A Grand Road Trip

It was the Monday before Thanksgiving and I was eager for a long weekend road trip. I'd been fussing about seeing the Grand Canyon once again - "and hey! it's only a 12-hour drive", I said - so DH agreed to the adventure.

After 2-1/2 hours of bumper to bumper traffic Wednesday afternoon, still in the greater Bay Area, I acknowledged that likely that 12 hour drive did not include time for traffic, gas, food, or need to use the potty. "Ah well, it's a road trip.... where we end up is not as important as the joy of getting there" (sez she who is not driving).

First night at the Motel 6 in Bakersfield seemed a little less than exciting. "But hey, it's sure to be more fun tomorrow."

We awoke early to glorious sunshine, jumped in the car and headed for breakfast in Mojave. Wait - what might be open for breakfast on Thanksgiving day? Only answer to that is Denny's - the place that never closes.

As we entered Mojave I was struck by two things... big airplanes and religious signs. Never have I seen a town where so many residents and businesses alike have quotations from the Bible printed on big signs put in their front yards. At first it was kinda cute.... but as we drove around the cute feeling turned to one just a little bit creepy. I wonder what all this is about?

It was easier to figure the planes. Got this from Wikipedia:
"The airport is now the home of various aerospace companies and institutions such as Scaled Composites and the civilian National Test Pilot School. The town was home to the Rutan Voyager, the first aircraft to fly around the world nonstop and unrefueled. The airport is also the first inland spaceport in the United States, the Mojave Spaceport, which was the location of the first private spaceflight, the launch of SpaceShipOne on June 21, 2004.
After winning the Ansari X Prize, Burt Rutan quipped that the isolation of the Mojave Desert fosters invention. "Innovation is what we do here," he said, "because there's not much else to do in Mojave".

While we could not access the area to see SpaceShipOne close up, we were able to see this marvelous Rotary Rocket. The plan was for it to use helicopter rotors for lift. I believe that technically it did fly, although nowhere near so far as hoped.



also found this grand old Western prop plane there.



Another day of driving brought us to the town of Williams, the fork in the road to the Grand Canyon. Thanksgiving buffet at the local eatery was a bit of a let-down.... "but hey! tomorrow we'll be at the Canyon!"

In the 1991 movie Grand Canyon, Danny Glover (as Simon) tells us: "You ever been to the Grand Canyon? Its pretty, but thats not the thing of it. You can sit on the edge of that big ol' thing and those rocks... the cliffs and rocks are so old... it took so long for that thing to get like that... and it ain't done either! It happens right there while your watching it. Its happening right now as we are sitting here in this ugly town. When you sit on the edge of that thing, you realize what a joke we people really are... what big heads we have thinking that what we do is gonna matter all that much... thinking that our time here means didly to those rocks. Just a split second we have been here, the whole lot of us. That's a piece of time so small to even get a name. Those rocks are laughing at me right now, me and my worries... Yeah, its real humorous, that Grand Canyon. Its laughing at me right now. You know what I felt like? I felt like a gnat that lands on the ass of a cow chewing his cud on the side of the road that you drive by doing 70 mph."

DH had never been there. Everybody's gotta see the Grand Canyon at least once in their life.

Returning that night to Williams, I was delighted to find the town beautifully lighted for the holiday season.




Do we want to stay here another night? Nah, this little town of Seligman looks interesting. It's a ways back toward California on old Route 66.... let's check it out, stay the night.

Magnificent photos and story nena!! Your landscape images are fabulous as usual. And I loved the picture of the old Western Airlines Convair (??). I think I was a passenger on that once. Just kidding. When I was flying I used to occasionally go up and land at Mojave and wander around that old plane graveyard. Plus it was good crosswind landing practice Fun stuff. Thanks for putting this together, ++Ken++

As a town, Seligman is a kick. I recommend it as a side trip for anyone in the area.

It was well past dark when we arrived. Hunting season was in full swing and the town was filled with elk hunters aged 5-65. Word was the hunting was poor, but spirits were high in town that night.

Purely by chance we ended up at the Canyon Lodge, a place I recommend as head/shoulders above all other motels in which I've stayed. Soon as we opened the door to the room, I burst out laughing.... and continued to smile at the whimsy apparent throughout.

The room was a kick, brought the beautiful art of tacky to a whole new level. Theme rooms.... not sure if this was "Hollywood" or "The Marilyn Room". The larger pix are are jigsaw puzzles that have been modge-podged and framed. The walls of the room are covered with these pix.




Even the toilet paper made me laugh:



Bed was huge and very comfortable, tv was large with tons of channels, but the breakfast was what most pleased DH. Entering the lobby one found two basket of free candy and cookie treats plus a sign pointing to the back room for free continental breakfast. As well as the usual coffee/tea/hot chocolate and pastry treats was this, with notation that milk and orance juice were in the frig and to help oneself.




Heading out the door and looking across the street - a nice Edsel parked in front of the local dry goods store.




Note that the room was very affordable and included a 10% discount on food at the best restaurant in town - Lilo's..... and yes, the food was terrific.

Heading through Arizona and back to California surrounded by desert and no-trespass military grounds, I recalled that old Firesign Theatre script when the voice of W.C. Fields booms out....
"It behooves me, 'pon this Historic Occasion, to dedicate the Stinkin' Desert National Historical Monument and Cobalt Testing Range!"

Guess I kinda dozed off.... and when I awoke it was to a smell which is the desert equivalent to new mown hay (a smell I grew up loving in the midwest). I looked.... then looked again. Yep, sure enough - the smell was that of wet sage and desert brush.... and if one looked to the distant mountains it was obvious the storm that was nearby.

Over another lunch at the Mojave Denny's we listened to weather reports. The report from Las Vegas warned us not to head that way which was necessary if we wanted to see Death Valley. Oh well. Let's just head for Highway 395, enjoy ourselves with side trips along the way. Right.

As we began driving north, we could see the storm well to the east of us. Rather pretty, don't you think?




And then although the storm seemed closer, there was a second rainbow. (did I mention how much I love rainbows?!)




Oh this is nice - it's gonna be a beautiful trip!

A beautiful drive, she said..... well, yes.... but the storm does seem to be coming a bit closer, and the wind is picking up so that it's work to hold the car to the road.




After a few more miles we were in the thick of it. This picture was taken about 2 p.m...... after that it was just snowy, dark, blowing wind. Lovely, but a bit anxiety-provoking for the remaining drive.

After driving a long while on chains-required road - we had no chains nor snow tires nor 4-wheel drive - we arrived at Bishop and pulled over to look reassess. It was just 6 p.m. and wonder of wonder, we were parked right in front of Barbara & Galen Rowell's Mountain Light Gallery. DH studied info on his smart phone, I took that short time to enjoy the Gallery.

Back in the car, DH was feeling adventurous, didn't want to stay in Bishop, wanted to head for Lee Vining. My protests were voiced about road, snow, ice, blowing wind, no visibility.... buy hey! where's my sense of adventure. We take off for Lee Vining. Suffice it to say the one-hour drive took us 2-3/4 hours. Exhausted, I went straight to bed while DH found some restaurant supper.

Next morning I was up with the sun. Looked outside the window and was blinded by the glare off total ground covering of snow and ice. Snow plows were already (or still?!) on the road, hotel guests were slipping and sliding across the parking area.

After breakfast at the Nicely Cafe, we ignored the sign cautioning chains required all the way to Tahoe and took off. Stopping for a view of Mono Lake, one would hardly have known of the snow storm.... except all roads into the Lake area were closed at the highway. The Lake was so beautiful in the morning sun.




I thought not much could be more beautiful that Mono in the morning..... until we arrived at Topaz Lake. It was a glorious site!




We made it to Tahoe, stayed at Harrah's so I could win $1.13 gambling - did you know they now have 1-cent machines? Big chunks of snowy ice were floating on the lake.

Next day we arrived back in Berkeley with these pix and the memories of our vacation.

nena

[Edited on 12-10-2009 by Natalie Ann]

12valve.... By all means check out the Mojave Denny's. Best one around.
Really, it is one of the best Denny's at which I've eaten. Vegetables were fresh and crispy, tomatoes for my grilled cheese were perfectly ripe.... and when we told a staff member that we were sorry he had to work on Thanksgiving he replied, "That's ok, I like working here." Everyone seemed to have that attitude. I'm one who believes that the vibrations of the cook and server affect the food so now this Denny's has a special spot in my heart.

nena

Clever, amigo.

Also Igor, I think you are a more discerning Denny's patron than I. It was Thanksgiving. Everything was closed including markets. I was thanking the goddess and singing hallelujahs over the mere fact of my tomato being red and also tasting exactly like... a tomato.

nena

Thanks for the update. I figured that out as I Googled it to see exactly where it was.
From the number of the responses, maybe there should be a sub-forum, "395"
Actually, I usually end up at Primos in Mojave. It seems that by the time I get there, I am ready for a bite. Bishop is too far to drive before eating, although I like to stop at the Mountain Light Gallery. A friend of mine will be exhibiting there soon.

Quote:

Originally posted by Baja12valve From the number of the responses, maybe there should be a sub-forum, "395"

Such a beautiful part of the world with such an interesting history and so many places to explore----and there do seem to be lots of fans here. One of our favorite places.

But I do prefer it with a little less weather than Nena's photos show---some weather, but not that much!

Mojave, has anyone ever been there when it was NOT windy?

Nena, I keep going back to the Topaz lake photo---just really love that one.

Diane

It's looking like I need another trip down 395 - on a non-holiday weekend. Do all that exploring hoped for over the Thanksgiving holiday, eat well in Bishop and Boron, visit the Mojave airplane museum. I'm also going to be sure to check the center of my tomato no matter where I eat, as well as to nicely ask someone about the plethora of Bible quote signs. Already it's shaping up to be another fun trip.

nena

[Edited on 12-11-2009 by Natalie Ann]

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