Jill's Journal: The new year brought snow, and lots of it, to Central California! On the positive side, being “snowed in” gave us time to recover nicely from our year-end flu.
We’re feeling the pinch of how short our time here with the grandparents in Bear Valley Springs is growing. And so, now that we’re all feeling better, we’ve loaded everyone up in the car the last few days to explore the neighboring Tehachapi area.
One of our adventures was to Caliente, once a railroad mecca and now a nearly-deserted cattle town. I
almost had my Mom convinced to lay across these railroad tracks and pretend she was a damsel in distress. Wouldn’t that have made a fun photo? We clearly have a lot of laughs together, much to my Dad’s head-shaking "amusement." He
pretends to be exasperated by his fun-seeking wife and daughter, but I think he secretly has fun too. The promising news is that Erika is delighted to join in our antics and there’s glimmers of hope that Victoria may be an adventurer too. Madelyn prefers to stand back and shake her head at us, like Grandpa. :)
A drive around the hills of Caliente yielded plenty of loose cattle, including this bull (who was a lot bigger than he looks) that stared us down and dared us to pass through his territory. Ole! You’d never believe this is California, home of Hollywood and glamour.
So interesting, to the adults anyway, was a Tehachapi wind farm tour. The area is home to the largest wind resource area in California and hundreds of wind turbines dot the surrounding hills. The oldest turbines date to the early 1980s and stand only about 75 feet tall, while the newer mega-ones are goliaths that reach over 500 feet in the air. A drive around a wind ridge called Beusse Hills literally overwhelms the senses with the hundreds and hundreds of turbines in eyesight. Wind energy is one of the fastest-growing energy resources in the world and this area is one of the major arteries.
One afternoon was spent at the Tehachapi Museum as we learned a little about the surrounding area. Tehachapi wasn’t incorporated until 1909, although there were settlers and ranchers here as early as the 1870s. Horse racing trivia: Swaps, one of just three California-bred winners of the Kentucky Derby, was born in this area. The 1955 superstar is buried at Churchill Downs and his rivalry with Nashua remains legendary.
Madelyn learning about old-fashioned washing machines. Thank heavens for modern technology.
Hidden all around Tehachapi are supposedly dozens of faces and animals carved in trees. Locals have given them names like Abner, Bruce, and Ralph. I don’t know this tree guy’s name, but the bear below looks like he would make a seamless addition to our family.
Jill's Journal: The new year brought snow, and lots of it, to Central California! On the positive side, being “snowed in” gave us time to recover nicely from our year-end flu.
We’re feeling the pinch of how short our time here with the grandparents in Bear Valley Springs is growing. And so, now that we’re all feeling better, we’ve loaded everyone up in the car the last few days to explore the neighboring Tehachapi area. 
One of our adventures was to Caliente, once a railroad mecca and now a nearly-deserted cattle town. I almost had my Mom convinced to lay across these railroad tracks and pretend she was a damsel in distress. Wouldn’t that have made a fun photo? We clearly have a lot of laughs together, much to my Dad’s head-shaking "amusement." He pretends to be exasperated by his fun-seeking wife and daughter, but I think he secretly has fun too. The promising news is that Erika is delighted to join in our antics and there’s glimmers of hope that Victoria may be an adventurer too. Madelyn prefers to stand back and shake her head at us, like Grandpa. :) 
A drive around the hills of Caliente yielded plenty of loose cattle, including this bull (who was a lot bigger than he looks) that stared us down and dared us to pass through his territory. Ole! You’d never believe this is California, home of Hollywood and glamour. 
So interesting, to the adults anyway, was a Tehachapi wind farm tour. The area is home to the largest wind resource area in California and hundreds of wind turbines dot the surrounding hills. The oldest turbines date to the early 1980s and stand only about 75 feet tall, while the newer mega-ones are goliaths that reach over 500 feet in the air. A drive around a wind ridge called Beusse Hills literally overwhelms the senses with the hundreds and hundreds of turbines in eyesight. Wind energy is one of the fastest-growing energy resources in the world and this area is one of the major arteries. 
One afternoon was spent at the Tehachapi Museum as we learned a little about the surrounding area. Tehachapi wasn’t incorporated until 1909, although there were settlers and ranchers here as early as the 1870s. Horse racing trivia: Swaps, one of just three California-bred winners of the Kentucky Derby, was born in this area. The 1955 superstar is buried at Churchill Downs and his rivalry with Nashua remains legendary. 
Madelyn learning about old-fashioned washing machines. Thank heavens for modern technology. 
Hidden all around Tehachapi are supposedly dozens of faces and animals carved in trees. Locals have given them names like Abner, Bruce, and Ralph. I don’t know this tree guy’s name, but the bear below looks like he would make a seamless addition to our family.
No comments:
Post a Comment