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…

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First Cracker Barrel in California Comes to the Desert

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…

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Amboy Cemetery: Dust in the Wind

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…

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Dilemma in the Desert: Showdown in Daggett

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…

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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…

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Peggy Sue’s 50’s Diner: A Desert Delight

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…

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Calico Ghost Town Campground: Spirited Glamping

Calico’s reputation as a ghost town is well deserved as there are numerous reports of actual ghosts being sighted. Lucy Bell King Lane, a longtime resident who ran Lucy Lane’s General Store has often been seen in her store.

Margaret Olivier, the last schoolteacher, has been seen teaching in her classroom. Tourists who have talked with Margaret thought she was part of the staff dressed in period costumes, only to find out she has been dead since 1932. There is even the ghost story of Dorsey, the shepherd dog that carried the US Mail between various mines.

Was that really the howling wind that woke us up at 3 a.m. at our Calico campsite, or was it Lucy Lane?

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Roy Rogers Double R Bar Ranch: Happy Trails and Cowboy Tales on Route 66

There was a time when cowboys ruled the day, or at least the airwaves, and the good guy always won.

From Tom Mix in the early 1900s, to Clint Eastwood and Kurt Russell today, most of us have wanted to be a cowboy or cowgirl at one time or another.

Many of us grew up knowing that among the cowboys of the cinema, Roy Rogers was king, and Dale Evans was his queen.

Fast forward. After going through a few years of relative dormancy, in 2015, the Roy Roger’s Double R Bar Ranch came into the sights of Jim Heffel.

Now an accomplished horseman and part-time stunt rider, Jim and his wife Deena bought the farm in a friendly manner of speaking…

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