Kern County and Bakersfield, California

“Y’all must be crazy”

Yep, that’s what a lot of you are going be saying when you see where were going. The truth is, we’ve been to over a dozen countries and most of the states, but when we finally left the freeway and started exploring, Bakersfield turned out to be one of the most fun and interesting places we’ve been.

OK, so if I haven’t lost you by now, please read on while I plead my case…

Watch the Video of this trip!

For a couple of years after 9/11, the travel industry was on the ropes. You could get airfares and hotels for a song. Eventually, the economy turned somewhat and many in the industry tried to recoup the losses…tried very, very hard in some cases.

In the most intense period of Tim’s college days, we had very little time to spare during the school year and even less money to do it with (college tuition is a back-breaker!). We had a weekend between semesters where we could get away. Unfortunately, most of the usual suspects were charging usurious rates for basic rooms…over $300 a night in Pismo Beach at the same hotel we’d previously stayed at for $69 the year before.

I’m a music fan, and I also like good country and western music. I’d always wanted to see Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace but just never got around to Bakersfield to see it while he was alive but I’d found a great deal on a two-room suite there so we planned an overnighter. We had a ton of fun watching Buck’s son Buddy lead the Buckaroos while we dined on some fabulous steak. While we were there, we started to see the city in an ever more favorable light and went back again when we had some more time.

It finally happened. Instead of seeing it as a hot and dusty pit stop on Highway 99 on the way to somewhere more exotic, we fell in love with Bakersfield. Give it a try and you might just start looking at it with new eyes too…

It’s an easy two-hour drive over the Grapevine to Bakersfield when the weather is nice. When it’s not, this can be the drive from Hell. It’s the week after Easter, so along the way we stop in Gorman to view one of nature’s most majestic displays; a mountain covered in brilliantly colored wildflowers. About a half-hour east of here in Antelope Valley is another…miles and miles of fields covered in California Poppies. There is an official state reserve here, along with a much larger area of unofficial blooms.

After taking a little time to literally stop and smell the flowers, we continue on to the down side of the pass into the Central Valley. Thirty minutes later, we make our first stop in Bakersfield, a margarita in the dark and cozy bar of Mexicali on 18th Street.

The friendly bartenders here make one of the best margaritas in the city using Mountain Dew  (actually, it's ReaLemon as I just recently found out - Ed) as the sour mix. They also have a wide variety of margaritas to try but we’ll have to come back sometime when we don’t have to drive.

Just a couple of blocks away is the Holy Grail of tacodom, Los Tacos de Huicho. It’s a good place to walk to and eat off the margarita.

Huicho’s has nothing bad on the menu. Their specialty is al pastor, a pile of marinated pork rotating on a spit with onion and pineapple juices blending with the meat’s own juice as it is slowly cooked to perfection. I have eaten this meat everywhere from Guadalajara to Santa Rosa…no one comes close to the delectable perfection of Huicho’s. It’s also one of the world’s best bargains at only 99 cents (now $1.09 - ed) per taco.

There is also an excellent carne asada, cabeza, tripas (cow milk gut), fish, and shrimp. Besides the tacos, you can get your meat served in burritos, mulas, huaraches, gringas, and sopes. The tacos come plain…just the meat and tortilla. You then take them to the condiment bar and load them up. I like to sprinkle on the onions and cilantro, followed by the spicy red or green salsa, topped off with their creamy and spicy guacamole salsa. That last one is extremely rare north of the border but is pretty common in Tijuana. It’s just heaven.

Tim also wants to tell you that they make some of the best fries he’s ever had too. The only down side is their bar. It’s pretty much a fast food type of place, but they have a full bar in the back that makes some really uninspired mixed drinks. The beer’s good, though. Huicho’s is located just east of the intersection of Union Avenue and 18th Street.

After less than twenty dollars, all three of us are stuffed. It’s time to find our hotel.

There are several good choices here, most reasonable to cheap. The Best Western (now a Red Lion hotel - ed) next to the Crystal Palace is good if you’re going there. It has nice rooms, a friendly staff, and…being right next door to the Palace…is drinker friendly. I saw a two couples by the pool there once preloading with around 30 bottles of booze before they walked over. Hey, whatever floats your boat…as long as you’re walking and not disturbing me (they behaved, actually they were very nice people).

If you do find yourself drinking to excess there, all you need to do is walk across the parking lot to your room. The full breakfast in the on-site coffee shop that’s included in your room rate will help heal that hangover.

Two blocks away on the other side of the freeway is our current favorite, Springhill Suites. Located in a hotel ghetto between Rosedale Highway and the Kern River, it’s a quiet location and all suites. The staff has come to know us and puts us in the same accessible room on the second floor, overlooking the pool and the river beyond. It’s not as nice a view as it sounds…an oil-rig supply company sits between the hotel and the river.

The room is very nice and spacious. It includes a wet bar with microwave, coffee maker and refrigerator. A large bathroom with a transfer seat in the tub. There are also suites with roll-in showers but they are on the first floor and my wife prefers to be upstairs. A hot breakfast is served each morning off of the lobby. Above all, it is quiet, even when the hotel is full of kids’ sports teams. Rooms here go for over $100 but many discounts are available and I always pay around $80 per night…check their website for current offers.

After unpacking and a little rest, we head over to the Crystal Palace. We have 6:00pm reservations for dinner and a show. Along with the dinner, there is a $5 cover charge for the show. A wonderful steak dinner here will set you back $31. It’s a huge amount of food; 20 oz. steak, salad, squaw bread, biscuits, green beans, and your choice of a side. Plenty big enough for two, the split plate charge is just $8. There’s also sandwiches and pizzas from $9 to $12. A soup and dinner-size salad menu runs from $5 to $13. A full bar is also available. Dinner for three, including a couple of drinks for each of us and the show, comes in around $70 plus tip.

The main band is the Buckaroos, Buck’s old backup band. Every other weekend, Buck’s son Buddy Alan Owens flies in from Phoenix to play with his father’s band. Although he’s Buck’s son, Buddy was mostly raised by his step-father, Merle Haggard (another Bakersfield star), who married his mom after her original marriage broke up. It’s a rockin’ good time as the band plays not only Buck Owens material, but Merle’s too…while Buddy provides some personal back stories to go along with them and folks crowd the dance floor down front. He also mixes in quite a bit of classic rock into the mix.

Buck Owens is legend in this town, so the Palace also doubles as his museum. Hundreds of artifacts from his career sit in display cases lining the joint but the place of honor goes to his Buckmobile, a custom 1972 Pontiac with rifles on the hood and silver dollars mounted on the dash that is permanently mounted over the bar. Buck won the car in a poker game from Nudie, the guy who made all the glittering suits Owens wore during his career.

After the Buckaroos finish, Steve Davis and Stampede take over as the house band. They’re also very good but after two or three songs, it’s late for us and we head back to the hotel. If you only have one night here, an evening at the Palace gives you a good, very fun, distilled version of what this city is all about. It’s family-friendly too, so don’t be afraid to take the kids.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

nickchapman under CC-BY license

In front of the Crystal Palace is the iconic Bakersfield sign that used to welcome travelers into town, stretched over Union Avenue in downtown. It was in bad shape and slated to be demolished when the town’s adopted musical hero, Buck Owens, stepped in to save it. It is now completely restored and crosses Stillwell Avenue next to the steakhouse and night club that Buck built.

Up the river a ways stands more signs. At the Kern County Museum, an effort is being waged to save the iconic neon signs that were a part of this city. You can see some them in the back of the museum grounds, such as the sign that pointed out the annex of the Bakersfield inn…one of the anchor points of the sign Buck Owens saved. Others are awaiting their restoration, like the TEJON letters of the old Tejon Theater marquee. More signs never got the chance…few more iconic signs existed like the block-long Rancho Bakersfield motel sign, long since demolished when the motel became a rehab center (which has since met its own fate on Golden State Avenue).

Along with the signs, acres of old, restored buildings dot the grounds like an old town. A jail, an undertakers office, many houses, an old hotel, a gas station. You could…and probably will…spend many hours exploring them.

Of course, Bakersfield is a huge oil town providing 64% of the oil produced in California. A visit here needs to include the Black Gold exhibit explaining the history and process of the local oil business. A theme-park quality motion simulator ride takes you beneath the ocean floor to find oil deposits. You can operate an antique derrick. Inside, exhibits show how oil does not sit in huge pools under the earth. Rather, it must be pressed out of the rock. No matter how you feel about the oil industry, this thorough look at it is fascinating.
Out front, another rescued icon, the Beale clock tower stands guard.

After the museum, we head north on Chester Avenue to our next stop. Over the Kern River in Oildale is Bakersfield Speedway, a 1/3 mile dirt oval nestled on the edge of town. We get here before 5:30pm and are able to take advantage of their happy hour, $1 dollar Bud and Bud Lite beer. OK, it’s not my favorite…in fact, it’s kind of like drinking water…but for a dollar, it’ll do.

We find a spot in the wheelchair accessible front row at turn four and watch the cars take practice laps. When the powerful, open-wheel modified cars come out, a shower of mud chips hits us every time they come around the corner. It’s time to rethink this and we move up to the top row, which is also accessible by a ramp that is a little steeper than we’d like.

The view and the comfort are much better from up here. A note: the seating here is nothing but concrete benches. Fans bring their own lawn chairs to sit in.

Racing gets started at 6:00 with heat races, starting with the mini-dwarf cars. These are tiny, lawn mower powered jalopy replicas driven by kids as young as 5 years old. They are very competitive and a lot of fun to watch. Next are the hobby stocks, local garage built cars, then the modifieds and finally the super late models, which are the fastest and loudest cars they’ll be racing tonight.

The top two cars from each heat race gets to compete in the next event, the trophy dash. Six cars from each division compete in short races to get a nice trophy and a picture with the trophy queen. The main events start right after the trophy dashes, with long races for the right to be the night’s champion and to claim the prize purse, usually several hundred dollars. The final race we see tonight features a last lap, neck-and-neck battle to the checkered flag. It’s thrilling and a lot of fun.

There's a lot more to come, be sure to come back for Part 2 of our road trip to Bakersfield where it's baseball, wildlife, fine ethnic cuisine, and a look at the nightlife of the city.

Darryl
Copyright 2010 - Darryl Musick

CLASSIC TRIP: Yosemite and the Gold Country, California - Part 2

DAY THREE - MARIPOSA

Having been to Yosemite yesterday and not wanting to wade into the crowds, we decided to see what the town of Mariposa had in store for us.

After another giant breakfast, we headed to the state Mining and Mineral Museum located 2 miles south of town at the Mariposa County Fairgrounds. Jon and Lois had provided us with a 2 for 1 admission coupon (also available at the visitor's center at the north end of town) so the price was right.

It's your basic museum but loaded with gems and precious metals. You follow exhibits that explain the history of gold mining in the region. This is the heart of Mother Lode country so a trip here must include some gold mining related activities.

There is a recreated mine shaft to wander down and many displays of the various minerals and gems that are mined in California. There is even a display that explains how you can file a mining claim yourself.

The crowning jewel of the museum is the largest gold nugget found in California. This 13 pound giant is very spectacular. About a foot long and 6 inches high. Just off the top of our head we figured just by weight is must be worth close to $100,000.

Next, we head to the north side of town and went to the Mariposa County History Museum, located right behind the Bank of America. This admission-free museum is full of the history of the region.

Outside is a large display of authentic gold mining equipment used in the region. The original office of the local newspaper is here along with a rebuilt gold ore stamping machine.

Inside are displays of local antiques along with stories of the region's schools, saloons, good guys and bad guys. Of particular interest are many of John Fremont's personal belongings. He, along with Kit Carson, explored much of the region and was instrumental in getting statehood for California.

After the museum we drove up the street to the cemetery to do some exploring. We tried, but by now the heat was just too much so we drove up highway 140 to the Merced River Recreation Area (12 miles north of town) to wade in the cool water.

There is a great little dirt road here that follows the course of the river south for several miles with plenty of great pools for a dip. Many outfitters also provide raft trips down the river here.

After this we head back to the inn for a long, refreshing dip in the pool. As beautiful as this region is, it really gets hot.

Jon and Lois invited us up for a barbecue that evening and we had some delicious barbecued chicken tacos with a French flavor. Jon, ever the Frenchman, pulled out some delicious wine to top it off.

After dinner, we head back over to the fairgrounds for the local 4th of July celebration. After much singing by a local group...too much singing judging by the reactions of those around us...the fireworks began. It was a great show and after fighting a great traffic jam to get out, we went back to the inn.

DAY FOUR - GIANT SEQUOIAS

Our last morning at the Restful Nest. Breakfast again was a huge affair with an egg casserole, a variety of breakfast meats, fruit, muffins, and the ever-present brioches. It was sad to leave but leave we must and we proceeded to head south down highway 41 through a Gold Country scenic drive.

For the first time on our trip we actually got hungry for lunch about the time we hit Fresno. Not wanting to make the same mistake again, this time we remembered about the new In-n-Out on the south end of town.

After a delicious double-double and a shake, we continued on to this day's destination.

Most people are under the assumption that giant sequoia trees can only be found in national parks such as Yosemite and Sequoia. Well, they're wrong!

There is a little known and out of the way area south of Sequoia National Park that has many groves of these giants. True, it is out of the way (the loop we made will take you about 4 hours out of the way) and most of the groves are hidden in the forest up old dirt logging roads. However, that being said there are some spectacular trees right along the main highway.

To get there, we headed south on Highway 99 to Highway 140 leading to Porterville. Then we headed east on 140 into the Sequoia National Forest. This is a really windy road that finally straightens out 44 miles up into the mountains at Quaking Aspen. Here, we continued on to mile marker 13 to the Trail of 100 Giants.

There is a picnic area and a campground across the street from the trailhead next to the beautiful Long Meadow. The trail itself is an easy 1/2 mile loop through a spectacular grove of giant trees. These trees are not fenced in and you can get right up to them and touch 'em. You can even walk through some of them. If you've never seen a sequoia up close, just check out this picture to see just how big they can get.

After the trail, we did a little bird watching in Long Meadow, just off of the parking area. The meadow was filled with wild flowers and Letty cataloged 4 different species of birds in the meadow.

Next, we continued down the highway through the Kern River canyon. Just before the Kern, we pulled over to view the large South River Falls. The hillsides really dried up when we hit the Kern River although the river itself was very full and roiling with whitewater.

There were a lot of rafting guides leading groups through the river. We pulled over to watch some of the boats come around a bend in the river to get some photos for this report. If you look carefully at the picture below, you can see the result of a particularly nasty bump in the river. At the front of the boat you can see a woman holding on for dear life after she was thrown overboard in the rapids.

This was a truly scary moment as the guide let the raft go on uncontrolled while the woman held onto the guide's paddle. Luckily the raft drifted into some calm water and the overboard passenger was pulled to safety. Below is another picture of the whitewater activity at this point.

We continued on down the canyon to the nice little town of Kernville where the river empties into Lake Isabella. We had hoped to stay in the area this evening but everything was booked. We decided to spend some time here anyway, wading in the cool, refreshing water of the river and then having dinner before leaving.

From the numerous restaurants and snack bars around the town's Circle Park, we picked That's Italian. We were very glad we did.

That's Italian would be right at home with the better Italian restaurants of San Francisco or L.A. Dinner started off with a great, fresh green salad topped off with their delicious home-made Italian dressing...very creamy! Letty had the Linguini with shrimp and I had their cannelloni stuffed with ham, chicken, spinach, and cheese. The linguini came with an alfredo-like white sauce and the cannelloni had a tomato cream sauce. Absolutely delicious!

The meal was accompanied by basketfuls of fresh bread and butter. The whole thing was topped off with some of the best desserts we've ever had. Letty had a piece of their chocolate cake and I had a napoleon that was very, very flaky with custard and cream. All this was eaten on their outdoor porch dining area with great views of the town and fresh breeze.

With that great dinner under our belt, we continued on down highway 138 which winds its way down the Kern River to Bakersfield. At this point it was 8:30pm and we were not really wanting to spend the night in Bakersfield so we just continued on the 2 hour drive back home.

-Darryl
Copyright 1997 – Darryl Musick

CLASSIC TRIP - Kernville, California

Not many Sierra towns can claim historic status after only 40-odd years, but Kernville can. That's because the town...in it's entirety...was relocated to its present site when the old town was inundated by the waters of adjacent Lake Isabella.

Most people come here to drop their boat or jetski in the lake, to run the mighty Kern River, or to catch that tasty Rainbow Trout lurking in the cool waters of the Kern.

Look closely and you can see the person that went overboard clinging to the side

Don't get me wrong, we like all that too, but this trip we came to see what's OFF the beaten path in Kernville.

Kerville occupies a little niche at the extreme southern end of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, separated from the nearby Tehachapi mountains, the desert, and the Central Valley by Lake Isabella. To get there from L.A., you need to either go through Bakersfield or Mojave to get there. Either route will take about 3 hours.

From L.A., take I-5 to CA 99 to CA 178 (in Bakersfield). Go east on CA 178 to Lake Isabella. Or take I-5 to CA 14 to CA 178 and go west on CA 178 to Lake Isabella. We prefer the CA 14 route. Kernville lies at the north end of the lake.

Accomodations range from budget motels to bed & breakfasts. Many of the smaller motels in town are true classics of roadside Americana with the tidy little gardens and pine-knot paneling in the rooms. Wherever you stay, the Kern River or the lake will be close at hand.

We start off our little adventure (this is an overnight excursion from L.A.) by wandering through the riverfront park in town. Our feet are hot and tired. Taking off our shoes, we dip our feet in the very refreshing water of the river. Many others are splashing in the water and a few are jumping into inflatable boats for a homemade rafting trip down to Lake Isabella.

A Conestoga Wagon catches our eye in the corner of the park. We head over to see what's up. A local actor's group is putting on a play about pioneers interspersed with some songs. We watch for awhile, but our interest doesn't keep up and we're soon looking for something else to do.

We decide to head upriver and see some sequoias. Heading up Sierra Way, we drive up the Kern River Canyon. The canyon is hot and dry for the most part. The river makes for some quick cool down spots along the way. Many rafters are in the water today. This looks like fun.

At the top of the canyon, there's a turn up to the mountains. We pass the former logging town of Johnsondale (now a time share campground called R Ranch) and it's a quick, steep climb up to the crest of the Sierras.

Once up there, it's not a long drive to get to Long Meadow, home of the giants.

We park in the Long Meadow picnic area lot. After a picnic lunch, it's across the street to the fabulous Trail of 100 Giants. This 1 mile trail winds through an ancient grove of giant sequoias. Many of these trees have holes that have burned into them from years of forest fires that allow you to actually walk into the tree.

It's cool and shady here. A couple of creeks meander through the grove and a carpet of ferns covers the ground. I don't know what the actual count is but 100 is not a stretch for this grove of big trees.

After our hike through the trees, we head back down to Kernville. By now, it's dinner time. Kernville has many places, much along the lines of burger or barbecue joints but we come here for one very special restaurant, That's Italian.

Here, in this little out of the way river town, is one of the best Italian restaurants ever. Forget the corny name, the food here is extraordinary. We had the canneloni perfectly prepared with a cream sauce, the lasagna, bow-tie pasta with shrimp, and desserts that just can't be passed up like white chocolate rasberry cheesecake, an incredibly flaky napoleon, and more. Ever see the movie "Big Night"? That's the kind of Italian dishes they serve here. Call (760) 376-6020 for reservations.

After a splendid dinner on the balcony overlooking the town square, we take a little walk around the postage stamp sized downtown. There's a few shops here but not much that really peaked our interest.

We head back to our motel and turn in for the night. The next day we check out, have breakfast, and head over to the dam that holds back Lake Isabella. Here are a few remnants of a ghost town and many mine shafts to explore (tread carefully here, many mine claims are still worked and protected as such).

Nearby, you can see some of the wildest whitewater around where the Kern River exits the dam for it's journey on down to Bakersfield. Many outfitters here can put you in the water starting at less than $20. We checked with a few and decided we'll do the rafting on a future trip.

The last thing we want to do on our trip is to have a nice picnic before heading home. We pack up a lunch from the Vons in Lake Isabella and head south through the old mining town of Bodfish. Beyond this is a beautiful stretch of country called the Lorraine loop, because of it's resemblance of the Alsace-Lorraine region of France, that begs you to pull off and enjoy the scenery.

The only sign of civilization here, besides a few houses, is the general store located in the old school house. There is a particularly scenic spot to have a picnic next door.

After a little snooze on the blanket laying in the warm sun, we continue through the loop until we reach the village of Agua Caliente, so named because of some nearby hot springs. We jump back on Highway 58 which heads over to Tehachapi, Mojave, and home.

One last sight to see is the famous Tehachapi Loop, an engineering feat enabling the trains to climb this steep pass by looping over themselves.

Darryl