After two days of packing the car, we are off to Winchester, VA. We are taking a northern route because Ellen wishes to visit a couple of dulcimer shops. Maybe she’ll get another mountain dulcimer. You can never have too many of those, right?!?

If you click on the little map above you’ll see that we chose to visit a couple museums today. The first one is a gem that hardly anyone knows about. Literally, thousands of drivers pass by it on Interstate 5 without ever noticing it. This jewel is called the Vista del Lago Visitor Center and is operated by the California Department of Water Resources. It has excellent restrooms and modern,  interesting displays. It also has a great view of Pyramid Lake. It’s a must go to museum…and it is free!

The Olancha Sculpture Garden is easy to miss if you don’t have the exact coordinates. We whizzed by it once but this time we got it. The metal sculptures are a hoot. About four minutes up the road we found an orange, pumpkin-like building with more sculptures.  We saw a big, red ant but failed to get a picture as we drove by. Now who thinks of making these things and then does them?!?

While driving through the Owens Valley looked up the history of Owens Lake. Why was it dried out? The valley had sort of been a bread-basket area until the City of Los Angeles “stole” their water. You’ll see in some of our pictures that where there is water, in the desert, things can turn green.

We’ve been to he Lone Pine Film History Museum before but wanted to see it again. Ellen’s favorite cowboy hero was the Lone Ranger. We took another picture of her standing next to him. Tickle was in it too. It is a pet friendly museum. We like those kinds of places and so does Tickle!

We arrived early to our hotel in Bishop, CA and are going to jam with my guitar and her dulcimer. Yippee!