Highway 395 is a road of many surprises. There are a great number of things to see and do on this road, it makes me want to come back another time to see some of the things we could not get to because of the snow we encountered.
First stop we made was in Big Pine to visit a very tall Sequoia tree that was planted in 1913 to commemorate the opening of Westgard Pass to automobile traffic, which was part of the intercontinental highway system.
Another stop we tried to take was the road to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. This forest of trees is over 4000 years old. Since we could not get there, this place is now on my bucket list to see. http://www.sonic.net/bristlecone/
We then got to Bishop and had to stop at a bakery Deane had been raving about for days. Well, he was not blowing smoke! Schat's Bakery has been around since 1907 and as we walked up to it, I noticed people coming our with large bags. When we got into the store I understood why. There was so much we wanted to buy....but living out of an RV, you have to remember there is limited space. We did manage to get some great raisin and extra sour dough breads and to die for macaroons.
Further north we turned off onto the June Lake Loop. This loop takes you passed about 8 alpine lakes. Due to the snow we could not get all the way around, but we passed through the little town of June Lake. Cute town with little shops, condos and small resorts and restaurants. Would be a fun place to come back to in the summer.
The last place we stopped to visit was Mono Lake to see the Tuftas. There is a great history of this lake and how Southern California needed more water and diverted the water source coming into Mono Lake. As the lake started to dry up, a number of people bannded together and eventually forced the re-routing of its water source back to the lake. But because this lake is so salty from the run off from the mountains into the lake and the lake has no outlets, it creates tuftas which are like stalagmites you find in caves. http://www.monolake.org/about/story
We spent two nights in Reno, relaxing and are now in Mt. Shasta California. We should be home by Thursday.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=844720023407%3A1779037804