Friday, May 26-
Despite our best intentions, we didn't get up particularly early to get on the way. We dawdled over breakfast, and took our time loading the car and putting the bikes on the roof rack before we finally said good bye to the kitties and got under way around 11am. Our first stop was only 3 blocks away- the Bagel Broker (very highly rated on the Zagat survey) for sandwiches for the road. At least we managed to miss the morning traffic.
We took Hwy 14 to north through Palmdale to Mojave. It was the first time we had taken the 14 and we were pretty frightened by what we saw: Urban sprawl for literally 100 miles out from central Los Angeles. The Metrolink ran all the way out to Lancaster, and there was even a carpool lane for God's sake!!! Who lives that far out and still commutes into the city? I can't understand it. Shortly beyond Mojave we connected to the Scenic Hwy 395 which runs through the high Sierras. It is a beautiful drive, if a bit desolate. As long as we were in the flat central valley (we passed the 3000ft elevation sign a dozen times) the temperature hovered around 95 degrees F, but started to cool a bit as we rose into the mountains.
While driving along, I noticed a flank of black rock developing along the east side of the road, and thanks to our recent trip to Maui I recognized it as a lava flow. This was confirmed a short time later when we stopped along at Fossil Falls, where we took a short hike to see where the former Owens river (now just a pipe to Los Angeles) cut through a black basalt lava bed forming a spectacular cliff and caverns. Walking along the shores of the former river, we could see millions of obsidian flakes, left there by the peoples that used to inhabit this river valley. The signage suggested that petroglyphs could be found somewhere in the area, but we didn't find them. (You can see a Quicktime panorama of the falls Here).
The next stop to stretch our legs was in Big Pine, where an antique store had been pictured in the Sunset article. We couldn't resist an antique store (I have a long family history of antique buffs), so we stopped. The place specialized in gramophones, like the Victrola X which we have at home.
We didn't stop at Manzanar National Historic Site, a camp where people of Japanese ancestry were interned during WWII. There is not much left of the camp, but our chatting changed to silence for awhile after we passed.
We were sorely tempted to stop in Bishop, which was gearing up for Mule Days (celebrating the new Mulenyum), but the prospect of the HUGE crowds that was certain to draw made us keep going! We finally arrived at June Lake around 6pm. MapQuest had said the drive was 322 miles, and the odometer showed almost exactly that when we arrived, after 5 hours and 54 minutes driving time.
We found our cabin pretty easily. We were staying at the Reverse Creek Lodge, where we had a cute secluded 2 room cabin for $55 a night (!). The cabin was quite cute, with an eat in kitchen/sitting room and a cozy (e.g. 1 foot of clearance around the queen bed) bedroom. It was equipped with everything we could possibly need to cook or bake most anything. There was also a little deck with a gas grill on it. Immediately the thought of BBQ sprang into our heads, and after unpacking we headed into June Lake proper (all 1/2 block of it) and picked up some pork loin chops, marinade, corn on the cob, purple onions, and red bell pepper to grill up. Sunset wasn't until 8:15, and it stayed light a fair bit after that, so we had plenty of time to cook and eay (quite tasty!) before it was dark. After the long day on the road, we really slept pretty well. The place is so dark and quiet compared to our LA apartment!
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Last Updated 9 June, 2000
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