Nothing says Christmas Quite like Death Valley!

We finally managed to get CC back all in one piece! We were thrilled to be back on the road again with the knowledge that we'd be spending Christmas in our home.

From Sacramento we headed south then east through some flat arid land dotted with black cattle here and there. next we hit the rolling hills splendid in their simplicity as the sun cast magnificent shadows across their sensuous curves and nubbled grassy crevasses.

Suddenly we were in the rugged, cowboy-mountains of the Kern River Valley. As we climbed up to 2000 feet, we clung to the edge of another narrow road and looked down into the rubble-filled riverbed below. I wonder how many antelope, coyotes and cougars looked down on us from above?

We were on the road a record ten hours arriving at Boulder Creek RV Park in the dark. The sky was as dark and star filled as in the best of western movies. So many stars are visible, it is a challenge to pick out the common constellations that we see in northern Ontario.

The morning sun shone brightly across the sandy campsite and white desert, spotted with sage and tumble weeds reaching across to the mountains on the east. We have a majestic view of the rocky Alabama Hills and slightly snow topped Sierra Nevada Mountains to the west. Glorious!

Lone Pine, just down the road, is a small town with huge Hollywood fame. There are a few shops and inns that have the original western style buildings and some retro signs from the 50's and 60's. We toured the Lone Pine Movie Museum. It was a gem packed with over 100 movie posters, cowboy hats, boots and tooled and carved saddles. There were cowboy and indian children's books, toys and costumes. Remember the gun and holsters we all had as kids? A great 10 minute film summarized the movie history of the area. So many films and western TV series were filled in the area. The legends go back to the days of silent films like Fatty Arbuckle, the singing cowboys: Gene Autry and Roy Rogers and the classic cowboys  like John Wayne and the folks in Rawhide. We acquired a map to use when we drive out to the mountains which indicates the actual sites for movie shoots. We'll be touring the places where films such as:The Gunfighter,
Gunga Din, The Lone Ranger and How the West was Won.

We have a string of Christmas lights up in the RV and will have turkey pot pies for our Christmas dinner later. We have skyped around the world; Australia, Canada and England. Thank you for all your Christmas wishes. Best of the season to all and Happy 2012!