California, Part 2

April

Bishop, California

So the adventure continues.....

We arrived in Bishop, California on Easter Sunday, March 31st. The Highlands RV Park office was closed until Tuesday, so we made ourselves at home and checked in Tuesday morning.

Bishop Creek, up near Lake Sabrina.

This RV park is situated near the north end of Bishop, very conveniently located for exploring the surrounding areas. During the course of our month here in Bishop, we had a great time discovering this area, including Mammoth, the ghost town of Bodie, Manzanar and so much more. Met a nice couple during our stay, Dave and Georgia.  Had some fun evenings with them, trading experiences. 



Us, with Georgia and Dave

Our first few days were spent checking out the town of Bishop itself. They have an outstanding Chamber of Commerce/Tourist Bureau where we obtained tons of printed literature pertaining to the things to do and places to go here, including the best hiking areas in the National Forest. Best of all, the gentleman we spoke with that was working that day had the best information on unpublished places to go.So we were all set early on to have a fabulous time in this area.

 


Lake on one of our drives, name unknown

An unnamed campground on Hwy 168

Jim and I have always loved to take road trips and explore. (I'm sure we covered every paved and most dirt roads in New Mexico while we lived there.) As we travel, we still take many road trips and have made so many great discoveries that we wouldn't otherwise have seen.

Pine Creek, one of our favorite places to have a beer and cigar.
(Jim's beautiful photo)

Like Benton Hot Springs....we were out driving one day shortly after our arrival and took Highway 6 toward Nevada. Before we got to the border, we turned on to Highway 120, which took us through Benton Hot Springs. 

Overlooking Benton Hot Springs.               (Jim's Photo)

This "town" is comprised of a few households and a hot springs resort...couldn't tell if it was still in business, though. The interesting part is that we stopped to take pictures of some old farm buildings and machinery and discovered the hot springs bubbling right out of the ground on the side of the road.....don't see that every day!

Bodie:  The good old days!

Some kind of mine apparatus

 BODIE

I was excited to see the ghost town of Bodie.  We had been here early in our marriage, but neither of us remembered much about it. Unfortunately, the day we went it was extremely windy which made it a little un-fun, but we spent about 3 hours roaming the town, visiting boot hill, and really wondering what it must have been like to live there during the town's heyday.

An old truck grill

Strangest headstone I've ever seen.

Many of the buildings are still intact and have some furnishings. None of it is restored. It is being kept in a state of "arrested decay". Nice visiting some history.




Much to Jim's delight, there weren't too many museums within driving distance. We did see the Laws Railroad Museum and the Japanese interment camp, Manzanar,  while we were here. 

The Laws Museum covers 11 acres and is filled with transplanted buildings and railroad and mining equipment, all kinds of period paraphenalia and garb. Took us hours to go through it. Another fun historical outing.

Quite a general store

2 lambs sharing 1 head...bizarre

Really need a perm?

LINK TO MORE PHOTOS FROM OUR BISHOP STAY













Then there was Manzanar,   Not so much fun as very informative. Neither one of us was familiar with the story of the Japanese interment camps and we both learned quite a bit. I'm glad we went.

Hard to believe this happened

Manzanar Memorial

LINK TO MORE MANZANAR PHOTOS

























We drove up to Mammoth Lakes a few times, once just to visit the Mammoth Brewing Company for some beer tasting. We had two different beer "flights" (where they give you tastes of many beers). The first flight we tried was the "Seasonal" brews. There were about 6 beers that they only make at certain times of year. The second flight, "Originals", was comprised of their everyday beers. Sad to say, neither of us liked ANY of their beers. Even their own Root Beer was terribly sweet. Their other beers - the ales, pilsners, etc.- were all flavored with some other taste....apple, juniper, grapefruit, blueberries....ICK. We really just wanted a beer! 

Another time we went up there just to see the sights and have lunch. Beautiful area.

Silver Lake, courtesy of Jim

Lower Twin Lake at Mammoth Lakes

Another beautiful Mammoth photo, courtesy of Jim

If you are traveling by this area, there is a small town south of Bishop called Independence. Just outside of town, there is the Mt. Whitney Historical Fish Hatchery. Built in 1916, the structure is made of local river rock. Absolutely beautifully crafted. It is run by volunteers now, not a real hatchery anymore, but worth the time to visit. The grounds are very nice and it makes a nice rest stop off of Highway 395.










On the day we were finally able to visit the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest (when they opened the road), we first went to the hatchery, then had lunch in Lone Pine and drove up the mountain to see the Mt. Whitney Portal.  We had heard about it and wanted to see...wow! It is the entrance to the trail to the top of Mt. Whitney. We had no thoughts to hike that particular trail....the peak is over 14,000 feet in elevation. Not good for us ex-smokers! We did enjoy the waterfall near the parking lot. Anyway, we wanted to be at the Bristlecones at sunset. After our trip to the Portal, I told Jim to take me home before going to the Bristlecone Forest. I wasn't feeling 100% and just wanted a quiet afternoon. Turns out he had a marvelous day for photography and brought back some striking photos. So sorry I missed the opportunity! That'll teach me!

Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest - what I missed!  (I had to beg for this one!)

I certainly enjoyed our time in the Owens Valley, traveling to all the creeks and lakes. We didn't get to shoot Mono Lake like we wanted to. Crowley Lake, June Lake and Mammoth Lakes are all gorgeous and worthy of note. I spent a lot of time shooting pictures with my Nikon D90. Jim really gave his newest camera, the Olympus OMD EM-5 a workout. I think out of our 30 days here, I took pictures 15 or 16 of those days. This area has been an enjoyable place for us to live.

Moving on, further north. We'll see where we land.

Remember, click on photos to enlarge!