Three Rivers, CA to Las Vegas, NV (Day 15)

This was the first really long leg of our trip back home. We were so used to getting to the hotel by 4:30-5:30pm every night and having lots of stops along the way, but this was the first time we had to drive 6 and a half hours in a day just to get from point a to point b. 

The drive was pretty cool, as I have never driven into Vegas and never seen any other cities in the state. As we left Three Rivers, we headed back to Bakersfield and over through Barstow before splitting off on I-15 toward Vegas.We passed the groves of trees again and then fields full of  pumpjacks.

We had lunch in Barstow at Coco's, and let me tell you, it was really good! Kinda like an upscale Shoney's, really, but the food was great!

I-15 goes right along the edge of the Mojave Desert. It was really hot, but we fully expected that, I mean, it is a desert, and it isn't far from Vegas where the temp was 105 at lunch time. Seeing all the desert full of Joshua Trees was pretty cool, I really like those trees.

As we neared the border of CA and NV we saw a huge Solar Farm and the next thing we knew we were in Primm. Nevada likes to welcome everyone with Casinos!

Before long we made it to Vegas, and jumped off the interstate at our hotel, the Silverton. This was not a trip to Las Vegas for us, this was a visit with my Cousin Teida. We all adore her and cannot make a trip to Vegas without stopping by to see her. This time we dropped by to have dinner, a nice home cooked meal, and to use her washer and dryer. We really enjoyed our time together and before we knew it, three loads of laundry were done and it was 10pm. Mom stopped by the casino to play $5 worth before we headed of to bed. We have another day of driving tomorrow with the hopes of getting to Moab before dark.

This is about as close to the strip as we got, other than driving behind all the hotels on our way out.

LA to Three Rivers, CA, Sequoia National Park (Day 14)

When planning this trip, we tried to make our return trip just as fun as the Route 66 side. We tried to see other states and sites on the way back than we did on the way to California. We plotted on a map the places that would be under 7 hours from each other in the hopes that we could see something once there. This first day out of LA, was just that. We only had about 3 and a half hours from LA to Three Rivers, CA, but with a little tweaking to the route to get there, we were able to drive through Sequoia National Park! This added several hours to the trip, but we would be able to see some gorgeous sites along the way and make as many stops as we wanted.

The drive from LA to the northern entrance of Sequoia National Park was very interesting. It was mostly interstate until Bakersfield, but once outside of the city we started to see the groves of fruit and nut trees. This reminded me of my Dad, because he always said that California was the home of the fruits and nuts, but I don't think he was talking about food. I always thought of California as the home of the Freaks and Geeks, haha. There is a lot more to California than the big cities, though, and we found it. 

Once we finally made it to the entrance of the park, it was lunch time. We stopped off and got Jon a burger and us a sub and found a picnic area to sit and enjoy the much cleaner air! We found our first sequoia there, well, a stump of one anyways. It dwarfed Jon.

We got to Kings Canyon and stopped off to look out at the mountains and the canyon below. It was absolutely gorgeous! Jon even found a rock that he wanted to climb. I have to say, I am really proud of him for this. He isn't normally this "sporty", and when he tried two different angles at climbing it that didn't work, he didn't give up. He tramped through some brush and found a way that he could make it. To see how proud of himself he was, it made me so proud!

We crossed over into Sequoia and we started to see the Giant Trees. Simply breathtaking!

As we drove a little further, we found the pull-off for the trail to the General Sherman tree. This is the largest tree in the world. It isn't the tallest, and it isn't the biggest around, but when you figure up the volume of this tree, it makes it the largest one anywhere! To stand in the shadow of this tree, to know that we are witnessing a living thing that makes us humans look like ants, it so unbelievable. I recommend seeing this tree in person, as no photo can do it justice.

Once we got a ride back to the parking lot on the shuttle, we made our way out of the park on the Three Rivers side. This drive was awesome! The switchbacks, the steep grades, the sight of a bear off in the distance, every part of it was fun! Check out the GPS and the map from my phone to see just what I mean. We had to take the whole drive, a little over 16 miles, in the low gear and it took almost an hour to drive it!

Three Rivers is a beautiful town, very small, but just what we like. We had dinner at a pizza place, one of only a handful of places to grab a bite, but Jon had a good time with the napkins there!

Hollywood, CA (Day 13)

Our only full day in Hollywood was fun filled. We made the decision before we started our trip, that rather than spend half our day fighting traffic to see the touristy sights, that we would just buy tickets to the Universal Studios Hollywood and let Jon have some fun in an amusement park. Once we told him about that, he spent a whole day online watching videos on the Universal Studios website. He was excited to see the place and to meet a Minion! That was honestly all he cared about!

Our hotel, luckily, had a shuttle service to and from the park, making it a lot easier to get there and back as well as save the parking fees. We left out early and grabbed breakfast at the park. We got there just as the park opened, and the lines then were nothing. After eating our breakfast, Jon made a b-line to the Despicable Me section and in 20 minutes we were in the 4-D theater to be turned into Minions! Jon loved it.

The next place we went was on the studio tour. That was cool. We got to see the sound stages where CSI, Bones, Parenthood and a ton of other shows were filmed. We also got to see lots of prop areas where movies had been filmed. The coolest was the clock tower, which no longer has the clock, from Back to the Future. 

They also had the typical cinematic thrills, like the King Kong vs the dinosaurs, which was a 360 degree screen that surrounded the entire train. Then the Earthquake that was also used in an episode of Bones. Mom had seen that one. We got up close and personal with JAWS and Norman Bates. That was really the only "ride" I had any interest in going on, and it was a good thing as the ques for the lines gt progressively longer and longer as the day went on. Jon decided that he really only wanted to ride the Minion ride again, but on the way we stopped off to watch a show about Special Effects. That was really entertaining and really taught us a lot about the movies and shows we watch. The camera tricks really are something!

We also found the Delorean from Back to the Future!

Jon took granny on to ride the Minion ride while Tony and I checked out the rest of the park. We met up with them once the ride was over about 70 minutes later. When they came off the ride, there was a Minion for Jon to hug! By now it was almost 3 and getting pretty crowded and hot. So Jon decided he was done and with a Minion in each arm (from the gift shop) we were on our way back to the hotel.

We decided after dinner that we would go out and fight the traffic to find a vantage point that we would be able to see the Hollywood sign. You would think something like that would be easy to do, but really there are only a couple of places that you can stop and take a photo of it, most of the time it is partially obstructed. We didn't want to go out to Hollywood and Vine, so we decided to take a drive up to Griffith Park to the observatory and see if we could get a photo or two. Well, I guess there was something going on at the observatory, because most of the parking was blocked off and there were people all dressed up walking towards it. We made one pass with no luck finding a parking place, and almost gave up. We finally decided to turn around and go back, let me and Jon out of the car, while Tony and Mom circled slowly, we snapped our photos and then jumped back in the car when they came back around. 

That was enough of that. We made the decision that we just needed to head back to the hotel, see what the movie at the pool was and then just chill there before bed. The movie was Goonies, and even though we had all seen it, it was much more relaxing at the pool than in that traffic!

I can now say, however, that we have driven on THE 101. Not impressed. Traffic is not fun!

Barstow, CA to Santa Monica, CA (Day12)

Today brings us to the end of the trail. We set out 12 days ago on a journey that would bring us the same route that the Oakies took during the dust bowl and the vacationers of years gone by would have driven. Some happily drove Route 66 taking them on a cross-country trip that ultimately took them to the shores of the Pacific Ocean, others took this route hoping to find the Land of Milk and Honey, jobs, a new beginning. As we decided to plan for this vacation, we kept all those things in mind, we hoped to be able to follow the footsteps of others and see the real America. 

As we pulled out of the hotel and turned on to Route 66 for the final day, I felt a little emotionally torn. I was ready to reach the end, but I wasn't ready for it to be over. 

Stop number one was just outside of Helendale and before Victorville. As we drove up, we instantly knew it was a must stop. One little piece of property, completely covered in iron trees decorated with colorful bottles and glass insulators with unique toppers for each one. As we stepped into the gate, we could hear a radio playing, we walked around marveling at the artistic value of these trees. Then we turned around and saw an older guy sporting a beard that looks a lot like Si Robertson's, only longer. He walked towards us smoking a cigarette and extended his hand introducing himself as Elmer. We shook hands and the conversations started. Before we knew it we had spent nearly a half hour listening to how this all started. He told us how when he was a youngster, he had made a great friend who lived down the street. When he turned 6, his friend moved away, but they never lost touch. Elmer's dad would take him to visit and those visits turned into entire summers filled with adventure. They found old piles of "trash" left by miners years ago, and digging around found canteens and bottles. His friend started collecting the bottles, it wasn't Elmer's idea at first. As time went on, he got his friend's collection and the spark started. He had to come up with a way to display the collection, and so the bottle trees were born. He said he is never done, he has plenty more to display and still knows where to go to find more. I just don't know where he would put any more of them. To some, I'm sure it could be considered an eyesore, but it made us smile. It also made us feel good to meet Elmer and hear his story. This road is full of stories, the people are what make it what it is, and while we only met a few, they were the heart of this trip. One day they will all be gone, some already are, but they have left their mark. 

The road today was honestly, with the exception of the very first stop, a little disappointing. I guess all the lead up to the end was far better than the last 170 miles. I guess when you really think about it, the oddities, the uniqueness and the feeling of middle America stops once you hit the big city. Then it's just another big city with traffic, stop lights and fast food on every corner. Once we got back on the highway headed for San Bernardino, things changed. The traffic was crazy on the highway, and once we pulled off onto the side streets, the feeling just wasn't there anymore. 

 We made a stop at the Wigwam Villiage there in San Bernardino. The place was manicured, and the Tepee's freshly painted, but the fence around the place sure gave it a weird vibe. I guess the No Loitering signs didn't help, either. They were cool, and the guy who took them over obviously spent a lot of time and money on them, but it just wasn't the same vibe. 

We drove on, then we saw the Bono's Orange Stand in Fontana. This was on Jon's wish list, and it was cool, but the traffic on Foothill made it a challenge to pull over and get back out. I am glad it was still there, even though it was boarded up years ago because stuff like this usually doesn't last in big cities. 

On we went, through the city of Rancho Cucamonga. Silly name, pretty place, but other than a few 66 signs on businesses and in the median, there wasn't much left of the "old days". We stopped for lunch at In and Out Burger (because a trip out west is not complete without it), and after lunch, we decided to go grab some Crocs for Jon because he took over mine. We found a mall with a Croc store and headed that way. Once we drove around looking for a space to park, ran in, got the shoes, and left, we made the decision that 3 more hours in this traffic, stopping at every light at every cross street, through both the nice neighborhoods and the "not-so-nice" areas, was just too much. So, we jumped on the interstate. 

Yeah, we cheated a little, but really, the Route 66 we wanted to experience was behind us. Even Elmer at the bottle ranch agreed, it was better going the other way from his place than to the coast. On the interstate, we were in Santa Monica in no time. We got to the end of I-10, where it either dumps you into downtown or you can branch off to the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway).We drove around the blocks aimlessly looking for a place to park. We finally managed to find a place about 5 blocks from the beach and off on foot we went. Reaching the park, the first thing we saw was the Will Rogers Highway marker.

Then as we continued to walk, the pier came into view. This was it. The end of our journey, but not the end of the vacation. It was only the halfway point for that. On we went, checking out the crowds along the pier and the shore. Tony wanted photos of the sign saying the end of the trail, and Jon wanted to put his feet in the ocean. This was the first time he had ever seen the ocean.

 

After we got our fill of the crowds, we headed on to our hotel. We had another full day to spend in Los Angeles/Hollywood. Jon had his wish list there that we had to fill. Tony and I, on the other hand, were counting down the hours until we were out of this crazy busy city! We capped the night off at our hotel, the Beverly Garland, with a movie by the pool. Jon loved watching Toy Story 3 while floating in the water!