Highway 395 Along theEastern Sierra Nevadas

When we woke up in Lone Pine, CA we knew we'd have a full day to explore the several towns along this highway and find a place to camp.

It is crazy that when you finally ascend out of Death Valley you are in Lone Pine and have a view of the east side of Mt. Whitney (and Sequoia National Park is just on the other side of Mt. Whitney).  Here is the view across the street from the Comfort Inn (the guys made fun of me because I couldn't wait to step outside--I just took the photo from the breakfast room at the hotel:

When we left the hotel we drove up a street in Lone Pine called Mt. Whitney Portal which leads to the hiking area for Mt. Whitney.  The area is called Alabama Hills (named after the WWII battleship) and a zillion western movies and TV shows were made here with John Wayne, etc. years ago.  We saw several campgrounds on the way--and they have metal cabinets for your food because there's bears out there!  Our plan was to camp further north on Hwy 395.

Our next stop was just 30 minutes north in Independence to see the Manzanar Internment facility that our gov't implemented after the Pearl Harbor attack.  Interesting how I was never taught this in school.  Paul teaches it as part of his 5th grade curriculum--and what we saw and learned was phenomenal.

Above is the view when you enter--the guard posts are original.  There used to be an apple orchard here (manzanar is apple in Spanish).  Many locals opposed the building of this camp and did not participant but other needed the money and helped build the hundreds of barracks and buildings needed here for 10,000 Japanese Americans brought from the west coast of calif to live here under fence and armed guards.

The auditorium that houses the museum was built for the camp and there were dances held--the community tried to make their living quarters they best they could.

 
The barracks were all moved away after the war but they built a couple to see as part of the site now.

The volunteers at the site are Japanese American and the lady inside the museum was one of the most informative volunteers ever.  We bought a book written by a former resident and it is meant for kids and about how baseball made them feel normal and Paul bought a teacher's kit with dvd, maps, books and more.

 (click any photo to enlarge and be able to read)


The guide told us about a self tour to drive and when we did this we found the baseball fields--turns out they had a dozen teams and some women's leagues too.

The "prisoners" had their own churches and temples and descendants visit every year.  There are hundreds of paper cranes in the photo below that people brought here during recent visits.

Another volunteer gave us tips about things to see as we continued north on 395 and gave us a tip to get gas at the next town which will have no taxes for us due to it being a Native American owned gas station.

From Hoover Dam to Death Valley to a Well Deserved Beer at Jakes Saloon in Lone Pine, Calif

As we pulled out of the parking deck at the Hoover Dam after our visit, we discussed briefly the idea of driving over the dam on the two lane road that crosses the top of the dam. One quick look at the traffic backed up creeping slowly across the dam made our decision easy and also glad that we had arrived at 9:00 a.m. and finished before noon. 

We had a lot more to see--next destination was Death Valley, the largest national park in our country.  First, we stopped in nearby Boulder City to stock up on groceries and ice for our huge Coleman cooler.  We weren't sure where we would sleep that night--we figured we would ask a ranger after we left Death Valley for tips on campgrounds.   We headed off to the blazing hot desert of Nevada and California. I may mention the heat several times in this post because I have never really experienced anything like the heat blast in Death Valley. 

Entering Death Valley seemed relatively uneventful.   Just follow the signs. You know something is different though because the drive is a slow decent into this absolutely inhospitable place. I can't imagine a pioneer making a wrong turn and finding themselves faced with this huge expanse of nothing but rock, sand and yes, heat. As the driver and the one responsible for the family trickster running smoothly, I begin to question why we are driving into a hot, dry place with nothing but sand, rock and heat. But the Old Chevy hummed along and the air conditioning blasted away. I did wonder though if the pioneers that did find themselves faced with this route thought the same thing, "Oh the horses are fine and I'm sure there will be water over the next hill."

Right before we entered the official Death Valley we came to a T in the road and a sign that said Death Valley Junction.  Junction of what?-- heat and sand and rock?  But actually there was something out here.  A hotel. A really old hotel and an opera house.  Well, that's what was painted in faded blue on the side of the building. The Amargosa Opera House and Hotel.  Wow, a real live ghost town in the middle of the desert, only it wasn't a ghost town, but an actual working hotel and opera house.  Apparently no one told the ghost that they weren't needed yet.  More on that in a moment.

Sand, rocks, heat, faded paint, old broken gas pumps, and a small neon sign that said open.  I began to see flashes of the dumb horror movies and the dumber teenagers that go into the old abandoned house with the sharp farm instrument hanging on the wall and the scary music all warning them not to go in and yet they do. And of course it never works out for the best.

Well here we are, with my loved ones on a family vacation and we are in a place called DEATH VALLEY and there we are about to open the door to what appears to be an abandoned hotel with only a small open sign flickering in the window. We open the door and instead of some creepy old hotel owner we meet Rich, a very friendly hotel manager and local historian and willing to allow this tourist family to poke around this establishment and ask all sorts of questions.

The hotel was used in 1923 when the borax mining in Death Valley was big and the investors would come into town and needed a place to stay. It also housed some of the miners and attached to the property were other buildings that serviced the miners like a small store, hospital and such.  The opera house was also there to entertain the investors.  Rich told us that the author Zane Grey shamed the investors into providing the funds for this establishment.  

Back in 1967 a New York stage actress named Marta Beckett and her husband found themselves at this junction with a flat tire and stopped.  She peered into the abandoned opera house and found her destiny and stayed.  She did not own the opera house at that time but lived there and spent years painting murals and even painted an audience on the walls of the opera house.  She performed every weekend whether anyone real was in the audience or not and soon the word spread and she did indeed save some local history and she did end up buying the property.  She is still there, and performs n a wheelchair as of just this year and she is 85 years old.  In fact, she was in the next room with some friends when we were talking with Rich.

The hotel is still operating and I was not quite sure who would drive way out here to stay in a old hotel.  Rich said that a lot of Europeans visit and know of Ms. Beckett.  When I mean old, I mean everything was old. The beds, the curtains, the sinks, the carpets, the paint.  Not much has been done to ruin that authentic  feel.  Even the stains on the ceiling looked old. But there was something intriguing about the place. I could see people staying on a dare or some looking to say they stayed a night in Death Valley Junction and lived to tell about it. According to Rich, a lot of people do stay at the hotel--Europeans and Asians mainly, but it did not appear as if anyone was there at the time. 

Remember when I said some forgot to tell the ghost they weren't needed yet. That is because according to Rich the Hotel is haunted and all sorts of strange things happen when guests stay the night. In fact the hotel was featured on the TV show Ghost Hunters. And you know those guys are serious about their ghosts. (The episode can be viewed in parts on YouTube).

We walked down the long corridor and poked around the rooms and even used the bathroom before we left. I mention the bathroom because I asked Rich where they get their water from and he mentioned that the water table was just a few feet below the surface and he gets the softest, and freshest water straight out of the ground beneath the hotel. The soft water was detail not gone unnoticed by our OCD oldest child who needs to be clean all the time (as we learned during this trip).  He kept scrubbing his hands because he thought the smooth feeling on his hands was soap that wouldn't come off. Rich explained it was the extra soft water out of the ground that caused that sensation.  Of course my less than OCD middle child didn't notice anything after he used the restroom because he never washed his hands.

We said our goodbyes and continued deeper into Death Valley, which consists of miles of roads in all directions.  Michele had the guide books and had done her research and knew which sites were which way.  It is true when they say you need more than just an afternoon or a day to see everything.  We stopped at  vista and read about the borax that was mined out of there.  Does Twenty Mule Team sound familiar. It's the name of a cleaner that has been around for a long time and this is where it all started and the mules did cart it away.

(Zabriskies Point.  Click any photo to enlarge)

It  was getting late and we had not yet gotten to the lowest point in the continental US.:  Badwater Basin. We continued to drive through the sand, rocks and heat.  I was now really feeling like the old pioneers, "We've come too far to turn back now!" One more turn down a lonely two lane desert road and we came to the lowest point in the US. It was kind of interesting to see that some one had marked high up on a cliff the mark at which see level would be measured and we were standing 282 feet below sea level.

Yes, cliff, because Death Valley consists of mountains and cliffs as well as sand.  The sun was incredible. We parked the Suburban and walked out into the salt flats. We know it was salt because my wife and youngest son decided to pick up some particles and taste it. I told you it was hot out there. We walked about one hundred yards and got the idea. We could have walked for another 10 days and it would still be the same.

The boys took off their shirts for the walk back to the Suburban.  Oh, and we weren't the only ones taking this walk.  We did pass others at each stop we made in Death Valley.  And everyone was from Europe.  Death Valley is a huge attraction outside of the USA.

One of the other highlights in the Valley was called the Mesquite Sand Dunes.  The sun was setting by this time and we looked at dunes that could have been in the Sahara.  After this we were headed to Highway 395 to the town of Lone Pine.  But it took another hour at least just to get out of Death Valley and over a 4,000 foot mountain with many switchbacks.

 We were long past the point of being able to find a visitor center or ranger station open so Michele called Choice Hotels to find us a room for the night--that is after she could get phone service.   Once the reservation was set up for the Comfort Inn in Lone Pine, CA, we arrived at Highway 395, turned right, and there was the Comfort Inn.  From that point on we never had a warm night camping, which worked out well--who wants to camp in a tent of five people if it is really warm?

After we checked into our hotel it was by now 8:00 p.m. and we drove down the road of this western town where literally the old westerns used to be filmed, and ate at a Mexican restaurant that had excellent food and the waiter suggested what town we should camp in the next night which turned out to be excellent advice.

  

After dinner we drove the boys back to the hotel and they chilled out with TV and wifi for Keegan's IPod and Michele and I drove back down the road again to Jake's Saloon (swinging doors and all) for a beer.  That was one long day.  Oh, and did I mention that across the street from our hotel was Mt. Whitney?  Amazing that within a few hours we saw the lowest elevation and then we saw the mountain that has the highest elevation in the lower 48.

One Week Later and I Join the Guys Out West

Never having been to Las Vegas, NV before, I didn’t know what to expect from the South Point Resort when I picked it for the guys’ stay for two nights.  I just knew it was on the south side of Vegas, that it had a lot of restaurants, a large pool and hot tub, and was $52 a night.  I flew into Las Vegas on a Wednesday, after the guys had arrived there the previous afternoon, and the hotel’s shuttle service took me to the hotel.  It was the first time I had ever been in an airport that had slot machines on every floor.  I walked into the hotel and was in the middle of a casino.  I called Paul, who was at the pool, and said, “Help.”  I joined the guys at the pool and it was hot.  I was ready for some Out West travel.  But the guys wanted to chill, which I knew would be the case after Paul’s solo driving for one week.

At night we drove along the strip, after taking photos under the famous sign.  What an eyeful.  We caught the end of the Bellagio fountains (from the car).  We saw the building of the Pawn Stars show.  Back at the hotel Paul napped, Keegan watched TV and I took Riley and Nolan bowling on another floor.  Tomorrow was going to be a huge day.

We hit the road at about 8:15 for Hoover Dam to the SE of Vegas.  The new bridge was completed just this past October and it was a thrill to see it and walk across it.  But before we got ton the Pat Tillman bridge, I knew we would be stopped at a security stop point.  Since we were early, there were not many cars on the road, and the cars in front of us were waved through.  But went the family Suburban tripster arrived at the checkpoint, I saw the guard to my right on passenger side say, “They’re carrying cargo!” and so we were directed to pull over and stop.  I was dying to get a photo but we all stayed in the vehicle.  Paul got out and they asked him to open the cargo back in the back.  This means he had to take off the 3 bungee cords that secured the 5 folding chairs and then he had to open the large Highlander zippered cargo bag.  Once it was opened they saw a campstove and sleeping bags so luckily he didn’t have to remove everything.  One guard noticed our Georgia license plate with its University of Florida special plate and was surprised that Georgia allowed UF special tags.  The tag was a gift for Paul for his birthday in February, knowing the ‘Burb would be traveling out West this summer.  With the cargo carrier in the back the tag can’t even be seen however. 

One guard pointed several times to our lantern carrying case in the back that was pressed up against the window.  He demanded to know what that was and Paul told him it was our lantern.  Anyway the takeaway item here is that if you want to take something to Hoover Dam that is illegal, drive a car and do not have a cargo carrier in the back.  I jest—we actually got a kick out of being pulled over so that the 6 guards could check us out.

The Tillman bridge spans over Nevada and Arizona and they do a great job with many plaques and info about the project, and the history of the two men for whom the bridge is named, and I got teary eyed reading about Pat Tillman and how he was the oldest of three boys.  There is a time lapse video you can see on YouTube of the bridge being built over 5 years.

We enjoyed the Hoover Dam tour, which starts out with 25 to 30 of us tourists standing shoulder to shoulder in a large elevator which descends 50 floors in no time flat.  The hallways we were then in were original from about 80 years ago.  I think Nolan is a budding engineer and all the info was right up his alley.  After the tour we walked across the Hoover Dam and it really spectacular.  Of course the boys had to lean way over and look, just as they did on the new bridge, which freaks me out and they told me, Mom, here there are railings and walls—we didn’t have anything like that at the Grand Canyon.  If you don’t like this height, how are you going to survive that height???”  We also got a kick out of stepping back and forth into AZ and NV.

  

The North Rim of the Grand Canyon

It was a late night getting into Page, AZ but a good night sleep, local suggestions, and a free breakfast and we were off to see the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The drive there was easy and it didn’t take too long. We were aiming to camp at DeMotte Campground and I was anxious to get there so as to secure a site (first come first serve). Just a couple of hours after leaving Page and we were setting up with the blessings of the DeMott camphost, Roy. Roy looks like Festus from the old Gunsmoke TV show. RIP. Worn cowboy hat, pants tucked inside of his boots and a long barrel pistol, to scare away bears, he says, and a country twang finished off the ensemble and made for a perfect greeting to two nights of camping in the Grand Canyon.

 It was a little cool when we arrived and I noticed that we had very little trouble getting a site. Turns out that the winds have been blowing 40-50 mph and the chill in the air was only going to get chillier. (Can’t plan the weather.) We set up camp, grilled hotdogs for lunch, and made our way into the park and to the Lodge at North Rim. I know it sound cliché but Wow! Our first sight of the Grand Canyon was, well, breathtaking and I assure you it wasn’t the 50mph gusts doing that. My youngest explained it perfectly by saying that it doesn’t look real. It looks like a painting or a picture.  The vastness of the canyon is so great that your eyes have a hard time focusing. It’s like your autofocus on your camera when you try to take a picture of the sky or something. It just can’t focus. I felt the same way. The depth and breadth of the canyon created a sensation I have never felt. I am having a hard time coming up with the right way to describe it. Beautiful and lucky to live in such a wonderfully diverse country also comes to mind. Thank God for digital photography because that first ten minutes would have cost us a bundle in film development in the old days.

We took it all in and decided to head back to camp for dinner (a 25 minute drive) and to finish setting up our home for the next two nights.  We were lucky in that Roy said it was still safe to have a campfire just keep it low and we could collect whatever was on the ground to burn. Well that kept Nolan and Riley busy for the next few hours. The wind died down as the sun set and as the temperature dropped. It got cold that night. There was ice in our drinking water container the next morning.  Getting breakfast ready for the three boys  was a little more bearable with the hot camp coffee.  As the sun came up, it warmed up and began to feel a little more comfortable.

The first night in the tent at DeMotte I looked at the brochure the Grand Canyon ranger gave us at the gate and we discussed what to do the next day.  We decided to hike the Cape Final Trail. It seemed doable.  Our hike meandered through a pine forest and eventually followed along the rim and exposed more breathtaking vistas. The most amazing thing to me was the lack of other people. There were the occasional couples or smaller families but we were pretty much alone to enjoy the experience in peace and quiet.  Amazing that something was so incredibly beautiful, and no crowds.

We took a another slew of photos and finished back at the parking area for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich picnic and granola bar lunch and we were off to explore smaller but no less spectacular hikes. We made our way to Angel’s Window. Again, I can’t describe the absolutely incredible feeling I got standing there with my sons looking out over this geological masterpiece.  We spent the rest of the day taking pictures that we knew Mom (Michele) would never let us take when we bring her back here on our way back.

Another cold night at DeMotte and we were up with coffee, scrambled eggs and tortillas and loaded up the Suburban and drove about 4 hours to our accommodations Mom/Michele had set up for us in Vegas. Let’s just say that the South Point Casino and Resort was not the quaint family resort away from the glitz of the Vegas strip. We figured that out pretty quick at the registration desk located in the lobby/casino/adult playground. Complete with slots, blackjack, and vampires betting the farm on the next roll of the dice, and not to mention the thong clad waitresses who kept the beverages fresh for the above mentioned Vampires. Needless to say, the boys and I, smelling like camp smoke and dusty from camping and Red River and the North rim were ….surprised. And this was our camp site for the next two nights before we headed to the East Sierra Nevada Mountains of CA.

I can sum up pretty much the experience when as  we toured the Vegas strip from the safety of the family trickster we drove past the world largest gift shop of “naughty toys “ and my youngest wanted to know what a naughty toy was . Or when my thirteen year old read the ad on the back of a bus reading, “Hot Babes, Direct To You”  featuring two very attractive young ladies dressed very much like the waitress at our “campsite”.  Riley just read it out loud, looked at me and snickered. OK, time to get these boys to bed. I couldn’t wait for Mom’s/Michele’s help as she was going to be arriving the next day.

(click on any photo to enlarge)

From Red River, NM to Page, AZ

Update:  Michele joined us on Wed in Las Vegas and on Thursday we had a long day seeing many sites and got into California.  But first, here is the report on getting to Page, AZ.....

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We had a great camping afternoon and night in Red River, NM and I get a little more efficient packing the Suburban. Not quite perfect but I am able to get the tailgate closed.

We left out of Red River drive through Taos area and started our drive to Four Corners and Monument Valley.  I have to say that the driving , though long, has been enjoyable. Wide open two lane scenic back roads is my type of driving. I was especially amazed and blown away by the beautiful country through the Carson National Forest on Rt 64. I would go back to talk to a real estate agent if I had the time and or the money. I begin to picture Michele and myself on a cold spring night sitting in front of a stone fireplace as I look out at the setting sun from by one room lodge pine cabin as we wonder what our, now grown children, are doing and...

“Dad!” “Tell Riley to hand me the map.”

“But Dad, Keegan doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

“Shut up, yes I do. I have it right here and and know exactly where we need to turn.”

“You’re on the wrong page you idiot.”

“Guys, stop the nonsense. Riley, Keegan’s doing fine so knock it off and leave him alone.”  

So goes our travels through more of God’s Country and my brief day dream.

We make our way to the NM/AR border and start our trek to Four Corners. From Shiprock, NM to the border was pretty much dry, dusty and hazy. The smoke from the fires in Southern AZ were being blown in on some pretty stiff winds. As we head west, we see more and more energy company trucks on the road. You soon realize that it is not what you don’t see in this hard scrabble landscape, it is what you don’t see under this hard scrabble landscape that is important. With the price of oil going higher as we head farther from home those oil trucks were busy.

As we head to the red sand and rock of the Navajo nation and it just blows me away at the stark transformations we encounter as we head further west. We know we are heading to a famous land mark but I was not prepared for the anti-climatic experience  of Four Corners set against an incredibly dramatic back drop. The scenery was fantastic, the Four Corners Monument hot, overly priced and if it wasn’t such a unique roadside attraction we might have skipped it to make better time. But we have traveled this far and we are committed to the idea that this road trip will me about seeing things that will not always make sense logistically but need to be seen and accomplished because that what Dads do to their children on these types of trips.

To make our route seem even more ridiculous was the fact that an old Indian hitchhiker we passed in Farmington, NM was actually making better time as he crossed the state. We know this because every time we stopped to take a picture, or see another must-see monument, this old hitchhiker was always ahead of us as we returned to our main route of 64 to 60 into Page.

We continued west to Monument valley and just as every picture has promised you, the views were breathtaking. We passed on entering the Monument Valley’s  “The View” hotel and Park gate as we were tired of more fees. You can really get a great shot from the roads just outside the park. We instead decided to stop in a Navajo jewelry stand a had a great conversation with a local Navajo Indian and discussed what life was like on such a dry sandy location.  He was very nice and pleasant to talk to and gave us a graet deal on a necklace/bracelet set for Micehele’s birthday. I think it was late and he was ready to go home and figured this crazy tourist will never leave unless I give them a deal.  Actually I think it was our youngest son picking out a gift for “Mommy’s”  birthday that loosened those margins for this jewelry seller.  I’m not saying I use my children’s cuteness to work a deal but the price of gas keeps going up like I said. We have to pay for this trip some how.

We finally made it into Page. It was late and we were tired but the scenery getting into Page was spectacular.

--From Paul

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The trip has been exciting so far.  I’ve seen some pretty cool things like Cadillac ranch, monument valley, but the most amazing one was the GRAND CANYON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I thought that a couple of cliffs in monument valley was cool, but boy was I wrong! In New Mexico, I thought there were going to be cactus but there was actually mountains with green trees. We ended up camping on a river in New Mexico!

(click any photo to enlarge)

--From Nolan(a whole other post will be on the Grand Canyon)

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Well, I have to say this vacation has really improved once we got out west. We stayed a night in Red River, New Mexico camping right on the river. Normally I don’t like camping, but it was pretty awesome being able to wash myself with the river water. Next, we had a long day driving in the car on the way to Page, Arizona. During this drive we saw everything from the Rio Grande to  Four Corners, where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah all meet at a point. And finally, as the sun was setting, we saw the famous Monument Valley.

When we got to Page, Arizona, my dad started to flip out, not being able to spot the hotel. He told me to dial the Day’s Inn hotel number and ask them where it was. Turns out it was just 200 ft. away and easily in sight.

--from Keegan

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At this point I think my head may explode from all the sights I have seen in this week. We went from Red River, NM to Page, Arizona stopping at 4 corners and monument valley.  Then we went from Page to camping at the north rim, Grand Canyon for two nights.

There we saw , well, the north rim!-which was spectacular- then we spent one more day camping at the north rim and went on a hike in the grand canyon.   Now on this hike called Cape Final there were probably 7 other people that we saw but we were all spaced out on the trails. I personally think there should’ve been 400x more people on that hike. That’s how good the views on the hike were! Not to mention you only have to walk-not trek for two days like some trails-for only 1.5 miles! That’s a walk park, literally.

Did I make clear to you guys how great the views on this trail was?

--From Riley