First Stop Blondie's

When in Shelton, eat oysters, and we did.    Fried oysters, eggs and potatoes.  Fueled us all the way to Eugene on day 1 of a road trip to Death Valley.  This message went along for the ride.  It was useful.

Another food stop along the way in Crescent City included a chorus line of Sea Lions outside the window:                    

Great Mexican snack food in Bakersfield at Grandma's Tamales on Sunday afternoon before the final push to Lone Pine, the gateway to Death Valley.

With the sun setting into the Eastern Sierras, I strolled around the edges of Lone Pine.

 We have amazing clouds in the Pacific Northwest but Never have I seen a cloud like this!

Between Lone Pine and the Sierras is a natural wonder called the Alabama Hills, where hundreds of movies have been shot on location, mostly Westerns but the area also stands in for Afghanistan and parts of Africa.  The old hotel we stayed in is where the film crews used to stay.  We got the William Boyd Room.  (That was Hopalong Cassidy, in case you've forgotten or never knew!)

Spotted this beauty before we even got into Death Valley.

Finally, after exploring the Alabama Hills, we made the long trip into Death Valley National Park.  It was cloudy, windy and rained some.  That's my excuse for not getting any dazzling flower photos.  (The reason for this trip was the "Big Bloom" in the Park.)  These yellow flowers had sprouted up in several areas and if you looked across a broad expanse of flat land, you would see a lovely yellow haze.  There are lots of beautiful photos of the Big Bloom online, probably on Instagram, too.

Late afternoon, we should have started back but didn't, crossed the mountains on that narrow twisty road in the dark and rain and then some snow (those clouds below should have been a warning!) and there was a rock slide at one point, then some tourists in a car accident, but we made it back to Lone Pine and . . . . . 

. . . the next morning, fresh snow on the Sierras and a perfect sunny day to explore . . . 

. . . Manzanar World War II Japanese internment center

and Owens Lake, a part of it that has water now.  Los Angeles got in trouble for draining it and causing a huge eco crisis, so now they are busy restoring it in places.

One last swing through Death Valley, on the way to Nevada, this time it's bright and sunny.  Here's a 20 second video I shot at Zabriskie Point. 

One storm after another on this trip.  This is somewhere between Reno and Chico.

There was one storm we did manage to miss, the big blow that hit Kingston at 60 mph.  We got back that evening, after the calm had settled in, clueless until we tried to go out the side door for firewood. It was blocked by roofing that had blown off in the storm.  No big deal and we were glad to be home.  

From Today's Artists' Letter by Sarah Genn

What's under there is your personal, private history, and the story of your painting life. Gather up all those scrapes and cover-ups -- your improvisations in emergencies -- and you've earned the ability to recognize when your brush is sparkling. Go for excellence, knowing perfectionism is a canyon of toil. Enjoy the therapeutic satisfaction in fixing a dog -- it's like darning an heirloom sock. By then you're the editor, the re-writer, the restorer and the conservationist. There's imagination in that, too. "I am seeking. I am striving. I am in it with all my heart." (Vincent van Gogh)

 

Brief Encounter

Two women exiting their vehicles come face to face at a highway rest stop in Mississippi.  The one in jeans and a sweatshirt starts to turn away but comes back and asks, "Where are you from?"  The one in the black head to toe burka with narrow eye slits says with a heavy accent, "Crystal Springs."  "No, I mean where originally?"  "Oh, India."  First woman, confused, says, "but people don't dress like that in India."  Second, covered woman, "Muslims do!"  First woman, "But all the Muslims went to Pakistan!"  End of conversation.  First woman gets back in car thinking to herself, "I really wanted to say how creepy and stupid it looks to dress like that.  No, I really wanted to ask her, what kind of God would want women to dress like that?  Muslim woman, who had been sitting in back seat, hurries after her husband (dressed completely in white) and a carful of  kids in skull caps, thinking, how ignorant, these Americans.

Volver

Being in New Mexico is like being no place else.  It's not like being in the Republic of Mexico.  It's nothing like Arizona or Texas.  I like being here, the feel of the state of being.  Tonight I especially like being here after driving across Texas for two days in the aftermath of an unusual ice storm.

Car completely covered in thick sheet of very bumpy ice early on New Year's Day

Dozens of mishaps on the frozen Interstate 20 heading west from Dallas area

Tucked in tight in a big back up, I thought at least we won't starve!

After almost 300 miles at 30 miles an hour, we reached Midland/Odessa oil fields.

This is where George H W Bush brought his young wife and baby boy W to live.

Somehow George HW made it really big here.

It doesn't seem like a very nice place to live.

I've heard it's still a good place to make a lot of money.

Next day, after another snow and ice storm, the sights were better.  In places, it was a winter wonderland.

The best sight of all was good old New Mexico in late afternoon sunshine.

Five Versions: Intriguing Old Weatherbeaten Structure

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