KE1TH

I flew out of Birmingham on American Airlines at 6:45am on Thursday, August 31. The flight landed at DFW at Terminal C at 8:30am. I rode the train to Terminal D where my connecting American flight to Burbank left at 10:15. I arrived at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank at 11:30.

My friend David picked me up after I had gathered my luggage and we headed towards his house in the valley to catch up on each other’s lives. It has been three years since my last visit. We ate at a Chinese buffet in the corner shopping center near his house for lunch. Grocery shopping at the local Vons in the same corner shopping center for hamburger fixings and mixed drink ingredients and back to his house down the block to watch DVDs and drink screwdrivers. That evening we grilled the hamburgers and finished off the screwdrivers.

After watching a recent Discovery Channel documentary on the failure of the San Francisquito Dam in 1928 and the subsequent death and destruction caused by the dam failure, including the ruination of William Mulholland, I decided that I wanted to see the site where the dam once stood. So on Friday morning, September 1, David and I headed north on I-5 through the valley, crossing the San Fernando pass in the San Gabriel Mountains into the Santa Clarita Valley. We turned off the freeway at Magic Mountain Parkway, turning right towards McBean Parkway where we went north to Copper Hill Drive then turned left onto San Francisquito Canyon Road.

The dam site is about 7 miles north of the intersection of Copper Hill Road. The road is narrow and curvy, following the bed of the San Fransciquito river. The drive is in and of itself an interesting and beautiful drive. The canyon narrows considerably as you get close to the dam site. I could just imagine a 125 foot high wall of water raging down the canyon, sweeping away everything in it’s path. At the former dam site, you can see along the canyon walls where the dam was once anchored. Just below the site are several large chunks of weathered concrete, the only remenants of the former 195 foot tall dam.

After viewing the disaster area, we turned back towards Santa Clarita and picked up California Highway 126 west towards Santa Paula where we turned north onto CA Highway 150 towards Ojai. This is a very scenic drive. You cross the mountains and descend into the beautiful Ojai valley. We didn’t actually stop in Ojai, just passed through and continued on pass Lake Casitas towards the intersection of US 101 at Carpinteria where we turned north and continued on US 101 through Santa Barbara and along the coast until US101 turns north at Gaviota. After passing through the tunnel and climbing across the Coast Ranges we descend into the Santa Ynez Valley, where we turn off US101 onto CA Highway 246 and head east towards Solvang.

Solvang is a small town in the Santa Ynez Valley with a Danish theme to it. Old world style architecture buildings line the streets where shops offer all types of wares. We parked the car in one of the public car parks and got out to explore the village. It only takes 20 minutes or so to walk from one end of town to the other along the main street. After walking back towards the center of town, we decided to find a place to eat. Walking along Mission Street, we chose the New Danish Inn and had their Danish Smorgasbord. After eating, we walked around Solvang for another hour or so, stopping in several shops and buying souvenirs and chocolate.

We pulled out of the car park around 2:45 and headed east along Mission Drive. Just outside of town, we noticed a sign indicating that the Santa Ines Mission was just ahead. We pulled into the parking lot of the mission and got out to explore the area. The Santa Ines Mission was founded in 1804 and is one of the 21 missions of California. Santa Ines is the Spanish spelling of Saint Agnes. Santa Ynez is an anglicized version of the Spanish spelling. We walked the grounds of the Mission, taking pictures of the mission, the bell tower and cloisters, as well as the beautiful view of the Santa Ynez valley and the mountain ranges across the valley. After visiting the store, where I bought a Saint Agnes statue and a book on the history of the Mission, we got back into the car and headed east along Mission Drive passing the small town of Santa Ynez and turning south on California Highway 154 towards Santa Barbara.

Highway 154 is another scenic drive. The road passes through the Cachuma Lake Recreational Area then climbs through the Coast Ranges, across San Marcos Pass and descends into Santa Barbara. We drive along surface streets of Santa Barbara until we come across the magnificent Santa Barbara Mission. We pull into the car park and began to explore the grounds of this beautiful site.

Mission Santa Barbara was founded in 1782 by Father Junipero Serra. It is called the “Queen of the California Missions”, and deservedly so. The façade, with the two twin bell towers make it one of, if not the, most beautiful of all the California Missions. We explore the grounds for about an hour and then decide to head back towards Los Angeles. We leave Santa Barbara during rush hour, which although not near as bad as LA, is still frustrating. It takes about 30 minutes to get through Santa Barbara on US101, but eventually the road opens up and we hit the Ventura County line.

At Ventura, we take California Highway 118 west towards Moorpark and Simi Valley where it turns into the Ronald Reagan Freeway and descends into the San Fernando Valley and home. We are both quite tired, so we stop at an In-And-Out Burger and get our dinner for Friday evening taken care of by the folks there. Back at David’s house, we watch a movie, then retire for the evening.

Saturday morning we get up and head towards downtown. We exit I-5 at Stadium Way and drive through Elysian Park. We make a picture stop at the Los Angeles Police Academy gate (where I pretend I see Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson walking down the road), and then David drives to an observation area that overlooks Dodger Stadium to the left, the high rise building of downtown directly in front of you, and the Hollywood sign to the right rear. We continue driving through Elysian Park for several minutes and exit the park at Broadway and drive into downtown where David shows me the “Death Star” aka The Caltrans Building, where he works. We drive by City Hall and Union Station, pass by the Bradbury Building (Where the movie BladeRunner was filmed) and through the 3RD Street tunnel, across the Pasadena Freeway, up Glendale Blvd and pass Echo Lake, through Echo Park, turning west onto Sunset and driving through Silver Lake and somehow ending up on Santa Monica Boulevard.

We drive along Santa Monica through Hollywood into West Hollywood. Parking somewhere along a side street near Fairfax, we walk to the French Quarter Market Place Restaurant for lunch. This place hasn’t changed since I first visited it in the mid 1980’s. Very festive (well, it is West Hollywood), decent food with slightly higher than average prices. After lunch, we walk a couple of blocks west along Santa Monica doing some window-shopping along the way.

Having had lunch and getting a burst of energy, we decide to hike up Mount Hollywood. We drive through Hollywood to Western Avenue, turn north and enter Griffith Park. We drive along through the park as far as they allow cars then park along side the road. They do not allow cars to drive all the way up to the Observatory. After we park the car, I notice a tunnel ahead and realize that it is the tunnel used in several movies, like “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” and “Back to the Future II”. We walk up the road to the Griffith Park Observatory, which is currently closed for renovations. This is where the crucial scene in “Rebel Without A Cause” takes place. Directly across from the Observatory is the Charlie Turner trail head for the Mount Hollywood hiking trail. Most people don’t realize that the Hollywood sign is not on Mount Hollywood, but instead on Mount Lee. The Mount Hollywood Trail is a 2.5 mile roundtrip hike from the Observatory. The trail is fairly easy to climb, although you gain 650 feet elevation along the way. From the trail you have spectacular views of Los Angles, Hollywood, across to Santa Catalina Island (at least I think it was Santa Catalina), and once you reach the top, of the San Fernando Valley. Over on Mount Lee, I saw a large party of people riding horses up the trail on that Mountain and thought to myself that I would like to do that next trip.

After finishing our hike, we drove back down into Hollywood and stopped at a grocery store on Western Avenue and got some pre-made sandwiches, cheese, crackers and wine for our next event of the evening. The viewing of a “classic” movie in a most unusual setting: The Hollywood Forever Cemetery. On Saturday evenings during the summer months, the cinespia organization screens “classic” movies projected against a large blank wall of one of the mausoleums in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. This particular Saturday, the movie being shown was “The Warriors”, a campy gang movie from 1979. One of the stars of the movie was present for the showing. There were probably a couple of thousand people in attendance, most with picnic lunches sitting on blankets on the large expanse of green lawn. The crowd was pretty jovial and during the movie, an occasional cat-call would ring out from someone in the crowd. The movie started just after dark and lasted for just under two hours. It was surreal experience, knowing that I was watching a movie amongst some of the biggest stars of Hollywood. Ok, so they’re dead. They were still big stars. Just over there is Valentino. Over there is Cecil B. DeMille. Over there is Douglas Fairbanks, Victor Fleming, Hattie McDaniel. Mel Blanc with his “That’s all, Folks” epitaph. The Hollywood Forever Cemetery backs up against the rear wall of Paramount Studios, so even more stars are nearby, these with a pulse.

After the movie is over, we walk back to the car (we had to park about five blocks away as there were that many people in attendance). We get into the car and head back towards the valley, quoting some of the silly lines from the movie we had just seen. It had been a fun day.

On Sunday, we sleep in just a bit. We finally get out around 10:30 or so and head towards Hollywood again. We eat a casual lunch at the Yukon Mining Company on Santa Monica Boulevard and decide to go see a first run feature at the Laemmle Fairfax at Beverly and Fairfax in Hollywood. It was hot in Los Angeles that day. The theater was cool. It was a good two hours. After the movie, we decided to visit with more movie stars so we head across the Hollywood Hills to Burbank and to Forrest Lawn Hollywood Hills Cemetery.

Forrest Lawn Hollywood Hills is the final resting place of Bette Davis, Liberace, Freddie Prince, George Raft, and Andy Gibb amongst others. It once has the remains of Lucille Ball, but they are now in Jamestown, New York. It also has the world’s largest historical mosaic “The Birth of Liberty”. There is a replica of Boston’s Old North Church on the grounds as well as a memorial to Abraham Lincoln. Across the Ventura Freeway, you can see the Walt Disney Studios. We spend about an hour here walking around looking at all the monuments and memorials.

At 5:30, we have dinner reservations at Pinot Bistro on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. We arrive and are shown to our seats in the Fireplace Room. We order the same thing, French Onion soup for an appetizer, Braised Lamb Shank for our main entrée and Chocolate mousse with caramel-hazelnut crunch for dessert. This was one of the best meals I have ever tasted. With wine, the meal ended up costing about $50.00 each. The waiter was very professional, knowing exactly when to arrive and when to disappear. The place was empty when we arrived, but by the time we left, most tables had diners seated.

After dinner, we drove about a mile down Ventura Boulevard to park the car in the Ventura Lot where we board the bus for the trip across the mountain for the Hollywood Bowl. The roundtrip fare for the “bowlbus shuttle” is $3.00. It takes about 15 minutes to get from Ventura to the drop-off place just outside the gates of the Hollywood Bowl complex.

The theme for this evening’s performance is “AFI’s Top 25 Movie Musicals”. The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, conducted by Director John Mauceri, played a selection from each movie musical, starting at number 25, “Moulin Rouge” and ending at number one, “Singin’ In The Rain”. A huge screen had been erected on the top of the Hollywood Bowl stage where the movie scene was projected. The actor/actress in the relevant scene would sing their part while the orchestra played the accompanying music live and in perfect synchronization. The rest of the top five movie musicals were: #2: Westside Story. #3: The Wizard of Oz. #4: The Sound Of Music. #5: Cabaret. Go to afi.com to see the complete list. A performance at the Hollywood Bowl is always a crowd pleaser.

Monday, September 4, Labor Day. We get up early as today we are going to Sequoia National Park. We leave Los Angeles around 8:30 and head north on I-5. We continue on I-5 into the San Joaquin Valley until it splits into CA Highway 99 just south of Bakersfield. We pass through Bakersfield and stop for lunch in the small Central Valley town of McFarland. We turn east on CA Highway 198 at Visalia and take it past the shores of Lake Kaweah to the entrance of Sequoia National Park.

Sequoia National Park is the second oldest national park established in the United States. Only Yellowstone is older. It was founded in 1890 to protect the giant sequoia trees from logging. Additional lands were added over the years and now Sequoia National Park also has within its boundaries most of the southern tip of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, including Mount Whitney, the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states. It is administrated together with Kings Canyon National Park, which also has a grove of giant sequoia trees.

We enter the park at the Ash Mountain entrance just after noon. The entrance fee is $20.00 per automobile. The road is now called The Generals Highway, named so because many of the giant sequoia trees are named for famous Generals. The Generals Highway was built in the early half of the twentieth century by the US Army Corps of Engineers. The road climbs from an elevation of 1700 feet at the Ash Mountain entrance to over 6500 feet at Giant Forest. Giant sequoia trees only grow on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Range between 5000 and 7000 feet above sea level. The Generals Highway continues through Sequoia and into Kings Canyon National Park where it eventually becomes CA Highway 180 that goes to Fresno.

We stop at the Foothills Welcome Center to look at the exhibits and to use the facilities. Just past the welcome center is Tunnel Rock. The road used to pass through Tunnel Rock, but is now directed around it. We continue the climb up The Generals Highway. David’s car has a thermostat that displays the outside temperatures. At Ash Mountain the temperature was 103 degrees. As we climb into the Sierras, the temperature begins to drop. When we reach Giant Forest, the temperature has dropped to 79 degrees. We turn off The Generals Highway at Giant Forest Village and head towards Moro Rock along the Moro Rock – Crescent Meadow Road.

Moro Rock is a granite dome monolith located on the edge of the Giant Forest. It rises 5000 vertical feet above the Kaweah Valley below. There is a quarter mile long, 300 foot elevation gain, stairway that leads to the top of Moro Rock. From the top of the rock you can see the Great Western Divide of the Sierra Nevada to the east, Castle Rocks to the south and if it were not for haze, the vast farms of the San Joaquin Valley to the west. It took about 30 minutes to make the climb. It can be quite steep in some areas and can be strenuous for those, like me, who are not in the best of shape. But the huffing and puffing is worth it when you get to the top where you are rewarded with a magnificent view. After climbing down from Moro Rock, we turn back towards Giant Forest Village. We drive the car through Tunnel Log, a felled giant sequoia that has had a car passage carved through it and stop at Auto Log, which is a felled giant sequoia that has been carved to allow automobiles to pull onto it and park. Well, at one time they could. The tree fell in 1917 and just within the last few years has began to rot to the point where it has become dangerous for the cars to pull onto it. I was able to pull my car onto it back in 1994, but not now. It is still an interesting stop.

We reach The Generals Highway again and continue on north towards Wuksachi Lodge to check into our reserved room. I reserved the room online several weeks ago and got a Deluxe Room with two queen beds for $185.00 per night. With taxes it ended up being $200.21. I reserved for one night only. The lodge is built in the standard style associated with most National Park, rustic with exposed timbers and mission style furniture. There is a full service restaurant that serves all three meals and a small gift shop. We check in and are assigned a room in the Stewart Building on the ground floor. There are three buildings that contain the rooms, the Stewart Building, the Silliman Building and the Sequoia Building, all located across the road, and an easy walk, from the Lodge building where you check-in. After we drop off our stuff into the room, use the facilities and freshen up, we get back into the car and head north again on The Generals Highway towards Grant Grove and Kings Canyon National Park.

It was now about 3:30 in the afternoon. We decided to skip Grant’s Grove and continue on into Kings Canyon National Park to Cedar Grove along the South Fork of the King’s River. This is a very scenic drive along a curvy winding road. It can be quite steep in some sections of the road. There are several scenic overlooks to stop at and view the majesty of the canyon. When you reach the bottom of the canyon, the road travels along side the South Fork of the Kings River. It takes about an hour to make the drive from Grant’s Grove to Cedar Grove. Just before Cedar Grove Village, we come across Grizzly Falls. Grizzly Falls is a thin ribbon of water making a drop of about 100 feet before hitting rocks and splitting into several additional falls for another 50 feet or so. We continue on past Cedar Grove for about 7 miles to Road’s End. Here you are in a large meadow surrounded by sheer cliff walls, similar to but totally different from Yosemite. We get back into the car and began to backtrack towards Cedar Grove and the exit to Kings Canyon. We stop at Roaring River Falls, a short 5 minute walk from the car park along side the road. Roaring River Falls is a cataract waterfall with a heavy flow all year. The 40 foot drop at the bottom is all that is visible from the viewpoint. It is still quite impressive.

We began the climb out of Kings Canyon. It was starting to get dark as well. We continue on until we come to Grant Grove Village. We decide that since it was about 7pm, we would stop at the restaurant at Grant Grove Village and eat there. We both order New York Strip Steak for our entrée. First they bring the salad, which was quite good. The steaks were excellent. I don’t know if it was the high mountain air, the end of a long day, the fact that it was a National Park lodge or what, but the experience was equal to the meal we had had the day before prior to going to the Hollywood Bowl. We both got a dessert of blackberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream to top off the meal. The meal ended up costing about $25.00 each.

After dinner, we spent about 30 minutes browsing through the gift shop. I ended up buying several tee shirts, refrigerator magnets and other souvenirs here, spending about $100.00. It was now getting close to 9:00 and closing time, so we got back into the car and headed towards Wuksachi and a soft bed. It took about 45 minutes to get there. I really don’t remember much past that as I was dead tired and the bed was extremely comfortable.

Tuesday morning we get up and walk the short distance to the restaurant in the lodge building. It is a buffet breakfast with eggs, bacon, sausage, French toast, pancakes, fruits and cereals. I believe that it was around $20.00 each. Well worth it. The restaurant is very nice, with the “lodge” feel to it, high ceilings with rustic beams and southwestern art. The waiters were nice and professional.

We checked out of the lodge and headed towards Lodgepole Village. We stop at the visitor center and look at the exhibits and get some hiking information from one of the rangers there. We decide to hike the Tokopah Falls trail, which begins just past the Lodgepole campground. The Tokopah Falls trail is a 3.4 mile roundtrip hike to the base of Tokopah Falls. Tokopah Falls is a 1200’ high waterfall that is most impressive in late spring during the melting of the winter snows. The trail follows the Tokopah river through a thick strand of conifer trees and the occasional meadow. Sheer granite cliffs rise on both sides, getting closer together as you get nearer to the falls. There is abundant wildlife along the trail, including a marmot that I swear posed for me. We saw chipmunks, partridges, lizards, bluejays(?), and mule deer. The meadows had black-eyed susans in bloom. This trail is very easy to traverse with only a few areas where you actually have to climb more than a few feet at a time. The views of the sheer cliffs, the wildlife, the running water in the river, the impossibly blue skies all make for a perfect hike through the woods. The only disappointment was the fact that Tokopah Falls were probably at their weakest flow of the year. The hike took us about 3 hours to complete.

When we returned to the car, we then turned south on The Generals Highway and headed to the car park for the General Sherman Tree. The new car park for the General Sherman Tree is off Wolverton Road. (In 1994, the car park for the General Sherman Tree was just off The Generals Highway. This area is still used for handicapped parking). The trail to The General Sherman Tree is about a mile round trip on a paved but steep trail. There are several areas set aside with benches to stop and rest, especially for the trip back up to the car park. About two thirds of the way down, you have a wonderful view of The General Sherman Tree. You are about 100 feet above the base of the tree looking out at it instead of the normal view of looking up at it. I understand that is one of the reasons the park service chose to relocate the parking area to where it is now.

We continue on down the trail until it intersects with the beginning of another trail called the Congress Trail, which is a two mile paved loop trail through the Giant Forest. We turn off on it and began to explore the other giant trees that comprise the Giant Forest. Along the Congress Trail you come across The President Tree, which is the fourth largest sequoia in the world. Just a little further is a small clump of giant sequoias called “The Senate”. A bit further on is a larger clump of giant sequoias called “The House”. Even further along is the McKinley Tree. We see mule-deer and chipmunks along the Congress Trail. We probably encounter a dozen people along the whole route. Eventually, the trail loops back to the General Sherman Tree.

The General Sherman Tree is the largest living thing in the world by volume. The General Sherman Tree is 275 feet tall and 103 feet in circumference. Other trees are taller (Coast Redwoods can be 350 feet tall), and other trees are wider (a cypress tree in Mexico is 162 feet wide), but none are this tall and wide at the same time. In total volume, the General Sherman is composed of 52,500 cubic feet of wood. It is estimated to be between 2200 and 2700 years old. It adds the equivalent of a 60’ tall “normal” tree to its volume every year. We see the most people we’ve seen since being in the park here at the General Sherman Tree.

We begin our climb up the trail back to the car park. After walking close to 6 miles already today, I’m a little tired and having to make this fairly steep walk back to the car park is more difficult than it should be. I’ll have to begin my marathon training when I get back home. We get into the car and turn south onto The Generals Highway. We make one more stop in the park at the Giant Forest Museum. We look at the exhibits and use the facilities. We get back into the car and begin our descent out of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and into the San Joaquin Valley. It takes about an hour to make the drive from the museum to the Ash Mountain entrance/exit gate. In about another 45 minutes, we turn off CA Highway 198 in Visalia and find an In-And-Out Burger restaurant and have dinner there.

The drive from Visalia to Los Angeles in uneventful and we arrive back at David’s house around 8pm. We watch some TV for a while, but both of us are extremely tired so we’re in bed by 10pm.

Wednesday morning. I leave today. My flight leaves Burbank at 12:30pm. David makes breakfast of eggs and ham. We eat and drink our coffee and try to decide what about the last week was the most memorable. They were all memorable I say. Each one different and cannot compare with the other.

David drops me off at Bob Hope Airport around 11am and I check my luggage and go through security and wait for my flight to leave. While waiting, I buy a few more souvenirs, mostly “Hollywood” stuff for my nieces and nephews. The flight leaves on time and arrives at Terminal D at DFW at 5:30. I have two hours here so I eat at TGI Fridays, then do a little souvenir shopping for myself. My flight for Birmingham leaves Terminal D at 7:30 and arrives in Birmingham at 9:15.

jetset1

Keith~ your report was FANTASTIC, it covered everything!! A+++++++++.

I especially enjoyed the King's Canyon and Sequoia Park details, since I spent many summers there with my family when I lived in central Calif. for six years(Lemoore, closer to Visalia)..

Glad you seemed to see and do so much and stayed healthy, and thanks agin for a fine contribution to this travel forum.. J.

bear900

…smack…huh?....mmmm…..yum…oh?

…my defibrillator just went off!

I hate it when I fall asleep reading a good book.

Now where was I?.....Somewhere deep in the forest….

Don’t wake me again Jetters!

KE1TH….keep writing. Good job…good job!

...love all the Californiativity!

KE1TH

jetset1, glad you enjoyed the report. I had a great time doing the research

I made a mistake in the title in my haste to get it posted.....

It should be: Mountains, Movies, Musicals, Missions And Mausoleums - A California Adventure

But I guess since I crossed so many mountains while in California, mentioning them twice doesn't hurt.

Keith

jetset1

Keith, you put so much time and energy into your trip report, I'd love to lend you my wine I.V., but alas, it remains empty while I pursue my waistline til Santa arrives..

again, superb report, you are a SUPERSTAR trip reporter!!

Barbara

Wow, Keith! What a lot you packed into your time in California. Excellent report, thanks very much.

J_Correa

Great report. I think that same marmot posed for me on the Tokopah Fall trail We were there last year in July when the waterfall was flowing more heavily than it probably is now, but not as heavily as in the spring time. The waterfall was good, but we enjoyed the hike to it much more - like you said, the hike was fairly easy going and the scenery was great.