A white Christmas in the desert: Lone Pine, CA
Lone Pine is growing on me. It's beautiful in any weather and easy to find quiet. The locals have been unfailingly nice and welcoming. I've not spent much time in desert places like this, preferring the damp Northwest and its bottomless green, but I think I get it.
The RV feels is happier away from the rain and moisture, that's for sure. Water management is a constant task in an RV, and having it in the air and sky too just adds to the challenge. No more foggy windows, no more dehumidifier drone, no muddy shoes. I was so tired of being wet by the time we got to Bakersfield... this is pretty alright, even if it is cold.
Christmas was wonderful and peaceful, a mix of improvised observations and well-loved traditions. In this year that is unlike any in our memory, everyone is having a strange Christmas. Ours is full of overflowing blessing and heartbreaking distance. Not everyone gets both.
That weekend we made a trip up to Manzanar National Historic Site to learn about and remember this foolish chapter in our country's history. I did a report on this in school and sometimes wondered if I would ever see it. It's so very far from Seattle, and not near anything we would ordinarily come to. But now we're right here, and it's absolutely worth remembering. Unfortunately, as is the theme this year, most of the exhibits were closed so we missed out on the chance to see the reconstructed interiors of the buildings. Even from outside, however, it was a striking experience. The replica buildings are especially surreal - like they popped right out of the photographs. I was also shocked at just how big the place was. Only a couple of the blocks are cleared and marked, but there were 36 of them spanning a full square mile. We drove and drove across brush-filled land marked with signs indicating block after block of dormitories. There were 10,000 people here, and that is a lot of people. It was five times more populous than Lone Pine is now. The amount of work the internees did to improve their place also surprised me. There were beautiful gardens, ponds, vegetable plots, martial arts dojos, all manner of craft and community activities done by folks that had, well, nowhere else to go. I think it must have taken a lot of strength to set one's hand to improving a place so inhospitable and unfamiliar.
Near the end of our stay in Lone Pine we got a wonderful surprise - snow! As Portlanders we look forward to snow every winter as a treat, and will drive to the mountains if it doesn't come to us. We didn't expect to see any snow this year at all, given that RVing in the snow can be tricky, and pulling a towable RV in the snow is downright dangerous. Most RVers head south in the winter for good reason, and so did we. But the snow came to us! The Monday after Christmas Lone Pine got about 2" of fresh white snow, and the whole landscape was transformed. The beautiful desolation of the desert got a coat of white frosting and it was like a different place entirely. Snowball fights and much mucking about in the snow was had. By Tuesday evening it was nearly all gone, and the everything dried out again. My kind of snow! In Portland everything would be damp for a week.
My personal time in Lone Pine has been dominated by ongoing medical issues, as the treatment I got in Bakersfield was not successful. The Monday after Christmas I had to cut short my snow time and head to the local hospital ER, as all the clinics were still closed. I got very good treatment, and they got to take their time with the labs and imaging. Having only experienced ERs in larger cities, it was striking to see such a laid-back one that wasn't swamped and hectic. While we waited for test results, the doctor on call just kind of chilled out and talked to me and the staff. She said she liked working in such a small place as an ER doctor, because she actually got to practice medicine and not just hurry-up treatment. I was prescribed another oral antibiotic, but the closest pharmacist is an hour's drive north, so they gave me an antibiotic shot to tide me over. We'll pick up the prescription in Yucca Valley on Wednesday night instead and save a trip. Fingers crossed this one works!
On our last day here we've taken care of errands - post office, groceries, fuel - and spent some quality time up in the Alabama hills to enjoy the snow and the views one last time. I'm feeling better thanks to the shot so climbing around the hills is much more enjoyable. If/when we come back to California, this is definitely worth another visit.
