We left L.A. yesterday morning around 8:30am and headed up
the 14 Fwy to the Antelope Valley. We
stopped in Palmdale to hit the Best Buy because I couldn’t find the charger for
the camera and didn’t want to waste an hour or two ripping my apartment apart
to find it.
As we moved on, there really isn’t much to see in the
Antelope valley, but once you get to Mojave, you do have some interesting
sights since that’s the location that all the aerospace firms do their “black
ops”, and NASA has an outpost. There is
also an airplane boneyard – many airlines mothball unused jets out there, as
does the military. Unfortunately, it isn’t
open to the public, but you can arrange for the rare tour (no cameras allowed),
but we didn’t get to do that this time.
After Mojave, you drive through miles of desolate desert
until you get to the Red Rock Canyon State Park (http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=631). It’s pretty to drive through, but it’s pretty
quick – you only get to drive through a couple of canyons before you’re back to
desolation. We did stop to take a few
pictures though.
There was not a whole lot else until we got just outside
Lone Pine in Olancha, where Fuzzy wanted to stop at a place that sells Jerky
and other snacks. It’s this tiny old gas
station that this guy (Gus) converted into a shop (www.freshjerky.com). They give taste samples, and it really is
good jerky. We bought a couple of packs
to take with us. They also has dried
fruits and olives, and some other taste treats, but I would have gone broke
trying to buy everything (while good, they were NOT cheap).
We continued on to Lone Pine where we stopped at the Lone
Pine Movie History Museum. Fuzzy had
always wanted to stop there (she and her boyfriend go to Bishop about once a
year) so we decided to give it a try.
Entrance was $5, and they had a short film about the history of
filmmaking in the area (it was actually pretty well done). Apparently, back in the silent area, the
studios down in L.A. found this area in the Sierra foothills to be ideal for
shooting westerns and other movies. They
continued on up into the late 60s/early 70s, and still they see some
activities. Tremors was shot in the area, as well as scenes from Iron Man, Transformers and others. It really is a rustic scene and much its old
charm remains. It’s worth the $5 to
learned about this and see some old western costumes and set pieces.
We continued on to Independence. This little town (and it is little – the main
drag is all of three blocks), but it is the county seat for Inyo County. They have a great old Courthouse at the
center of town. It was after 1pm, and I
was getting quite hungry, so we decided this would be the place to stop for
lunch. We had passed this one place
driving down the drag that looked like a French café, but we had driven
on. At the other end of town there were
a couple of places, but they seemed very ordinary, so I had Fuzzy turn the car
around and head back to that café.
We pulled up and went to check out the menu on the window. They place was called the Still Life Café. It had an interesting menu and looked quaint,
so we went in. We sat at the bar and
were greeted by a gentleman with a French accent (bingo!) who got us
menus. The interior is very café like. It’s a tiny town, so I am actually surprised
they have a place like this. Fuzzy
ordered a brie sandwich , and I wound up ordering the bacon cheese burger.
Our food arrived and the burger was thick and looked well
cooked and on was a very delicate bun. Fuzzy’s sandwich was on a baguette. Mine also
came with these very crispy fries that were delicious. I bit into the burger and it was so juicy and
meaty, well seasoned and cooked perfectly.
We talked the the gentleman (whom I surmised was the owner) and he told
me they locally source the beef which is grass raised. It was definitely one the better burgers I’ve
had. Who knew you could find such a gem
in a little Podunk town! Unfortunately,
they don’t have a website, so you just have to look for the Still Life Care on
Yelp or other sites.
We finally got to Bishop, but our hotel room wasn’t quite
ready, so we walked next door to the Back Alley Bowling Bar & Grill (http://thebackalleybowlandgrill.com/home.php)
to have a beer. Fuzzy has raved about
the food at this place (not that we were going to eat again so soon). It’s definitely a bowling alley atmosphere,
but they had some decent beers on tap.
After we killed some time, we decided to unpack and take a disco
nap. I think we power-napped for about
an hour. It was getting time to think
about dinner, so we roamed around town, but being Sunday night, not much was
open, so we headed back to the bowling alley.
I wound up ordering the honey-dipped fried chicken and Fuzzy
had the Flat Iron steak. My chicken came
with a salad and a baked potato. The
salad, for a basic house salad, was actually very good. And when I dived into the chicken, it was
moist, incredibly crispy, and the honey was just in the background. I’m thinking they dipped It in a honey bath
before battering it up and frying. So it’s
more a hint of honey rather than hitting you over the head.
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