Take the back roads…..to Death Valley

From Whidbey Island one can take the easy route to Death Valley.  Go down I-5 to Bakersfield, and then head over to this wonderful, if unappreciated, National Park.

Or, one can take the back roads.

Wanna guesss which one we did?

This is what it was like when we left our home:

 

 

For most of the trip we went down US 395.  And then, from Big Pine, we took another back road into Death Valley.

Along the way are some of the most beautiful sights one can see in the US. 

 Photos of the drive…. 

 

 

 

 

 

Soon after crossing into Oregon, we saw what looked like an interesting spot off the road, so we turned around and headed into it.  Are we ever glad we did.

Shaniko, Oregon is a real western town.  Not a fake one like Twisp, WA, but a real one.  The buildings are actually original, and old.  The hotel is one of the most amazing structures we have ever seen.  It looks just like the hotel in the original film 3:10 to Yuma.  (not the new one with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, but the 1956 version with Van Heflin and Glenn Ford).  We have decided that when we win the lottery we will buy the whole town.  John Wayne could ride down these streets, and be right at home.

 

 

Taking a back road to another back road, we came across Antelope, OR.  Off to the side of the road was an abandoned school house—one that completely reminded me of the school house where I attended 6^th grade.  It was Eugene Field, in Stillwater OK. 

 

This one even had the original playground equipment.  You know the kind—before when attorneys got ahold of everything and made playground equipment it into totally safe crap.  Look at the merry go round.  How many hours we spent as children sitting on one of these or spinning one.  And the jungle jim?  How long has it been since you’ve seen one of these?

  

Maybe, instead of No Child Left Behind, or Common Core, or Charter Schools, or any of that stuff that wasn’t around when Vicky and I were children, what is needed for schools is real playground equipment.  The kind where kids could fall and hurt themselves, but also the kind where children could use up their excess energy and perhaps be able to sit for long periods of time memorizing things to make adults happy. 

If we win the lottery, after we purchase Shinsoke (the entire town), we will buy this school house and make sure it is preserved forever, along with the playground equipment.  And the only kids who can play on the equipment will be our grandchildren.  Their parents won’t sue us if someone breaks an arm or something. 

From Big Pine, CA, we headed onto an often gravel road that went over an unnamed pass and into Death Valley the back way.  The road to Death Valley begins on this road at a place called Crankshaft Junction.  Guess where it gets its name.

 The road into Death Valley:

Deep in this valley, with hills and mountains on either side, we found a place that we could stop.  Along this road. 

Tonight the wind is howling, as it often is here.  Yet, in our camper/home we are warm and snug.  Tomorrow we will hike to the adjacent hills and explore places where it is possible human beings have not been for hundreds of years. 

Is there a better life when one is retired than see such beautiful places in our country?  

Here we are, see us?

 

 See us now?