Random Road Finds

HARVEY HOTEL

Originally trains in the west did not offer meals leaving passengers to fend for themselves at mealtimes.  The situation gave rise to exploitation and passengers were soon victimized by poor food and high prices.  Fred Harvey decided to improve service by establishing a series of restaurants on the Santa Fe lines.  Trains would stop, allowing passengers to get a good meal for a reasonable price in clean surroundings.

The Fred Harvey Company would hire women of good moral character, have at least an eight grade education, display good manners, be neat, and articulate to work in his restaurants.  In return for employment, the Harvey Girls would agree to a 6-month contract, agree not to marry, and abide by all company rules.  Harvey Girls were women who brought respectability to the job of waitressing.  They often left the protection and proverty of home for travel and adventure.

The Barstow "Casa del Desierto" is a great stop as there is a railroad museum and the Route 66 Mother Road museum here also and all are free.

Dinosaur car in a field outside Barstow... Don't ya want one of these?

Famous Baker, California thermometer!  We actually had lunch at "The Mad Greek's" restaurant and it was a fun place!  Can only imagine what it was like in its heyday when movie stars frequented the place.  Lots of photographs from the 60s and 70s.

KIMI JAPANESE RESTAURANT 

Tiger roll with shrimp... so yummy!

Tempura and more for two served in a wooden boat!  

Desert tortoise in Joshua Tree.

SMITH'S RANCH DRIVE-IN

We saw this drive-in and just had to go, just like we remembered them to be - minus the speakers on posts (just posts!).  Had fun watching "Paddington".

Golden apatosaurus and...

T-Rex too!

I like this roadrunner graphic on the side of an apartment complex.

And world's smallest...

Entire inside!

Artist Shari Elf owns the museum and started collecting the crocheted poodles as a child until it grew into this larger collection!

PALM SPRINGS

Oh, there is nothing so beautiful as bougainvillea in bloom!

         

NOAH PURIFOY ASSEMBLAGE SCULPTURES 

Pick up a self-guided tour here...

Noah PURIFOY was born in Alabama in 1917; he became one of the country's most profound assemblage sculptors.  He was founder and first director of the Watts Towers Arts Center in the 1960s and in 1976 was appointed to the California Arts Council where he created and administered the Artist-in-Communities, -Schools, and -Prisons programs for eleven years.  He is known for the ground-breaking "66 Signs of Neon" traveling exhibit created from 2 tons of debris from the city of Los Angeles following the Watts Riots in 1965.

In 1989 Noah moved to Joshua Tree, California.  From 1989 until his death in 2004 he filled ten acres of his high desert studio with assemblage sculptures.

BAND WAGON

AURORA BOREALIS

WHITE/COLORED

 

CHAIRS

THE WHITE HOUSE

THE KIRBY EXPRESS

SQUATTERS' SHACK

It's getting dark and it's hard to take pictures...  What an interesting place to visit, I'll come back again!

TWENTYNINE PALMS

Another dinosaur!

Road sign at a California rest stop.

Mailboxes...

Another desert tortoise, this one in Bullhead City, Arizona.

DEATH VALLEY Here We Come!

PADRE CROWLEY POINT

HE PASSED THIS WAY.  In memory of the Padre of the Desert, who ministered from the Sierras to Death Valley.  1891-1940

We have to go down there!  Whoa!  We make a change in elevation from over 4,000 feet above sea level to below sea level!

While driving this 7% grade, narrow, winding road!  Padre Crowley must have been amazing because he drove without roads in a Model T Ford!

DV Day 4: The Racetrack, Scotty's Castle, & Ubehebe Crater

THE RACETRACK

Racetrack Playa is home to one of Death Valley's most enduring mysteries.  All across this flat, dry lake bed are hundreds of rocks that seem to have moved on their own.  What powerful force could be moving them?  Researchers have investigated this question since the 1940s.

Playa surface

In the distance is the rock formation named "The Grandstand."

In December 2013, scientists set up an experiment to observe the rock movement.  They fitted 15 rocks with custom-built, motion-activated GPS units.  (The Park Service could not let them use native rocks, so they brought in similar rocks from outside the park.)  On December 21, 2013 ice breakup happened on the frozen pond and the rocks began to move!  What did it take to move them?  It took a rare combination of events.  The playa must be filled with water which is deep enought to allow for floating ice but shallow enough to expose the rocks.  On a sunny day, the ice melts and breaks up into large floating panels which light winds move across the playa pool.  The ice sheets shove the rocks in front of them leaving trails in the soft mud bed below the surface of the lake. 

SCOTTY'S CASTLE

Castle gate

Ironwork on front gate.

Prospector "Death Valley Scotty" claimed this elaborate Spanish mansion was built by gold from his fictitious gold mine.  In reality it was the 1920s vacation home of his wealthy friends, Albert and Bessie Johnson.

Weathervane

Gas station

One of the many cars on the property.

Cook House; cooks often fixed meals for 80 people.

Clock tower

Well in the courtyard; the pulley in the middle held the rope used to raise and lower a bucket into the well.

The well rope would have been tied to this bird hook.

Turret

Stairwell inside turret.

Gate to courtyard

Unusual courtyard clock

Courtyard cacti garden

Another prospector weathervane.

Redwood beam

Walkway connecting the main house to the annex.

Courtyard view from walkway.

Welcome to Death Valley Ranch...

Elaborate ironwork on front door.

Locks on front door

Great room chandelier 

The great room is where Scotty entertained visitors.  Walter Scott was a national celebrity during the first half of the 20th century.  He performed in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and was a con man looking for investors in his Death Valley gold mine.  One of his investors was Albert Johnson who wanted to inspect Scotty's mining operation in person.  Scotty invited Johnson to Death Valley and hatched a scheme involving a staged gunfight to scare the city slicker away while keeping the investment money coming in.  Scotty's plan backfired, and Johnson quickly realized there was NO gold mine.  

Surprisingly, instead of being angry, the wealthy Johnson became friends with Scotty and remained his source of "gold" for the rest of his life.  Johnson enjoyed the excitement of a cowboy's life.  The photo is of Bessie Johnson, Scotty, and Albert.

Tile floor in great room.

Scotty's bedroom

Scotty's hats hanging in his bedroom.

Why is there a hole in the bedroom wall?  Scotty told people the entrance to his gold mine was under his bed so the hole was for his shotgun barrel in case of intruders!

The shot would go through the hole, hit this cast iron plate, split the shot sending it in both directions, hitting bandits hiding on either side of the outside bedroom door!  Well, that's the story but there is no evidence anyone ever tried to shoot a gun through the hole!  Is this just another one of Scotty's stories?

Ceiling

Tile baseboard 

Bessie's diningroom and dishes.  Albert had the house built because Bessie did not want to tent camp when visiting Death Valley.  She was deathly afraid of snakes!

The kitchen sink; notice the coiled snake lights.  Albert had them put beside to sink to keep Bessie away from the "work" in the kitchen!

The icebox was converted to a refrigerator by piping in refrigerated air from another building.  Ice in the 1930s and in the desert!  Scotty loved it!!  

Stove - see the toaster on the top shelf?

Bessie's Shoshone basket collection displayed in the Johnson's private sitting room.

Sewing machine and more Native American baskets.

Wall sconce

Fireplace in guest sitting room.

Tile on fireplace

Conservatory ceiling with inlaid ceramic tiles.

Organ bellows

Stained-glass window in the conservatory.

Coyote on Scotty's Castle grounds.

UBEHEBE CRATER

Recipe for Explosion:  Rising magma - hot, molten rock - turns groundwater to steam.  Superheated steam explodes creating a crater like this one.  The explosion spewed shattered rock over 6 square miles.

Ubehebe is the largest of many explosion craters in the area at half-mile across and 500 feet deep.

Trail goes around the rim and to a smaller nearby crater.

Can you see the person on the left side of photo on the rim!

This picture shows the smaller crater beside the larger Ubehebe crater.  From here we drove a 27 mile rocky road to The Racetrack.

RACECTRACK VALLEY ROAD

Barrel Cacti

Barrel Cacti in front of Creosote bush

Beavertail Cacti

Cholla 

Barrel Cacti 

Joshua Trees

JOSHUA TREE FOREST

This photo reminds me of the sunset silhouttes third graders do every year at Cove, only these pink and blue clouds appeared in the middle of the day!

Amazing clouds...

Teakettle Junction

Our first glimpse of the Racetrack Playa.

Closer...

And closer still;  the Grandstand is the rock formation in the middle of the dry lake bed.

🚙🚗🚕. DV License Plate Game:  Only 2 - Rhode Island and Oklahoma.