Death Valley itself.
Then we drove around the mountain ridge to Badwater (#1). Badwater is located 282 feet below sea level which is the lowest in the North America. Temperatures have reached 134 degrees (July 10th, 1913) – hottest ever recorded worldwide. Here’s a few looking back up at Dante’s View:
Did you notice the sign half way up? Here it is:
Views looking over the Badwater area, including the salt flats:
Check out the salt:
Some people dig holes in the salt to find water about 8 inches down.
Our next stop was Artists Palette (#2). So beautiful even though the pictures can’t capture it:
Awesome color palette! Aptly named.
Do you think?
Next stop was the Golden Canyon were we walked up a few hundred yards. There was a sign that stated don’t walk after 10:00am.
All is not desert in Death Valley as you can see from this picture of the Inn at Death Valley:
Continuing on our trip back to our resort we drove to the Harmony Borax Works (#6) and then drove through Mustard Canyon.
From there we drove to the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes (#4).
Back up and over the Panamint Range to our final stop, Father Crowley Vista Point (#9). The military trains fighter pilots here as they fly through Rainbow Canyon.
We stopped at Diaz Lake near our resort to let Bear play on some grass. Boy did he like that! He was such a good boy all day sitting in the back seat watching the valley go by. It was too hot and we were in a National Park so Bear couldn’t get out and run around.
Back at the Busse Bus we ate some leftovers and prepared to travel the next day. We were off to visit friends, have friends and family visit us, and taste some wines on the Central Coast of California.
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