So, we headed home on Sunday. Decided to head south via US101, through the Salinas Valley and on down to Paso Robles. This is the route we took two years ago to and from Monterey. The miles and miles of vegetable and fruit fields are awesome, some of the most memorable sights from our four months in the region. Today, though, patchy fog, so not much to see. There are some nice pictures at the above website and I'll stick in some of our pictures from spring, 2008:
Then we headed east to Bakersfield. Nice green hills adorned with wildflowers along the way:
(For some reason Blogger is refusing to let me center pictures when I want to.)
Then you come to the intersection where James Dean died.
(Now the picture is centered. Wish I knew how I did that.) This is almond and pistachio-growing country and there's a store at this locale with those kinds of goodies.
Had lunch in Bakersfield (chicken-fried this and that) and then it was up and over the Tehachapi Pass again, down to Barstow and on to Needles for the night. On the way out, just after learning about the Tehachapi Loop (the spiraling RR track), I saw a turn-off for the Loop, but didn't stop for it. This time we did. Couldn't get a decent picture, but here's a shot of the track and a tunnel (just above the center of the picture( a little further up. Looks like a model RR layout.
I forgot to mention it on the way out, but we stopped in Winslow, AZ and had lunch at the La Posada Hotel. (Just in case anybody would like to (re)read the newspaper article I wrote about this place several years ago, here's the link.) Allan Affeldt, owner and restorer, was at the La Posada and we had a good visit. Work is continuing on more rooms in the north wing. He also has plans for an RV park. We found out that his wife's (Tina Mion) painting of Jackie Kennedy (which I always look for) was now in the National Portrait Gallery in DC.
When Susie and I had stopped at the La Posada in recent years Allan had been off to Needles, AZ, where he is in the process of restoring another classic Harvey House, the El Garces (the "Crown Jewel of the Desert"). I asked him how that project was going. He said it's on hold; nobody is loaning money on such projects these days. As we left Needles early Monday morning, we sought out the El Garces. Here are a couple of pictures.
It looks like a Roman or Greek ruin. The columns and roof are there, but there don't seem to be any interior walls. You can see the potential for grandeur. Anybody want to invest?
After that, an uneventful run across AZ and half of NM and back to Cedar Crest. We had heard while we were gone that we got yet another foot of snow last week, but that it was melting quickly. If it hadn't, we might be in Phoenix right now.
Next up, a Tuzigoot trip to Kentucky and points unplanned. We'll work on that tomorrow.
Cheers,
Susie and Rob
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