Author Posts
No one can deny that Southern California’s 2018 Monsoon Season has been one heck of a lalapalooza. When retired school principal Tom left his home in the high desert on July 12, 2018 to visit his adult son at his other home in Big Bear City, he had no idea he would soon face nature’s fury on State Highway 18.
It was cloudy, especially towards the top of the mountain, but Tom wasn’t concerned as it wasn’t raining yet where he was. However, a stationary thunderstorm cell was dumping over Big Bear City and Baldwin Lake for over an hour.
After Tom passed by the Mitsubishi Cement Plant on his right at about 12:30 p.m. and followed his well-beaten path, he was suddenly confronted with an astonishing sight. A surreal wall of mud and debris careened down the road toward him…
Corn Spring: Gateway to Petroglyphs, Miner’s Cabin and More!
Corn Spring is in the Chuckwalla Mountains of the Colorado Desert seventeen miles southeast of Desert Center. Native Americans relied on the springs, and they engraved many petroglyphs on the rocks in the area.
The Chemehuevi, Desert Cahuilla and Yuma bands frequented the spring and carved elaborate petroglyphs in the nearby rocks. Some of the oldest rock art is over 10,000 years old…
Bluff Lake Reserve: A Road Less Taken
Bluff Lake is a reservoir located just 3.8 miles from Big Bear Lake, California. Located at 7,600 feet, Bluff Lake Reserve has towering pines, a 20-acre lake and meadow, and majestic outcrops of quartz monzonite.
Once a stopover resort for pack burro trains and stages bringing tourists to Big Bear in the late 1800s, it is home to several species of rare plants and is a thriving animal habitat…
There are currently 649 Cracker Barrel locations across the United States. But California was not one of them.
If you lived in California’s high desert, and got a craving for Cracker Barrel’s Southern specialties, you had to plan for a long road trip. The closest ones were in Kingman and in Yuma, Arizona, both respectfully over 200 miles away.
We know, because we’ve done it. More than once. Until now…
When Roy’s Hotel is not ground zero for multiple thriller film shoots or welcoming the throngs of dusty tourists getting their fair share of the Route 66 experience, the quiet of Amboy settles in all around.
The solitude is so profound it’s almost deafening. The peace of the ghost town with its long-abandoned St. Raymond Church and nearby pioneer graveyard consumes you. It invites you to explore and renew.
Give yourself time to absorb this little time capsule of a town and its cemetery just a bit east on Route 66…
Deputy Will Smithson and men like Ed Silver lived in Daggett at a time when the west was supposed to have been tamed, when it had become civilized, you might say.
Unfortunately, the news of civilization seemed to have bypassed Daggett, and to locals and drifters alike, the Wild West was doing just fine the way it was, thank you.
Justice was going to be meted out in the tradition of the west if the angry mob caught up with Silver.
A rope and a tree waited for the former Buffalo Soldier, unless the sheriff could catch him first…
Doble, California: The Boom Town That Refused to Live
Take a short walk on this quiet mountain trail, surrounded by pines and open spaces, and you see it up ahead. White crosses in a semi-circle, around the gnarled truck of a tree. So, what have you stumbled into here? Well, give us a minute or two and we’ll tell you about the mountain town that refused to live.
Here, just above the highway, are about 25 marked graves in the little cemetery that served the town mining town known as Doble. The names of those interred here, except for one child, are a mystery. crosses were placed here by Boy Scouts during the 1940s.
Before it was Doble, the place was known as “Bairdstown.” It came to life after the brothers Carter filed four gold mining claims in 1873, on the mountainside that now wears their name. The utterance of the word ‘gold’ was usually all it took, and the rush was on, probably before the brothers finished unpacking their picks and shovels…
Originally built in 1947, the diner was your typical 1950s style eatery, catering to motorists making their way through the desert.
It was small— 3 booths and 9 counter stools— but managed to stick around for a while, despite being in one of the hottest places in the United States.
Peggy Sue and her husband Champ reopened the diner in 1987 and attempted to restore and preserve it in its original state. Before moving to the desert in 1981, Champ worked for Knott’s Berry Farm and Peggy Sue worked in the movies.
The diner was the perfect place to display their extensive collection of movie and TV memorabilia.
In January 2001, Peggy Sue’s 50’s Diner played a role in television host Huell Howser’s first road trip to the desert that borders the I-15 east of Barstow, California.
And in 2003, Peggy Sue’s was a major film site for the movie, “The Hulk”….
Eddie World’s ginormous ice cream sundae cleverly disguises its water tower. The lighted sundae draws weary, curious and hungry motorists on the 15 Freeway like a beacon to a desert oasis. But this, boys and girls, is no mirage.
Eddie World in Yermo features some of the rarest and most unique items of Lakers’ memorabilia you’ve ever seen. Eddie World even has the actual hard floor of the original court of the Great Western Forum.
But wait. There’s more.
Much, much more.
Hawaiian poke? You got it. 90-second custom pizza’s? Check. Candy galore? They have that too.
Let’s not forget the cutting-edge gas pumps, Tesla power stations and clean restrooms with games embedded in the urinals either.
And that’s just the beginning.
Eddie World advertises that it’s “different from the rest.” But is it too good to be true?
Just 19 miles south of Lake Havasu City and 8 miles from Parker on Arizona State Route 95, lies a little gem called Cattail Cove State Park.
Whether you’re interested in swimming, fishing or just lounging and relaxing, Cattail Cove State Park offers you and your family a chance to get away and enjoy tranquility along Lake Havasu.
The 2,000-acre park has been operated by the Arizona State Parks Board since 1970.
Although many states in the U.S. are frigid in December, Arizona is not usually one of them.
Unless you seek the high country, like Flagstaff or Prescott. Then all bets are off.
We love those places too, but for one splendid weekend, we sought warmth and was not disappointed.
We enjoyed our stay here and we know you will too. Come see why this beautiful dog-friendly setting draws campers from around the country…