Some folks mentioned they’d like to see photos of the scenes we noticed on our 2,484 mile road trip. Michael said, commenting on the "YOU CAN DRIVE..." blog, we were in Zion & then poof the Grand Canyon. What happened in each place & in between, he wanted to know? This version of our recent road trip is in two parts & includes stops in Modesto, Bakersfield, Lake Las Vegas , Kodachrome Basin State Park & the Death Valley, Zion, & Bryce Canyon Nat’l Parks.
On to Bakersfield to spend the night at the Padre Hotel. The Bakersfield sound is a sub-genre of country music developed in the mid-to-late 1950s in & around Bakersfield. It was the first subgenre of country music significantly influenced by rock and roll, relying heavily on electric instrumentation & a strongly defined backbeat. Buck Owens and Merle Haggard cut their teeth at the bars & honkytonks around Bakersfield before gaining international prominence. Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace is an all-in-one restaurant, museum and music venue. The show was sold out that night & it was not walking distance from the Padre.
It has major operations in the Searles Valley & in Trona, California where it is the town's largest employer. The company produces borax, boric acid, soda ash, salt cake, & salt. The Trona facility extracts and ships 1.75 million tons of chemicals per year.
When I was teaching at the Univ. of the Pacific School of Dentistry, one of the photographers had worked for "Arizona Highways" magazine. Since then I've wanted to drive on roads & take photographs like he inspired me.
Our room was somewhere here,without a balcony. We had no towels in the room. The housekeeper who replaced them said showgirls had used so many to remove their make-up they were behind in washing them.
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“A huge rock-avalanche landslide collapsed off a peak named the Sentinel 4,800 years ago, dammed the Virgin River & created a lake that lasted 700 years until it filled with sediment, producing the flat, cottonwood-dotted canyon floor enjoyed today.”
At 3:30, we took the Jeep tour. (Zion Jeep Tour Premium Package). Murphy described how this property owner has much coveted water rights. Note the 100 year old iron truss bridge in the background.
Happy residents of Springdale. Despite all the coffee shops & the brewery, this is a very Mormon town. If you get a chance, check out Under the Banner of Heaven on HULU. It’s an eye opener. Murphy, having been once been married to a Mormon (They now prefer LDS) explained a lot.
Kodachrome Basin State Park. I couldn't pass up a park with this name. I started in photography using Kodachrome 64 slide film. 50 years later the colors are still brilliant. It took them a few years but in the late 1960's, Eastman Kodak gave them permission to use the name.
Who can argue with Paul Simon’s lyrics?
“Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
Give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, oh yeah
I had a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama, don't take my Kodachrome away.”
They did take Kodachrome away. At least they left us a beautiful park.
