Why You Should Go to Bishop, California

Road Trip paper (2)

Bishop is in the Central part of California, right between Yosemite National Park and Death Valley. Sometimes on vacation, we just stay in a place as a stopping ground to make our drive shorter. After driving through Yosemite, we swung up to Bodie State Park and decided to stay in Bishop before heading to Death Valley. (All of this was planned by Ed before our trip. He doesn’t leave much to chance! Ed always checks out the restaurants in town before he makes any hotel reservation. Food is Ed’s top priority! When he read the good reviews for the best restaurant in town–the bowling alley–he couldn’t resist the challenge and booked Bishop, California!)

We had reservations at the Creekside Inn in Bishop, and we were a little worried that the pictures we saw online were too good to be true. A few years ago, we made a reservation at a hotel for a room which had a kitchenette. The online photo made the room look, well, roomy. It was not. We had to shove the TV under the counter to make room for Lily’s pack -n- play and poured milk on our cereal while sitting on the bed. Calling it a “kitchenette” was very misleading.

The Creekside Inn, however, was everything the website said it was! A charming creek runs through the Inn’s property, and there are plenty of chairs and tables next to the creek. The weather was beautiful, and we sat outside to celebrate Emmy’s birthday. She opened her present while we relaxed next to the creek.

by the creek

For Emmy’s birthday dinner, we actually did eat at the Back Alley Bowl and Grill. It looked like a bowling alley and it sounded like a bowling alley, but wow! They served us excellent steaks and shrimp! The food was really good, AND most importantly for the birthday girl, the dessert was fabulous!
bowl and steak

Our room had a balcony facing the creek. Ed read a bedtime book to the girls out on the balcony first, and after we tucked them in for the night, we sat outside listening to the creek with a bottle of wine. It was a beautiful night!

creek at nightHave you ever been to Bishop, California?

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Rainy Deserts and Mountains

dinosaurs Rt 66

During our trip to the Painted Desert last year, we learned that we should have brought raincoats.The day started out sunny, clear and hot, at 94 degrees, just the kind of day you would expect to experience in the desert. As we explored the petrified trees and historical sites, however, we began to see dark clouds in the distance. The temperatures began to drop. Our plan was to be in Petrified Forest National Park for only one day, so we raced against the storm clouds, trying to see as much as we could before the storm started. When the lightning started to get too close for comfort, we spent some time in the Visitor’s Center.

petrified forest 1

After the storm, it was cold and drizzling. But this was a place that we would probably not visit again for years, and I had to walk among the blue mesas. In sunny weather, anyway, they look blue. In the cloudy gloom, they were layers of greys and browns. The girls and I only had sweatshirts on. While our walk was well worth it, we got soaked. It took a while to warm up, and swimming in the outdoor pool was not going to happen!

rainy blue mesa

As many of you know. this past summer we ventured into Sunny California, which has been in a drought for three years. But still, based on our desert experience, I decided we all needed to bring raincoats on our vacation. For the most part, we didn’t need them.

But then…we did.

On our drive from Yosemite to Death Valley, we made a stop in Bodie State Historical Park. Bodie is high in the mountains; it used to be a gold mining town. Now it is a abandoned ghost town. Everything is left as it was left, so most of the building are locked because they are unsafe to enter.

ghost town kitchen

We wandered around the town with other tourists, and could see the rain clouds approaching. Pretty soon, it started to sprinkle. I was so glad that this time, we were prepared!

church

raincoats

We weren’t as prepared as we thought, however, because then it began to do something we really didn’t expect to see in California in the summer in the middle of a three year drought.

It began to hail.

hail

What unexpected things have happened to you when you’ve traveled?

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