Our second home: Southern California, Day 1 (17 July 2017)

It was a hot day today, already 28°C in Bishop before 9am, so we quickly made our way to the popular and pretty healthy Looney Bean Cafe just around the corner from our, hmm, average motel, and had a tasty light(ish) breakfast. (I had a Quinoa bowl with sweet potato, egg and avocado).

Then it was in the car, and off … For the next 80 or so miles we drove south along the US395, mostly through the (dry) Owens Valley, with the eastern escarpment of the beautiful Sierra Nevadas flanking us on the west.  A very lovely drive.

Manzanar, or, My, how things can change in 25 years

Twenty-five or maybe 26 years ago, we visited the desert ruins of Manzanar, which was the first (I think) of America’s war relocation centers established by the US government in 1942 (after Pearl Harbour, of course). More than 110,000 men, women, and children, were forced to leave their homes to be detained in remote, military-style camps. Manzanar held over 10,000 Japanese-American citizens and resident Japanese aliens (and, as you may remember from an earlier post, the first came from Bainbridge Island).

When we visited Manzanar on a road trip with our children back in the early 1990s, there was almost nothing there – except a sign, the original entrance station (the old military guard), and a few ruins, as nothing much remained of the centre. However, now, with, we presume a renewed interest in history (and perhaps also due to the 50th anniversary of the Second World War in 1995), Manzanar has an excellent visitor centre with interpretive displays about the place.

We were impressed. The interpretation seemed balanced, conveying the arguments, made at the time, for the relocation, and those against. Those against argued that this was not democracy or how you treat your own citizens. It also includes, as you’d expect, a lot of oral history evidence from the internees. This also conveyed a wide range of reactions and experiences. No one wants to be imprisoned, but some came away with positive experiences or did not let it embitter them later, while for others the experience was terrible, and sometimes tragic. (I should add here, for the benefit of Americans reading this who don’t know Australian history, that we, shamefully, did the same.)

I was surprised though to notice a “Layers of history” display which mentioned a person born in Manzanar, a person born in the area in 1914 when it was an apple farming area, and a person born in the area 90 years earlier when it was cattle country. It talked about the area’s “long history of human settlement, habitation and displacement” but made no explicit mention of the earlier Native American inhabitants. But then, I saw, left of the display, a new display case, marked “under construction” and containing some Native American artefacts like baskets and bowls. I’m assuming the aim here is to rectify this omission?

We weren’t able to complete the full museum experience, as time was tight, but we did fit in the auto tour of the site (finding it a bit too hot for a walking tour!)

By the way, I am not complaining about the heat. It was, is, hot but we knew that when we decided to come here. The thing is, cold makes me miserable (as well as affecting my skin – which many of you are only too familiar with) while dry heat can just be uncomfortable. Sure, it can, when excessive, be mighty uncomfortable, but … better that (for me, and to some lesser degree Len!) that the misery of cold!

Heading further south

We then took to the road for the 200 or so miles to our destination. Eventually we ran out of the Sierra Nevadas and the landscape turned very flat, very dry, and very empty (looking) – as a couple of the photos will show.

There was a period there where we drove for miles and miles and miles it seems, with no townships in sight (just like parts of Australia), no rest areas, no petrol stations or road houses, particularly in the Mojave Desert section. Then, out of the mirage, at the intersection of the US395 and SR58 (Kramer Junction), appeared a Roadhouse and Petrol Station. We didn’t need the latter but were much in need by then of the former. It provided a very pleasant oasis during the drive, and enabled us to experience once again, roadhouse dining.

It was 39°c, at around 1.30pm, so we walked swiftly between car and restaurant as the concrete drive was radiating heat. We were in the desert by then, after all.

We also noticed along this very long, very straight single carriageway road, something we haven’t seen in our Australian travels before, double double unbroken lines with rumble strip down the middle. A very sensible road safety feature for that road we thought.

Arriving in Yorba Linda

We eventually hit the main freeways to take us into Yorba Linda, the I15 and then the SR91, where we met the congestion and flyovers so familiar to us from earlier times.

It was wonderful to see Carolyn again – such a good friend, and relaxed generous host – and her two daughters, Emily and Hana whom we’ve known since they were tots. We are looking forward to some quieter times, moseying around the area, resting, some sightseeing, much chatting – and catching up with her favourite current affairs and commentary shows. We watched two last night: The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (who took over from Jon Stevens as some of you may know), which is a more satirical news show, and which we thoroughly enjoyed, and The Rachel Maddow Show, a daily news and opinion show, which we also enjoyed. We look forward to seeing more of both during our stay. We probably don’t need to tell you the main focus of both programs!

Some observations

We’ve noticed quite an increase in wine culture since we were last in the USA in 2014. There has always been wine here, but while before, all but the upper-end restaurants tended to serve just a white, red or white zinfandel (rose-style wine), now most restaurants will offer a choice of white and red wine (from the USA and/or, often, Italy or France. We’ve also seen New Zealand sauvignon blancs, but no Aussie wines yet.) I like it.

Len has also noticed that when he orders coffee in many cafes, they ask whether he wants it “with or without room”. This too is new. When his name is called to pick up the ordered coffees, they’ll call out “Len, Americano, without room”, for example, meaning it’s filled to the brim with no space to add milk!

Today’s trivia

Mount Whitney, in the Sierra Nevadas, is the highest summit in the contiguous United States, at 14,505 feet (4,421 m).

Today’s images

Still

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