Huge Birthday Adventure, HUGE Post (Part One)

This weekend we went on a huge driving adventure for Mr Chrubukys 30th Birthday. It was a fab weekend of seeing new & exciting stuff & driving....sooooooo much driving. (As usually happens with anything I organise, it grew beyond all reason... I have been known to take us to a completely different continent just because "We're going to go past it, so I don't see why we can stop off & have a look" )

This is the map of where we went in the 3 days we were away.

The weekend started on Thursday night when I picked up young husband at work & headed off toward Highway 178 (supposedly very scenic as it wends its way through Sequoia National Park. We drove this section in the dark. But I can confirm the roads are incredibly windy. Helpful, aren't I?)

We woke up in Ridgecrest, CA a town that has been constructed to service the China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station. The weapons station is still one of the main weapons support bases for the US Navy. Amongst many others, the Sidewinder missile was developed & tested there.

Interesting Ridgecrest Facts:
- It used to be called "Crumville"
- The bass player form Blink 182 was born there.
- It's about as populated as Yass, NSW & has a intriguing sellection of shops along it main drag.





You can probably tell that there is very little reason to go to Ridgecrest unless you work at the Weapons Station or as flying through on the way to somewhere else. Or if it is Wednesday, & you are in need of some cheap vaccinations.

The next stop was the Trona Pinnacles , a group of 500 tufa (porous rock that feels very similar to pumice) jutting out of the desert floor. These are very remote & really require a 4WD to get to (or an obstinate Subaru driver) as they are at the end of a corrugated 7 mile dirt road. We saw only one other car while we were out there. A couple of dirt bikes rode past at a distance & there were a few flyovers by groups of planes from thew Weapons Station.

Big pumice for a big dry skin problem :)

Northern group of Tufa. There are over 500 in the group in total.

The very hot Mr Chrubuky looking towards the black speck in the middle (the mighty Subaru)

Each time we got out of the car I could hear strange popping noises. Initially we thought it was the car cooling from it's boiling desert state. Later we realised these pops were weapons being tested at the Naval Station. Should really have twigged when the B-2's flying overhead.

Interesting Pinnacles Fact:
- Heaps of movies have been filmed here. Planet of the Apes & Star Trek being examples.

A few hours later we were entering Death Valley. A beautiful, desolate place containing the lowest place in the Northern Hemisphere - Badwater, 86m below sea level. Interestingly, also the location of the highest temperature ever recorded in the USA, 56.7 C (134. F)

Mesquite Sand Dunes - about 50 m maximum depth. Used in the Star Wars movies.

If you have an interest in deserts & or photography, this is a phenomenal place to visit. You could spend a week here alone. There are so many variations in the environment - canyons, dunes, salt lakes, dry lakes, mountains.

The stopover on Friday night was Las Vegas, NV. A place that everyone seems to go to, but after visiting, I'm not sure why. At least, I'm not sure why you would go more than once (unless you were loaded, flew in, stayed at the ritzy hotels & didn't venture out onto the streets) The Strip is a 6 mile loop that takes you past the most modern of the casinos, street side shows, tacky souvenir shops and thousands of people drinking frozen Margaritas.

We ventured into a couple of casinos. We ate buffet dinner (that gave me mild food poisioning) & Mr Chrubuky tried out one of the penny slots with the old fashioned arm on the side that he got to crank down with glee. I took hundreds of pictures of neon (one of my shameless additions), we saw what was loosely called a "show" outside Treasure Island & saw the Mirage volcano erupt. Admittedly, we didn't take in any of the shows as this was very much a budget trip & the ones we would have liked to see started at $100 pp. Maybe Las Vegas would have been different for us if we had done that.

1. Las Vegas, NV 02, 2. Las Vegas, NV 01, 3. Las Vegas, NV 03, 4. Las Vegas, NV 04, 5. Las Vegas, NV 05, 6. Las Vegas, NV 08, 7. Las Vegas, NV 09, 8. Las Vegas, NV 11, 9. Las Vegas, NV 12


1. Las Vegas, NV 20, 2. Las Vegas, NV 19, 3. Las Vegas, NV 18, 4. Las Vegas, NV 14, 5. Las Vegas, NV 22, 6. Las Vegas, NV 15, 7. Las Vegas, NV 16, 8. Nevada Signpost, 9. IMG_2698

Glitzy & tacky at night - but there is enough neon & $1.99 Margaritas to take your mind off it. The next morning, looking around was just depressing. Las Vegas, to me, has a real air of unfulfilled promises. It seemed to be the place where dreams go to die. People shuffling their coins into slot machines like they are hypnotised while outside these grotesque (think Jack Nicholson in Batman) overly comical building fascades glisten in the desert sunshine. We couldn't wait to get out of the place.

Okay - well, that has depressed me & I feel like this could be enough of us for you for the day. I'm sure you have more to do today than read this. I'm off to the gym & will add Part 2 later.