FOOD: CALIFORNIA RESTAURANTS! PLURAL! AUGUST 2011

For us, the end of summer in Yosemite looks like this:

It was a fire and brimstone deal here in Yosemite this August with the Motor Fire ten miles outside the park threatening friends' businesses and homes, and Ted's soccer goalie skillz unable to prevent him from being kicked in the knee and rupturing a tendon.  With wildfires currently under control, my husband is currently crutching around Yosemite with a healing patellar tendon.  And though wildfires and knee injuries are very bad news, his surgery and follow-up care brought good news as his knee is healing and I ate things like this:

You see, I don't get out to restaurants much, living in the middle of nowhere and all, so whenever I am remotely near a modicum of urban development I try to frequent places where some talented soul cooks for me and then some other kind soul whisks those dirty dishes out of my sight.  And then I want to tell you all about it.  Ted selected an orthopedic clinic in the Bay Area for his care, so we've spent some time traveling across California choosing our meals at restaurants along the way.  Before we found the confounding gem of a restaurant in a strip mall in San Jose, I was first tickled by the fact that the clinic was located exactly across the street from the Winchester Mystery House!  I used to read about this haunted house when I was a kid in Michigan where California seemed like another planet:

Unfortunately I have yet to visit the house since walking tours are currently right off Ted's list of entertainment options.  However, right around the corner from the Mystery House we found a lovely restaurant called White Shallot with a French and Vietnamese menu.  I have little experience with Vietnamese food but it always makes a big impression with me, so I try every venue I can find.  This is not a fusion menu, White Shallot offers both cuisines in a historically correct juxtaposition as France colonized (read: invaded) Vietnam from 1887 to 1949 when they finally got the boot.  All imperialist barging-in aside, Vietnam did incorporate French cooking into their daily lives and the two cuisines still exist side-by-side in Southeast Asia today with such tasty delights as banh mi.  I read a review of White Shallot where the doltish author was puzzled by the combination menu - it does pay to know your history, especially if you publish.  Anyhow, the menu offers traditional dishes in both cuisines, though we leaned heavily toward Vietnamese until it was time to order dessert.  So we drank Thai Iced Tea (a neighboring cuisine) and Hue beer with our Prawn Sour Soup, Fire Roasted Squid, Hanoi Shrimp Cake and Beef Noodle Soup (Pho).

Every little bit was quite delicious, even the Vietnamese beer.  The Prawn Sour Soup was the best version I've ever had with very fresh ingredients like cilantro and tomato.  The calamari was cooked just right and the Hanoi Shrimp Cake was bizarre and decadent - sweet potato fries with actual whole shrimp in the batter.  The Pho seemed rather untraditional, but a jumble of cooked and fresh food in a hearty portion.  We exclaimed while we ate and even though I was full to bursting with Vietnamese goodness, the Vahlrona Chocolate Cake on the dessert menu was not to be denied (third photo up top) and was one of the greatest examples of chocolate cake ever.  The cream and raspberries were not necessary as the cake and ganache were chocolate epiphany.  This was a worthy last meal before surgery.

However, when Mexican food calls, Ted always answers, so how delighted was he to find that our hotel accommodations for the evening included Mexican restaurant on premises?  Judging by the sign, this may be the coolest Super 8 ever (next to Vegas, of course):

Super 8 San JoseSuper 8 Las Vegas for comparisonSuper 8 San Jose houses El Palenque restaurant, which was just okay for tacos.  Very convenient for hotel guests, but not even in the top 50% for Mexican restaurants in California.  Though Ted agrees, he enjoyed his absolute last meal before surgery.

After all the surgery drama on our way back to Yosemite, we had to stop for more tacos in Manteca at the highly regarded Taqueria La Estrella.  Highly regarded by our friend Jack who never shuts up about how much he loves this taqueria.  Seriously.  Another gem in a strip mall that proves yet again, never judge a taco by it's location.  Not only is the food excellent, the restaurant is bright and busy with people really, really enjoying the spread.  We ordered many plates to try and did our best to consume it all.  Shrimp Tostadas along with Al Pastor (pork), Lengua (cow tongue) and Carne Asada (beef) Tacos.  The salsa bar is impressive in size and scope and the staff is very friendly.  This is what can be achieved in a Mexican restaurant in California:

Don't sweat the cow tongue thing, lengua is delicious!  On our second round of surgery madness we spent way too many days in Redwood City at the Sequoia Hospital where we lived on deli items from Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.  But on our way out of town we spotted Tacos El Grullense (also known as the redundant El Grullense Grill) and ducked in for a taco or two.  Ted spotted a framed article boasting TEG as one of San Francisco's top twenty Mexican joints.  The Al Pastor tacos were possibly the best I've tasted and the salsa bar, though tiny, included piles of fresh cucumber slices and radishes to complement your tacos - just like in Mexico.

Photo from www.bunrab.com

From www.elgrullensegrill.com

Though it seems like all we ever eat is Mexican (and who doesn't, living in California?), I did have a new food experience in early August during a trip to Berkeley with my friend Beth.  After a reception at Heyday Books for Beth in her new role as California Director for the National Wildlife Federation, we had dinner with friends at a Salvadoran restaurant.  Recommended by our friend and publishing legend, Malcolm Margolin, Platano restaurant served the Salvadoran version of Latin American specialties such as plaintains, beans, and carne asada.  We had pupusas and platanos for starters, pupusas being thick corn masa tortillas stuffed with various fillings served with curtido & salsa.  The platanos were served with refried beans and cream (!), a surprisingly lovely combination that would have never crossed my mind.  We shared all dishes including a veggie stew called Papa Guisada, Carne Asada and my personal favorite of the evening, Albondigas - meatballs with mint, onion and tomato puree.  Wine, sangria and the conversation flowed amongst excellent company.

Beth loves plantains with refried beans and creamPapa Guisada veggie dish

MeatballsBeth, Malcolm and MichelleJunket Ratings:

White Shallot: Junk in the Trunk!

El Palenque: Jar Jar Junks

Taqueria La Estrella: Junk-O-Rama

Tacos El Grullense: Junk-O-Rama

Platano: Junk-O-Rama

TRAVEL: A LITTLE SOJOURN TO THE DESERT UTAH/NEVADA

The view of Zion National Park from Bonnie's house

Every summer Ted makes a trip to Salt Lake City for the Outdoor Retailer trade show to view the world's coolest outdoor gear and acquire some to sell in the Mountain Shop in Yosemite.  Last couple of years I've tagged along, but this year though my presence was required in Utah, my attention was directed to a loftier goal:  emptying the storage unit we'd been keeping in Utah since I'd moved away in the spring of 2010.  The best part of this plan was that we would be able to visit with our friend Bonnie in Springdale.  After some tricky logistics got me, Ted, and our cargo trailer to Utah via Las Vegas, we were able to spend a weekend with Bonnie and various members of the Suerig clan, including her dog Scooby Doo (a mixed breed rescue dog, Ted referred to Scooby's pedigree as "Desert Husky").

We stayed with Bonnie in her home just yards from the entrance to Zion National Park amidst her hollyhock garden and flocks of hummingbirds.  We ate pizza from the Flying Monkey (the excellent Pizza Lasagna involving fennel sausage - yum!), went tubing on the Virgin River and cooked up some Mexican food for Bonnie and her daughter Tiffany (seafood tostadas, grilled parmesan corn and watermelon salad).  Bonnie's granddaughter Ginger (Tiffany's daughter) had just turned nine years old, so I also attended Ginger's birthday party involving a giant water slide and many sugar-laden treats.  We took a spin through Rockville, trying to see our ex-landlords (and friends) Dan and Aleen, but we only caught a glimpse of our old pal Cactus the Burro who seemed to have a new friend in his reconfigured pasture.

Photo from www.foodzings.com

After all the weekend fun, we made our way to Hurricane and our storage unit (Parker Storage - a highly recommended great deal for my Utah friends) and not too many snafus later had loaded up our cargo trailer (mysteriously less full than when we unloaded initially in a bending-the-laws-of-physics kind of way).  Those snafus?  Ted didn't bring the padlock key, Michelle didn't bring the padlock key, bought bolt cutters to cut the lock, lock is the type that can't be cut by bolt cutters, needed a locksmith, called Beth in California to look up Hurricane locksmiths on the web, left messages for various locksmiths, found a locksmith that showed up in 20 minutes and cut the lock off with something high tech for $60 (NOT a snafu!), returned the bolt cutters unused.  Whew!  After uploading our stuff, we decided to drive to Vegas that evening to cut some time off the long trailer-towing trip ahead of us.  The only way our Springdale sojourn could have been better is if our friend Hans had been there.  Bonnie's husband, and our dear friend, had passed away earlier this year and we miss him.  We thanked Bonnie for her wonderful hospitality and headed into Nevada to stay at our old stand-by: the Las Vegas Super 8 at Ellis Island Casino.  We drank the tasty $1.75 micro-brewed beer and lost some money at blackjack.  The hotel is being remodeled and the casino is still the best casual hangout in town.  They were having a Hatch Chile Roast on August 20th that I was sorry to miss.

From the Ellis Island Casino facebook pageBright and early the next morning we headed for Yosemite.  Driving across Nevada is one of my very favorite things to do.  Why?  Because I am the Road Trip Queen and the Nevada highways are always empty, and because the scenery in Nevada is ever entertaining.  The road signs in Nevada never fail to get you thinking.

We stopped for lunch in the town of Beatty, a gateway town for Death Valley National Park where brothels abide that's geographically and perhaps uncomfortably close to where they used to test atomic bombs in the Nevada desert.  I wanted to check out the Happy Burro Chili & Beer since I had bypassed it so many times traveling through Beatty, and anything with beer is good for Ted.  The Happy Burro is the kind of place you hope to find on a road trip boasting an outdoor deck where the friendly locals hang out, an unfriendly dog and the most disgustingly delicious road food ever: chili dogs, chili burgers and PBR served in a Mason jar.  Road trip bliss.

We passed through Fish Lake Valley and the tiny hamlet of Dyer, NV before entering California.  The Esmeralda Market in Dyer holds a special place in my heart as it saved me from running out of gas in the true middle of nowhere on a previous road trip.  Curiously, we noticed an abundance of tomato juice drinks in the cooler at the market (at least 6 different kinds) and I surmised that they must like their Bloody Marys in Dyer.  The market is another road trip classic: well-stocked with drinks and food, two gas pumps out front and a snack bar.  You're lucky to find this place as you pass through the Nevada desert.

Junket Ratings:

The Flying Monkey Wood Fire Kitchen: Junk in the Trunk!

Las Vegas Super 8: Junk-O-Rama

Ellis Island Casino and Brewery: Junk in the Trunk!

Happy Burro Chili & Beer: Junk in the Trunk!

Esmeralda Market: Junk-O-Rama

TRAVEL/FOOD: MORE EASTERN SIERRA EXTRAVAGANZA! PART TWO

My birthday occurs on Bastille Day.  If you are French, that's significant, if not, you'll have to settle for my birthday occurring significantly during the Tour de France every summer.  This year however, I also realized that my birthday occurred right around the running of The World's Toughest Footrace - the Badwater Ultramarathon.  Every summer some VERY strong people run from the lowest point in the U.S: Badwater Basin in Death Valley, to the start of the highest point in the continental U.S.: Mount Whitney Portal, for a total of 135 miles with a total elevation gain of some 13,000 feet.  In July.  Our first clue was this vehicle in a parking lot in Lone Pine:

At first we applauded the vehicle's owner for creative entitlement, but soon realized this was a support vehicle for all those sweaty runners on the 395.  We left the Big Pine Creek campground on my birthday and headed north to Lundy Canyon for two more days of camping.  Stopping over in Bishop for a superb sandwich lunch at Raymond's Deli, I celebrated my French birthday heritage with a Cuban sandwich (1000 Island Cuban) while Ted consumed an Angry Cow.  We also discovered Death Valley Pale Ale.

Raymond's rocked.  Especially the rye bread on my Cuban.  The hippest deli in town, Raymond's staff was not overly impressed with their inherent hipness, which made for great service in addition to great food.  We'll be back to try the rest of the menu as soon as we can.  After resupplying in Bishop for more great camp meals, we cruised the 395 to Lundy Canyon just north of Lee Vining and Mono Lake.  Lundy Canyon is home to Lundy Lake and the Lundy Lake Lake Resort, but we were camping at the county-operated Mill Creek Campground.  Though the campground does not take reservations, there were plenty of sites to choose from on a Thursday, and we found our place at site #5 near the creek with great Sierra views and plenty of wildflowers.

Lundy Canyon is filled with Aspen trees and must be a marvelous sight in the autumn when the leaves turn from green to gold.  The canyons and foothills of the Eastern Sierra was home to a significant Basque sheepherder population during the gold rush days in California.  Sheepherding is a lonely occupation, and the Basque men who had relocated from Europe without family and friends used a unique method to communicate with each other over long distances by carving symbols into Aspen trees, known as arborglyphs. Many carvers perfected their craft by choosing trees and symbols that would not become distorted as the trees grow and are easily recognizable 150 years later.  Unfortunately, others have been inspired to mark the trees with simple grafitti, but the original markings are another reminder of the range of cultures that actually comprise the American West.  To learn more about the Basque arborglyphs, check out Speaking Through Aspens: Basque Tree Carvings in California and Nevada by Joseph Mallea-Olaetxe.  The Lundy Lake Resort, a rustic fishing camp with boat rentals and cabins serving visitors to the lake, is an easy run a few miles up the roadfrom the campground where the store stocks ice. 

The fishing access to Mill Creek and Lundy Lake was somewhat disappointing for us, as the creek was still so high from snow runoff and the lake is really a reservoir for boats.  When Ted spotted a beaver pond in the creek with limited access, he devised a method of access involving an air mattress and layers of clothing to fish in the cold water.  There weren't many keepers but he returned with this:

We made fine meals despite the lack of trout, including Eggs in Hell for breakfast, another brilliant recipe from Mario Batali.  If you have an iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch, there's an app for that.  I made my own birthday dinner - Pasta Salad with Grilled Sausages and Peppers - that came out quite nicely.  Though my version was more of a pasta dish vs. salad and required prep at home before camping, this recipe from Food & Wine magazine is a winner at home and in the great outdoors.

Fortifed with food, we made ready for a visit to one of California's most popular state parks, Bodie State Historic Park in the Bodie Hills near the Nevada border.  Bodie is a ghost town preserved in a state of "arrested decay" left over from the gold rush in the late 1800s.  As authentic of an Old West experience as you're likely to get, Bodie is a great place to explore in the middle of nowhere and being a state park, Fleabag was welcome to explore with us.  Bodie still contains over 100 buildings with many of the original furnishings.  Several buildings are open for your perusal, and the visitor center is housed in one of the historic buildings with a bookstore operated by the Bodie Foundation.  Inside, we found a copy of Roughing It by Mark Twain which chronicles his younger days in the Wild West, including mining in Nevada.  Hilarious and very entertaining, Roughing It proves that we all need more Mark Twain in our lives.  Evidence of the mining still exists on the hills all around Bodie, where residents reaped the financial rewards of all that gold.  They even ran 13 miles of copper wire from Green Creek to power the stamp mill in 1892, providing early  hydroelectric power to the middle of nowhere.

My greatest sense of Old West authenticity in Bodie came from the sheer amount of dust.  There are no services in Bodie - though the visitor center sells bottled water and the park provides restrooms - so we became parched after our stroll through town.  Seven miles north of the turnoff for Bodie on the 395, you'll find the town of Bridgeport with it's small town charm and horrendous price gouging.  We lucked into the Jolly Kone (and Massage?) burger and ice cream stand and tucked into some righteous burger and fries.

Photo from www.highsierratopix.comAfter a week of Eastern Sierra glory, it was time to go back home to Yosemite.  But first, a mandatory stop at Mono Lake.  Two and a half times saltier than the sea, Mono Lake's water doesn't support much wildlife  though many, many migratory birds nest here.  Formed almost a million years ago, the lake has no natural outlet, so between that and the fact that the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power diverts all the freshwater tributaries that normally flow into the lake into the lawns of LA, the lake's salinity has doubled in recent years.  This doesn't seem to bother the lake's most unique denizens - brine shrimp and alkali flies.  The brine shrimp relish the salty envirnment and the flies feed on lake algae.  Visitors to the lake spend time stooped over the shoreline looking at shrimp and swarms of flies.  The flies are peculiar in that they absolutely will not bother humans - you can wave a hand through a swarm and they will move and regroup around you.

Brine Shrimp

Alkali Flies line the lakeshore

This trip we visited the Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve and the adjacent Mono Lake County Park.  The county park is a green oasis in the dry Eastern Sierra with manicured lawns, picnic area and play structures.  Access to the lake via the state reserve boardwalk provides a panoramic view of tufa towers and bird habitat.  California's state parks are in crisis and this reserve is slated for closure in 2012 - one of 70 state parks to close due to California's budget woes.  Though the beautiful county park will remain open, you will no longer be able to access the lake from here by next year.  The California State Parks Foundation sponsors the Save Our State Parks campaign to help raise funds for parks.

State parks slated for closure in 2012My fellow Californians, please go visit your local state park and encourage others to do the same.  Consider buying an annual pass, or even better, join the California State Parks Foundation and receive an annual pass as a benefit of the Frequent Visitor donor level.  Who doesn't need more opportunity to go outside and play?

Junket Ratings:

Raymond's Deli: Junk in the Trunk!

Jolly Kone: Junk-O-Rama

TRAVEL/FOOD: EASTERN SIERRA EXTRAVAGANZA! PART ONE

There she is: the Sierra Nevada mountain range from the east side.  You're almost in Nevada from this vantage point in the Bodie Hills and there is still a heck of alot of snow up top for mid July.  The Eastern Sierra exists in the rain shadow of the California coast with hotter and drier conditions than the west side landscape like Yosemite.  The rain shadow effect occurs when moisture from the ocean rises in the form of clouds and falls as precipitation on the ocean side of a mountain range as the clouds bump into the mountains on their way inland.  The resulting rain shadow is the dry land side of the range receiving very little moisture from the clouds that expended their efforts on the ocean side.  So you get places like Death Valley and the Mojave Desert on the lee side of the Sierra.  And Nevada. 

But I love the desert, so the Eastern Sierra is the best of both worlds for me.  Unfortunately for me, I can only access the East Side for a few months during the year (summer) when there isn't 20 feet of snow blocking Tioga Pass.  Unless of course I want to drive around the mountain range to get to the other side, and by that time I am likely distracted by Los Angeles or Las Vegas, so a summer visit it is.  We planned a week long camping excursion for my birthday, starting at Big Pine Creek and ending at Lundy Canyon.  We escaped the horrendous traffic of Yosemite Valley to cross Tioga Pass in the high country and head south on the 395 to Big Pine.  Big Pine is the home of my new favorite BBQ joint: Dick's Smokewagon.  We were rolling in early evening, so I decided Ted needed the Eastern Sierra's best BBQ for dinner and we wouldn't have to wash dishes by headlamp at camp later.  We both ordered the Uncle Floyd sandwich: pulled pork with beans and really good coleslaw.  We tucked it away for the ride to the campground and then tucked in when we arrived.  Temps in the 90s at Big Pine soon cooled to the 60s as we ascended the road from town into Big Pine Canyon to the Big Pine Creek campground at 7700 feet in the Inyo National Forest.  You can see the Palisade Glacier from here:

Our campsite, #9, was located on the foundation of an old warming hut for the skiing at Glacier Lodge with the fireplace and chimney still intact.  A tow rope used to take skiers up the mountain behind the campsite and the hut used to serve hot chocolate, according to the campground host.  The Big Pine Creek Trail splits into North Fork and South Fork just outside the campground, leading hikers to glacial lakes and views of the Palisade Glacier.  The North Fork features two waterfalls, so we thought Fleabag might like the scenery.  We hiked past First Falls until we had a view of Second Falls before returning.  Though Fleabag the old dog enjoyed the hike it took alot out of him and he needed to convalesce for the rest of the day.

First Falls

Second Falls (way in the background center)

The campground host gave Ted some confirmation on the creek's best fishing hole, so while Fleabag and I retired, Ted caught us some trout for dinner.  Big Pine Creek was raging with snowmelt, but just near the campground the creek widens into a pool filled with trout.  All Eastern Sierra creeks and lakes are stocked with hatchery trout every summer, so shame on you if you're not eating trout at your campsite.  One of our best successes with cooking trout results from the 'tin foil pack directly on the coals' method. Following a recipe I spied in Fine Cooking magazine (thanks to mother-in-law for subscription!), I substituted the trout and prepared couscous as an accompaniment and we had a fine camp dinner.

In the morning we rose veeeerrryy early to take a trip south for some desert adventure.  I had read about petroglyphs in the Coso Range near Death Valley (and very close to U2's Joshua Tree) and wanted to see for myself.  It surprised me to learn that the Coso Range in California is home to the greatest concentration of petroglyphs in North America.  Unfortunately and fortunately the canyon home to the most rock art is smack in the middle of the China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station - unfortunately because the petroglyphs can only be accessed by a military sanctioned tour in spring and fall and fortunately because this limited access keeps the sites preserved from vandals and development.  The petroglyphs I wanted to see are just past Coso Junction just outside of China Lake, but I didn't have very clear directions.  So we bought some Cheladas and chips at the Chevron station and asked the clerk for information.  He was clueless so we just started driving.  Several dirt roads later around 8 AM, we found the parking area near the entrance to a local pumice mine.

You may have noticed the sign is for pictograph parking, not petroglyphs.  The difference between the two is that pictographs are painted on rock and petroglyphs are pecked out of the dark varnish that accumulates on desert rock.  Pictographs are obviously much rarer as they don't last as long.  These particular pictographs are painted on a large boulder known as Ayers Rock.  For you Aussies, this is the name of one of your biggest tourist attractions, and I find it lame when people are so very unoriginal in their naming.  However, I wil say that once we reached Ayers Rock, the surrounding desert had a definite Outback feel to it, so I'll cut the namers some slack.  The pictographs were painted mostly in shades of red and orange and the surrounding landscape is littered with worked obsidian flakes.  The flakes are centered around Ayers Rock and not any of the other nearby boulders, demonstrating that the people brought their obsidian to this specific site to create projectile points.  However, the pictographs may only be 100 years old, and I'm certain the locals were not hunting with projectile points in the 20th century.  I showed Ted how to create the worked edge using pressure flaking with another piece of obsidian.  What else would I do with that archaeology degree?

The official directions to Ayers Rock:

Take U.S. 395 to Coso Junction, south of Olancha and north of Little Lake and Ridgecrest.  Turn east on Gill Station/Coso Junction Road (rest area on one corner, gas station on the other) and travel 4 miles to a dirt road marked SE 435 on the left.  Take 435 for 5 miles until you reach the gated entrance to a pumice mine.  The parking area is reached via dirt road on the left that parallels the mine property after 1/2 mile.

On the way back to Big Pine from the south we stopped at the cool and shady Mount Whitney Fish Hatchery  to check out the fish and the grounds.  One of the hatcheries that keeps the Eastern Sierra in trout all summer, the building was built on Oak Creek in 1917 as a showplace of the Sierra with 3500 tons of local granite providing walls 2 to 3 feet thick.  The hatchery is located on Fish Hatchery Road 2 miles north of Independence with a lovely shaded picnic area, trout pond (no fishing!) and a gift shop with tours.  I was disappointed to find the gift shop was closed during our visit, as I was extremely curious to see the treasures to be found in a fish hatchery gift shop.  This a great stop for a picnic lunch if you are traveling the 395 in the summer heat.

Another hot aspect of the Eastern Sierra, besides the temps and the desert, are all the hot springs in this geologically active area.  Last time we visited, we took Fleabag to Keough hot ditch just south of Bishop where he did his best impression of Captain Nemo and really seemed to enjoy the warm water.  This visit he wasn't quite as enthused (his sight and hearing are going so he doesn't always enjoy unfamiliar landscapes) but eventually the warm water calmed his old bones.  Though it has the most unappealing name, Keough hot ditch has great pools maintained by locals with boulders and sandy bottom.  The pools are directly underneath high tension wires (yikes!) where you can hear and feel the electricity crackling.  Evening is the best time since the hot spring water is diverted during the day to Keough's Hot Springs Resort further up the hill.  The resort releases the water after closing and the hot ditch water levels increase.  Lots of reports on the web about this place, but I've never seen naked people and trash is kept to a minimum.

On our last day at Big Pine Creek, Ted and I went our separate ways as he wanted to bike from our campsite to the town of Big Pine and back (3000 ft elevation gain - the man is a glutton for physical punishment) and I wanted to exert myself somewhat less by visiting the Eastern California Museum in Independence.  I left Ted mid-journey as he refueled at the Hi-Country Market and Hardware inside the Mobil Station on the corner of Main and Crocker.  If you're in Big Pine, this market has it all - a beer cave, firewood, very clean restrooms, a dog named Sophie, good service, local peppers and honey, Cheladas and a selection of fine sun hats (do not go to Carroll's Market located right on Main: overpriced and dingy - yuck).  We found other features of Big Pine nearly as charming, including the fishing dummy functioning as a sort of Sierra lawn jockey and the sensible rules posted at the Big Pine Cemetery:

I left Ted to labor his way up the road back to camp and took off for Independence, 26 miles south of Big Pine, to see the museum and the home of author Mary Austin.  The Eastern California Museum was organized in 1928, first occupying a room in the courthouse building.  Later the museum moved to it's present site, including the relocation of many historic buildings to the grounds to recreate that Old West sentiment.  Operated by Inyo county, the museum and staff are lovely and it's just the sort of museum you want to see in the West:  old school glass and wood display cases piled with Indian artifacts and old west memorabilia.  They have an excellent exhibit on Manzanar (the WWII Relocation Camp just down the highway), some fascinating newspapers from the era of the Owens Valley water wars with Los Angeles, and an impressive collection of Paiute and Shoshone baskets.  In addition, I think they may have collected every historic item that ever passed through the Owens Valley.  The bookstore is worth a visit alone, as Independence's location between the Sierra and the desert covers a range of interests including mountain trout fishing, Death Valley, local history of mining and ghost towns, Owens Lake, wildflowers, campfire recipes and the local native population. 

Independence was the historic home of Mary Austin, author of The Land of Little Rain, a classic of California literature where she wrote: "This is the sense of the desert hills, that there is room enough and time enough."  Her home is now California Historical Landmark #229 and though privately owned, the museum staff said the current owners have restored the house to it's original brown color.   A novelist, poet, critic, playwright, and feminist she was born in Illinois in 1868. Twenty years later, she accompanied her parents when they relocated to California's San Joaquin Valley. Three years later, she married Stafford Wallace Austin and the couple moved to Independence in the Eastern Sierra where they designed the house that is now a California Historical Landmark.  After Owens Valley lost the battle to prevent Los Angeles from diverting the Owens River to support the agriculture and suburbs of southern California, Stafford moved to Death Valley and Mary moved to Carmel where her circle of friends included Jack London, Ambrose Bierce, and George Sterling.  She died in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1934.

From www.noehill.comMary Austin from Wikipedia

Before we left Big Pine on our way north to camp in Lundy Canyon,  we stopped to see our friend Austin who lives in Big Pine with his wife Laurie and son Jack.  We envy our friends their lovely home in the Eastern Sierra and hope to take them up on offers of dinner and directions to more petroglyphs in the near future.

Ted, Austin and Jack

Junket Ratings:

Dick's Smokewagon: Junk in the Trunk!

Mount Whitney Fish Hatchery: Junk-O-Rama

Hi-Country Market and Hardware (Mobil Station): Junk-O-Rama

Eastern California Museum: Junk-O-Rama

And we used our favorite guidebook for this part of California:

Yosemite, the Southern Sierra Nevada & Death Valley

HOME/TRAVEL: SUMMER IN THE SIERRA (AND MOM COMES TO VISIT) JUNE 2011

So here we are, chillin' in Yosemite Valley now that summer is here and the temps are finally hovering around the hot mark.  The incredible everlasting snowpack in the Sierra from last winter is still creating highwater everywhere - rivers, creeks, waterfalls, campgrounds, bridges - and the show is spectacular.  We had planned a June birthday visit for my mom, coming from Michigan, and we couldn't have picked a better summer vacation for her.  We spent some days in the Valley, tooling around on bikes, viewing the waterfalls and cooking up a Mexican birthday fiesta.  But mom and I also traveled to the East Side - the eastern high desert counterpart to the Sierra Nevada's western slopes that is home to Tule elk, petroglyphs, hot springs and a lake twice as salty as the sea.  After viewing the waterfalls up close in the Valley, we also traveled to Glacier Point for one of the best views on the planet.

Kathy at the cranking Merced River

Highwater Merced with North Dome

Lower Yosemite Falls booming with snowmelt

Kathy likes a good Mexican meal, so we thought to fix her up for her birthday with a Taquisa (taco party) and invite over a few friends.  Ted excels at guacamole, tomatillo salsa and pico de gallo, I make a swell fish taco, and we also offered carnitas tacos, coctel de camarones (shrimp cocktail), grilled knob onions, jicama salad and pineapple upside-down cake for dessert  (all the good stuff we learned from traveling in Mexico and Chef Rick Bayless).  Pacifico beers and tequila cocktails provided refreshment.

Beth, Barb, Kathy, Christy and Joe

We braved a weekend drive to Glacier Point the next day, despite the nearly out-of-control traffic congestion in the park this year (today at the El Cap turnaround, NPS was telling visitors to exit the park due to a two hour wait to get near anywhere near Yosemite Village - El Capitan is 5 miles from Yosemite Village).  We took a short hike out to Sentinel Dome.  We tried to hike the Taft Point trail, but it was covered with snow (!).  The way to Sentinel Dome was clear, though some snow remained on the dome itself.  Once you reach the terminus of the Glacier Point road, you are standing at 7000 feet above sea level, where winter snow can linger.  The day was brilliantly sunny and warm, but there was still plenty of snow melting slowly in the sun.  The views from Glacier Point of Yosemite Valley are top contenders for most picturesque view on Planet Earth.  The photo of the Valley at night was taken by my friend Kristal Leonard who is making quite a name for herself as a local photographer.  It's one of my fave Yosemite photos ever.  And no, it's not all campfires - there are several thousand people living in Yosemite Valley and we may be in the middle of nowhere but we do have electricity (not to mention all the stores, restaurants and hotels).

Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls from Sentinel Dome

Half Dome from Glacier Point

Nevada Fall and Vernal Fall from Glacier Point

Nevada Fall

Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point

 After several days in the park, we trucked on over to the East Side of the Sierra - one of my favorite places on earth.  It's still the mountains of California, but it's the rain shadow side so it's all glorious high desert.  We only have access to the East Side for about 4 months out of the year over the Tioga Pass, otherwise it's snowed in at 10,000 feet elevation.  We cruise through Yosemite's Tuolumne Meadows before exiting the park into Inyo National Forest and the tiny town of Lee Vining near Mono Lake.  At Lee Vining you catch the 395 and go north or south to experience Eastern Sierra delight.  This trip we went south to the Alabama Hills so Mom could see old western movie locations outside of Lone Pine, CA.  A trip through the high country also requires a stop at Olmstead Point where you can view Half Dome from the other side - directly opposite from where we were viewing Half Dome the day before at Glacier Point.

Olmstead Point

Tenaya LakeTuolumne Meadows

Tioga Lake Inyon National Forest - still frozen!Lee Vining CanyonMono Lake photo from www.pashnit.com

It's desert hot on the East Side, so excursions have to be planned around the midday sun.  The Eastern Sierra is geologically active and littered with hot springs in the valleys and foothills of the mountains.  We were booked into a deluxe tent cabin at Keough Hot Springs, a developed hot springs site south of Bishop.  We arrived in the afternoon after a stop at Mono Lake, a drive around the June Lake loop, and sandwiches to go at Erick Schat's Bakery in Bishop.  We checked out Mom's timeshare at June Lake, the Heidelberg Inn, with it's ski chalet charm and the most impressive stone fireplace I've ever seen.  In Bishop at the bakery the sandwiches are delightful, using their own "sheepherder" bread (and many other kinds) with great fixings.  My favorite bread at the bakery is the Ham and Cheeze Bread which actually contains a light slather of tomato sauce baked inside so it's like eating pizza.  Yum.  We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening soaking in the hot springs pools.

June Lake photo from Wikipedia

Photo from http://littlekenny.com

Photo from TripAdvisor UK

Keough's Hot Springs is a (very) rustic resort where you can pitch a tent, park an RV, stay in a tent cabin or rent a trailer to stay and spend as much time as you want in the hot springs pools during operating hours.  if you're thinking "Ugh!  Hot springs in the summer?", forget it.  The large springs pool is kept cooler with occasional sprays of cold water so the water is soothing and very relaxing without overheating.  The staff all appeared to be under the age of 19, but they were friendly and the pools and facilities were very clean.  Our tent cabin was ungodly hot during the afternoon, but cooled down nicely at night due to the circulating fan in the corner and the 4000 feet elevation.  Our beds were comfy with flannel sheets and quilts and the refrigerator kept our sandwiches cool until we were ready to eat them.  A tent cabin is $75 overnight which includes hot springs entrance for the occupants and access to showers and bathrooms.  A day swim at the springs will cost you $8.00.  My mom enjoyed her sojourn at the springs very much and I was happy to share one of the Eastern Sierra's many natural attractions.  We slept comfortably and rose early to beat the heat and tour the Alabama Hills just outside of Lone Pine to the south.

The Alabama Hills were the filming location for many, many movie westerns from the 30s and 40s, but with it's proximity to Los Angeles, still provides the backdrop for current movies like "Gladiator" and "Ironman".  Mom is a western buff and we toured the area with the movie location map in hand to see places where John Wayne and the Lone Ranger rode.  We also hiked out to the Mobius Arch with Mount Whitney (the tallest mountain in the lower 48) looming in the background.  First we had breakfast at the Alabama Hills Bakery and Cafe where the special was a decadent BLT breakfast sandwich on croissant.

Before we left Lone Pine we stopped by the Eastern Sierra Interagency Visitor Center to make sure we hadn't missed anything.  Some of those agencies include Inyo National Forest, NPS, BLM and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.  This is a first rate facility with interesting exhibits and the excellent Discovery Bookstore operated by the Eastern Sierra Interpretive Association that deserves your support (proceeeds go to public lands).  I am fascinated with the story of water in California, and the center has a piece of the Los Angeles aqueduct on display.  The juiciest part of that story is the hijacking of Owens Lake by Los Angeles to water their ever growing hordes in the early twentieth century.  The Los Angeles aqueduct carried water from Owens Lake until it ran dry, creating a conundrum for local agriculture (for the scoop read Marc Reisner's "Cadillac Desert: The American West and It's Disappearing Water" or see the movie "Chinatown").  However, on this day, the best part of the story is my mom's reaction upon seeing the salvaged section of aqueduct:

"Oh, is that the Stargate?"

I almost peed myself laughing, because it really does look like the Stargate!  Here is the Atlantis Stargate for comparison (sci fi geek alert!!):

And then she points to the case nearby displaying various ominous looking mechanisms from military bases in the region and says, "And there's the part they're always missing or trying to repair."

Now if only we could have found this in the Stargate exhibit, my day would've been complete:

Colonel John SheppardBut alas, the good colonel was nowhere to be found, so we moved on.  Heading north on the 395 to the town of Big Pine (are you seeing a pattern here?) we stopped at Manzanar, a National Historic Site that interprets the history of the land - from Owens Valley apple farming community to a World War II Relocation Center for Japanese Americans in 1942.  Three original buildings remain and the vistor center is located in the former community hall for war camp interns.

Not exactly heartwarming, the story of illegally detained American citizens, but a vital part of our history that I'm not sure most Americans are even aware of.  After viewing the museum, we left the somber mood behind and with several hours of travel ahead of us, stopped for BBQ lunch in Big Pine at Dick's Smokewagon.  Yep.

A truly exceptional BBQ meal, the pork sandwich and highly original coleslaw from Dick's was a great treat.  The sauce is made fresh daily and the meat swamps the bun (why even bother with a bun?) requiring a fork to consume in order not to wear it.  There isn't any seating at Dick's, but we found a local park with picnic tables and plenty of shade just around the corner.  After lunch we retraced our route going north to return to Yosemite, from the desert heat to the high country snow and back down to a warm and sunny Yosemite Valley.  Ted and I are off again next week to the Eastern Sierra in search of petroglyphs and ghost towns with some stops for hot spring soaks and another BBQ lunch.  Eastern California is home to the highest (Mt. Whitney) and the lowest (Death Valley) points in the continental U.S. and many more contrasting features - cultural, climatic and countryside - that we are always ready to explore.

Happy Independence Day!

Junket Ratings:

Erick Schat's Bakkery: Junk in the Trunk!

Keough's Hot Springs: Junk-O-Rama

Alabama Hills Bakery and Cafe: Junk-O-Rama

Dick's Smokewagon: Junk in the Trunk!!