Road Trip Day 11 - Las Vegas to Bakersfield, CA

Red Rock Canyon Las Vegas

Oh my!  It was so good to be leaving Las Vegas!  I drove down the strip and looked at the magnificent buildings and decided I did not have to stop. I did not even want to take any pictures of it.  Too much opulence and decadence!

Just north and west of Las Vegas is the Red Rock Canyon National Park.  There is a 13-mile drive through the beautiful rock formations.  This was such an amazing and breathtaking contrast to Las Vegas.  God does so much better at creating beauty!  The rocks were different from the red rock formations in Utah and Arizona.  And there were so many people running, biking and hiking the loop!  Thank you to Lorie Rheams for suggesting this scenic drive.

Sand dunes

Still heading westward, I decided to drive through Death Valley.  In the 61 years I lived in California, I do not think I ever saw Death Valley.  Wow!!  There is nothing there!  I took Scotty's Castle Road thinking maybe I could find it.  The signs said that there were no services at Scotty's Castle.  I am sure that is true.  I drove over 60 miles and never could even find Scotty's Castle!  Probably should have done a little more research but it was kind of a whim when I got there.  Again there was no cell signal and my GPS could not find it either.  Oh well.

The floor of Death Valley is below sea level.  Climbing up out of the valley, the road rises up to over 4,000' elevation.  My extra driving trying to find the Castle ran my gas below my comfort levels so I was kind of anxious to find a gas station.  Holy cow!  Gas prices in the middle of nowhere are astronomical - $4.95 a gallon.  $30 for six gallons, but I was back within my comfort zone!

I think the mountains on the west side of Death Valley are the Tehachapi mountains.  It is mostly desert so not too exciting except for the wind farms!  Mile after mile of wind mills on the mountain tops.  Biggest wind mill farm I have ever seen!  Check out the reflection in the rear view mirror.  The entire hillside behind me was covered with wind mills!

Finally, I have arrived in California!!  This was a long day of driving - over 400 miles.  Bakersfield is not the most beautiful spot in California.  I was reminded that many refer to Bakersfield as the "armpit of California."  I would choose Bakersfield over Las Vegas any day!

Day 12 will take me further west to San Luis Obispo, CA, where we lived for 3 years in the early 1970's and both Jen and Cindy graduated from Cal Poly there.  I wonder if it has changed as much in the 45 years as Las Vegas did.  Going to meet up with my friend, Jan Mease, and check out her new SLO Creative Studio.  Maybe she will let me play with one of her long arm HQ machines there........