Manzanar WWII Japanese Relocation Camp

During WWII American Citizens of Japanese origin were rounded up, losing homes and livelihoods and moved to relocation camps throughout the USA.

 

One such camp was in the Owens Valley at Manzanar.

 

People were lodged in dormitories with shower and toilet blocks, among other things there was a mess hall, a hospital block, a school, and a building where camouflage netting was produced for the war effort.   

The camp was surrounded by barbed wire and guard towers.

When people first arrived the buildings were draughty and dusty and they had little, if any privacy.   Gradually over the years people were able to make them more comfortable and planted gardens. 

A reconstruction of the barracks where people were housed.

 

A reconstruction of an improved living quarters section.

Inside the mess hall.

The present day visitor centre was the auditorium and, among other things, was used for dances.

We followed the auto tour route which took us to the reservoir,

Inscribed in cement on one section of the reservoir wall was the name and birth and death dates of someone who, I assume, lived in the camp.

As I walked around the reservoir I thought at first this was an Inukshuk, it’s not, as the inscription on the large rock at the bottom is in Japanese.

The permanent memorial at Manzanar.

Manzanar was an interesting and informative place to visit.

 

Have fun, we are!

Lone Pine, California

The dreadful weather held us up in Barstow, a couple of days later we discovered the mudslides were so bad our preferred route would take about a week to clear, so after shaking the jello we decided to head up Highway 395 to Lone Pine.   What a lovely area!

 

There were some lovely views as we drove up out of the Mohave Desert.

 

We stayed at Boulder Creek, a lovely park just south of Lone Pine on Highway 395.

 

Looking across Owens Lake from the campground.

Looking towards Death Valley from the campground.

Looking towards the Eastern Sierra Nevada and yes that is snow on top of the mountains.

The Dow Hotel was built in 1923, many famous movie stars stayed in the hotel including John Wayne, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and Hopalong Cassidy.

Main Street, Lone Pine.

We loved this mural on the side of McDonalds.

We found a great place for breakfast and lunch, the Alabama Hills Café, (sorry no photograph) the food was fabulous, just make sure you go hungry!   The next time we visit Lone Pine we’ll definitely return.

 

Have fun, we are!

Harvey House, Barstow

Casa Del Desierto a Spanish-Moorish Harvey House in Barstow opened in 1911 and closed in 1971.   The building was registered as one of the last and finest remaining examples of the famous Harvey Houses.

 

The beautiful building has been restored and is now home to offices, two of the ground floor rooms are open to the public.

 

Like all Harvey Houses it fronts the railway tracks.   The storm clouds in the photograph on the day we visited never actually hit us, but were part of a massive storm that hit central California, causing mudslides on I5 and Tehachapi Pass and flooding in Antelope Valley.

Amtrack still stop at Barstow twice a day, albeit very late at night and very early in the morning, once going East and once going West.

 

When it was an operational Harvey House, for the princely sum of $1.45 (that would probably buy you a coffee today) you could order from a

 

Traveller’s Special

Fried Filet of Sole with Tartar Sauce, French Fried Potatoes & Coleslaw

Or

Potted Ox Joint with Potatoes & Vegetables

Roll & Butter

Choice of Pie, Ice cream or Sherbet

Choice of Beverage

  

One of the dining rooms as it would’ve been when it was a Harvey House.

And how it looks today.

Have fun, we are!

Peggy Sue's 50's Diner

Not far from where we stayed, at Barstow KOA, is Peggy Sue’s 50’s Diner, after a long day at Calico we headed across for dinner.

 

I kept expecting the ‘Fonz’ to walk in.

The walls are covered in movie memorabilia.

Elvis is in the building.

There is a store selling all sorts of 50’s memorabilia, so much fun stuff and the food’s pretty good as well, especially the ginormous milk shakes!   (Don't even think about how many calories are in them!!!) 

Have fun, we are!

Calico Ghost Town

Established in 1881 Calico near Barstow was once one of the richest mining districts in California.

 

At one time the town had a population of 1,200, with 22 saloons, China Town and a red light district.

 

Outdoor hot tub anyone?

There were over 500 mines including the legendary Silver King, Calico produced over $86 million in silver and $45 million in borax during its heyday between 1881 and 1907.

 

Calico was restored by Walter Knott, of Knott’s Berry Farm and was donated to San Bernadino County in 1966.

We took a trip on the Calico/Odessa railroad, the engineer showed us the entrance to the Silver King Mine and also told us that the mine tailings had been assayed at $6 million.

 

The Silver King mine entrance is just under and to the right of the O in Calico.

The downside is that presently it would cost $10 million to retrieve it!    Mind you I expect one day there’ll be away to retrieve it profitably.

The town was all decorated for Halloween when we visited.

Have fun, we are!

Grapevine Canyon Petroglyphs

Located in the Spirit Mountains, Grapevine Canyon is one of the earliest known petroglyph sites in Nevada and is sacred to many different tribes.

 

The parking area for Grapevine Canyon Petroglyphs is about 2 miles along Christmas Tree Pass, the name conjours up visions of stately pine trees surrounded by snow covered mountains.  Wrong! it’s part of the Lake Mead National Recreation area and is just west of Laughlin Nevada.  

 

As we turned into Christmas Tree Pass a sign informed us of rough road ahead due to storm damage, but the section to Grapevine Canyon was fine.

 

At the trail head a sign warns you that the trail is unmaintained, but it’s an easy ¼ mile walk along a dry sandy wash, of course if you were daft enough to walk it after or during a storm I’m sure it would be a whole different scenario. 

As we set off DB correctly summised that the rocks we could see covered in desert varnish would be the ones that had the petroglyphs on.

There must be thousands of petroglyphs on rocks on both sides of the canyon, rectangles with wavy lines inside, rectangles with squares round the edge and what looks like a paw print at the top.

We really couldn’t decide about these, some of the designs reminded us of patterns we’ve seen on Navajo carpets, but who knows?

Is the one below telling that there’s good hunting round here?   Does the sun mean it’s only good hunting on a sunny day?  Or, does it mean it’s how many were caught on a sunny day?

 

Part of the fun is trying to put them together and make a story, but we’ll never know if it’s the right story.

 

A longer, much more strenuous trail leads up and out of the canyon further into the Spirit Mountains, but it’s not a trail for a very hot day.

 

It’s a great place and we really enjoyed our visit, maybe next time we’ll get to drive over the pass and who knows we might even find some real Christmas Trees! 

Have fun, we are!

Needles, California

Leaving Williams we travelled down I40 to Needles, California.   As we’ve never been to Needles before, we decided to stay for a couple of nights.

 

When we left Williams it was a lovely mid 70’s morning, when we arrived in Needles it was 102F!   That was a bit of a shock to the system to say the least!

 

We took a trip into town to have a look at what was once El Garces Hotel and a Harvey House, it’s a beautiful building and is currently in the process of renovation.

Renovations taking place at the entrance from the train tracks.

 As the hotel looks on the platform.

I particularly liked this seat, representing three things that make the town unique, The Needles, the Colorado River and Route 66.

A sunset view of the Colorado River.

Have fun, we are!