Month: November 2016

Meeting daughter Kate at Love Note and Burly’s house this morning, we decided to go to the Visitor’s Center in Lone Pine.  The rest of the group was headed to Death Valley to many of the places we had visited earlier.     Upon looking over our options, we headed north to Mono Lake.

Mono Lake is a salt water lake, just like Salt Lake in Utah.  It was formed 760,000 years ago.  Due to a lack of an outlet for the water, high levels of salts have accumulated in the water. When fresh water springs bubble up under the lake water it forms a solid limestone like material  which eventually forms towers called tufa.

The city of Los Angeles bought up the water rights in this area.   This has caused the level of Mono Lake to be significantly  lowered, so that many of the tufa towers are no longer in the water.   In 1994 the naturalists won legislation against the Los Angeles Water Authority  to reduce its comsumption of water so that the lake could return to a certain level to preserve  the  natural habitat for  birds and other species.   To date, the water has still not returned to  the mandated level.  However, it is a significant that measures have been taken to preserve Mono Lake.

Ever walk along the rim of  a volcano’s crater?  Well that’s what Kate had planned for us next.  Panum Crater is a plug volcano that erupted about 650 years ago and is adjacent to Mono Lake.

Kate and Frank hiking along the rim trail.

Sound like an easy hike?  Well, it wasn’t!   I had no trouble getting my 10,000 steps. On one side we had a great view of Mono Lake.  However,  the wind was so strong, I was afraid I was going to be blown away! Fortunately, I must have been just heavy enough to stay grounded.

In the picture above Frank  is on the left and I am on the  right.

In the evening we enjoyed turkey leftovers at Love Note and Burly’s house with all of the clan and of course the two dogs, eight puppies and Cocoa the chicken. Since we were flying home the next day, Frank, Kate and I said our goodbyes to all before heading to our hotel. Kate’s “hiker family” really were wonderful hosts. We felt very thankful to be so warmly welcomed for this Thanksgiving weekend in Lone Pine and the eastern Sierras.   What great memories!

We arrived at Love Note and Burly’s around 9.   It was decided that Kate, Frank and I would head to Manzamar but would catch up with the others later this morning at the Bristlecone Pine Forest.   Frank and I of course,  didn’t know much about either place, so off we zoomed with Kate in command in our rented Rav 4 SUV.

Manzamar was a camp where Janpanese American were incarcerated during WWII.  In Feb of 1942 President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 which authorized the removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast military areas for national security.   From 1942-1945 120,000 Japanese Americans, 2/3 of them American born, were sent to 10 relocation camps.  Manzanar, being the best preserved, was designated as a National Historic Site in 1996.  This camp held 10,000 detainees and even had an orphanage of 100 children during its operation.

It was weird touring this site.  It was a lot like touring Terzarin, the Nazi concentration we toured near Prague only this was here in the United States.   Certainly not one of our prouder moments.   We watched a film about Manzamar.  In it, it showed Ronald Regan in 1988 issuing a proclamation apologizing to the survivors with a monitor restitution to them.

The site has an information center that was a social hall during the time of the camp and there were restored barracks as well.  One building showed what the rooms were like in 1942 when the detainees first arrived and later in 1943 when they made home made furniture from wood and material they could find to make their living area homier.

A barracks

 

When the detainees left Manzanar there were issued 25 dollars so they could reestablish themselves. A stark reminder of the injustice of war and war time measures!

The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest was our next stop. The problem was that we had to go to the top of the mountain to see them. It was a very winding road to the visitors center. Round and round we went with me getting dizzier and sicker with each revolution. I was sitting in the back and should have moved to the front. I was thrilled when we finally got to the top. By the time we got to the parking lot, we met up with Burly and Love Note and the rest of our group from yesterday minus the Cocoa the chicken and the 8 puppies.

The Bristlecone pine trees grow at an elevation of 9,800 ft to 11,000 ft. After eating a packed lunch, we took the one mile trail through the forest. The signage along the way explained the discovery of the trees and how the scientist in 1953 established how old the trees were. Evidently with little moisture and climate here, the growth circles are very small. At the time it was determined some of the trees were 4,000 years old. In 2013, one was discovered that is 5,066 years old which means it was germinated in 3051 BC.

After we left the mountain and returned to the highway, we went to a local hot springs.

I still wasn’t feeling that great, so Kate, Frank and I decided to skip the swim and headed back to our hotel in Lone Pine.

 

 

Once her friends were home again, we dropped Kate off at Love Note’s house and ate dinner in town.  Once again, I was exhausted but we sure saw a lot of interesting things today!

This morning was sunny but quite cold.  As we were eating breakfast at the hotel, I noticed the flashing billboard in front of our Best Western showed 23 degrees.   The nights get cold in the desert!

Determined to get in some steps before we headed to Burly and Love Note’s, I took a walk in the neighborhood.  It is definitely fall here too but surrounded by mountains, Lone Pine has a frontier feel.  The best way to show you what I mean is through a few pictures.

Around 10 we went to Burly and Love Note’s house. They bought the house about two years ago and it is a work in progress. In spite of it’s unfinished state, it made a very warm and inviting place for 10 adults, 2 babies, 2 dogs, 8 puppies and a chicken named Cocoa.

But I am getting ahead of myself. At first we met Dan, Love Note’s Dad. Before the rest of the company arrived, Kate took us to the Alabama Hills. The area was named after a Conferderate warship that fought bravely and mightly in the civil war. This is an area very close to the house and is noted for filming westerns. Once we arrived I understood exactly why.   You could just picture a cowboy hiding behind one of the boulders with a gun! We took a hike to Möbius Arch.

Once back at the house, we met Linda, Love Note’s mom. While Linda and Love Note worked on the turkey and various fixings, I got to entertain 7 month old Juniper. She decided I was okay after all so I had a pretty easy assignment.

The next guests to arrive where a couple that Love Note and Burly have gotten to know in Santa Barbara. Their baby is just three weeks older than Juniper. With two babies in the house, things certainly livened up. Conversation is pretty easy with two adorable baby girls to steal the show.

Then the real excitement arrived. Love Note’s sister Katie came with her dog Topaz and her 8 four week old puppies and her chicken named Cocoa. Cocoa stayed in a cage in the bathroom. I never used the john with a chicken watching before. Like I said, today’s Thanksgiving provided lots of first!

You would think that getting all the food completed with such a house full of guests might have been difficult, but not so for Love Note and Linda. Around five we sat down to a delicous turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Juniper stole the show by fisting her food down with loud grunts of delight. We didn’t think she would ever stop eating!

All in all, Thanksgiving 2016 turned out to be a wonderful time with our daughter and her hiker “family”.    And for once, daughter Kate wasn’t the youngest one at the table!

This is going to be a first for Frank and me.  We are traveling to Lone Pine, CA to spend Thanksgiving and the weekend with daughter Kate and her hiker friends- Love Note, Burly and their daughter Juniper.   On Tuesday we flew from Philadelphia to Las Vegas.  It was a very uneventful travel day.  The news had forecasted that Thanksgiving was the busiest travel time of the year.  Our flight left at 4pm and although we had TSA precheck (expedited lane) the security lines were all very short.

The plan was that Kate would meet us in Las Vegas, we’d spend the night there and then travel through Death Valley to Lone Pine which is about 4 hours from Las Vegas.

Frank was not happy about driving the rental car through the Vegas strip to get to our hotel.  I thought traffic wasn’t bad and the map on my phone got us there without a hitch.   Frank just hates big cities so immediately his demeanor changes. We had to go back to the airport to pick up Kate around 11, which in EST was 2 am.   We were really exhausted by the time we got to bed.

Poor Kate.   In the morning, I got this picture of her sleeping.  Frank and both snore and this was the only way she could get to sleep.

Our first stop in Death Valley National Park was Dantes View.   It overlooks Badwater Basin and the salt flats.   It was an amazing view.  At this viewpoint we were at an elevation of about 7,000 ft and the Badwater Basin is at 282 ft below sea level making it the lowest elevation in North America.

Our next stop was Zabriskie Point.  Here there were rolling white hills.  Some were black on the top which were from hardened lava rock.   Looking at them you are in awe at the constantly changing  landscape over time.

So as we continued our road trip, we went from the high elevation at Dantes View to Badwater Basin.  It is so hot here that once was a lake has long since evaporated and is now the Badwater Basin and salt flats.   Of course we had to walk on the salt beds.

Looking at the cliffs that surround Badwater Basin, Kate pointed out the tallest one and said  “That’s Telescope Peak where I just climbed this fall on the Low to High trail.”   Then looking behind us, she pointed out Dantes Viewpoint.   There was a sign about a third of the way up that said Sea Level.    Amazing!

Our final step of the day was at an old Borax mining site.   We were lucky enough to get there just as a ranger was starting a tour so we joined it.  This area was an active mine for about 5 years from 1883 to 1888.   After the borax was extracted it had to be hauled out by a 20 Mule Team.  I am sure many of us remember the commercials of our youth for Twenty Mule Team Borax!   The operation could only run 9 months of the year, as the summer months were too hot with temperatures going to 130!(Furnace Creek which is near here holds the highest reliable recorded temperature of 134 degrees F in 1913)

At this point it was 3:30 and it was time to head to Lone Pine. Lone Pine is a small town with a population of 900. Arriving around 5, we went to Love Note and Burly’s house. I tried to hold 7 month old Juniper but she would have no part of me and immediately started crying. I unfortunately did not take any pictures, but stayed tuned. We will be spending our Thanksgiving Day with them along with some of their family and friends.

We left Drop and Roll with her hiker friends, and headed to our hotel to clean up and get supper. We were exhausted!