Starling Travel

Nine miles north of Barstow, California the signs on the side of the road point to Calico Ghost Town. Twenty miles north of Barstow, Mike started asking me if we could go to the ghost town.

“Why do you want to go there?” I asked him.

“You can take pictures of broken things.”

“It’s not going to be like a real ghost town.”

“How do you know?”

“Because real ghost towns don’t have billboards.”

“I still want to see it.”

So, we took the exit and drove out to the “ghost town.” Instead of abandoned buildings, Calico Ghost Town was more like Frontierland at Disneyland. The signs said it all:

“Enjoy the Music and Gunfights”

“Shops, Attractions, Food and Gifts”

“$6.00 Adult. $3 Youth. Children under 5 Free!”

Just to drive into the Calico Ghost Town, it would have cost us twelve bucks. We turned the car around and headed back to I-15. Disneyland and the real Frontierland was waiting for us.

Calico Ghost Town Google Map

Calico Ghost Town – Official Website

On the way from San Diego from Las Vegas, we passed lots of motorcycles. Groups of five to eight riders were making their way from California to Vegas. We stopped for gas in Barstow. While Mike gassed up the Beetle, I ran to the bathrooms located outside the store. There was a big sign on the men’s bathroom, “Out of Order.” The women’s bathroom was occupied.

I danced my little “I should have stopped in Victorville” dance while I waited for the women’s bathroom. When the door finally opened a burly biker walked out. He blushed a bright shade of red and jerked his head toward the sign on the men’s bathroom. He bashfully walked away and let me use the bathroom.

He left the toilet seat up.

The first time we drove to San Diego, we took a break in Barstow, California. We were tired and wanting to get to our hotel, but we were many miles away. We stopped at Barstow Station and ate at the Havana Hut inside. The Cuban empanadas were so delicious that we have stopped at Barstow Station every time we’ve driven through ever since.

This time, we took some pictures before we ate so you could enjoy the flaky pastries and beefy goodness with us.

Barstow Station is a tourist trap of the best kind. There are kitschy items to buy, many varieties of food to choose from and a spot to rest when you’re just sick of driving and wish you were in San Diego already.

Even though your gas tank doesn’t need a fill up in Barstow, take a few moments and eat a beef empanada at the Havana Hut in Barstow Station. You’ll thank me for it. I promise.

You are looking at Rhona Quarm and Gavin McDonald. Mike and I met them on our drive to Disneyland. We were gassing up the Beetle in Barstow, California and the two of them had parked their bikes nearby. I noticed their bikes and left Mike pumping gas and walked over to them to hear their story.

They are touring the world on their bicycles. They left their hometown, Perth, Scotland in May of 2005, which means they have been on the road for almost a year. They have bicycled with this flag of Scotland during the entire trip. The tear in the upper right hand corner is where they encountered a bull in India, but the flag has survived.

I asked them how it was to bicycle for that long and Gavin said the most profound thing:

“You can go a long way with bad legs and a good head.”

They are travelling from Perth, Scotland to Perth, Australia and finally ending their journey in Perth, Canada. They aren’t insane. They are living their dream to travel the world on bicycles and they are doing it for charity. You can find out more about their journey at their website.

• Perth2Perth.org – Rhona and Gavin cycle 18000 miles around the world

After talking to Rhona and Gavin, my little drive to Disneyland didn’t seem like such a big adventure anymore. Mike and I excitedly talked about the bike rides we could take around our hometown and the world seemed bigger and friendlier after we said goodbye to them.

Every year it happens. The sunny weather fools the tulips into coming out of the earth. As soon as they bloom, the tempermental sky dumps a foot of snow on them. Luckily, they’re hearty.

This 54 second video was taken on April 3rd, 6th and 7th, showing the process that happens every year. When I see the tulips popping out of the ground, I want to tell them to go back in. They’ve been fooled and winter is FAR from over.

Last year at this time, we camped at Lake Mead in Nevada. We usually go there several times a year, but last year was the first time we had ever gone there so early in the spring. We were pleasantly surprised at how different the experience was.

The nearly monotone landscape was alive with color. I had never before seen so much pink in Nevada that wasn’t powered by neon. It was too early for bats, but we did enjoy the landscape. The campground was nearly full of snowbirds camping in Nevada for the winter, but they mostly stayed in their huge motorhomes. We were lucky to get a campsite so near Boulder Beach.

There is a little trail that runs along the area. It’s beautiful to see at this time of year and the Nevada sun hasn’t gotten to the raging heat that it does later in the season.

It’s pretty obvious that this trail was made before the lake got to such unprecedented lows. This trail used to be along the lakeshore, now it’s about a half mile from the lake. It’s still worth the walk, though.

This is the perfect time of year for a quick camping trip down at Lake Mead. The plants are bursting with flowers and the campgrounds are full, but quiet and enjoyable.

Where: Lake Mead Boulder Beach Campsite: 420 Lakeshore Rd, Boulder City, NV 89005 Google Map Phone: (702) 293-2540

Lake Mead National Recreation Area – Camping

Club 33 is the exclusive private club in Disneyland. It is the only location in Disneyland that serves alcohol. It was named Club 33 after the original 33 sponsors of Disneyland. Now, membership seems to be steeped in rumor with waiting lists that are said to be over three years long and membership fees ranging from $2000 to $10,000 a year.

When Groucho Marx said that he would never want to join a club that would have him as a member, I wonder if he ever knew about Club 33. The rumors about this club make me think of the intelligentsia of Walt Disney’s intimates. I used to imagine that Club 33 was filled with Imagineers and the elite of Walt Disney’s friends. Imagine how excited I was to know that there were pictures of the club on the Internet. They hadn’t been pulled by Disney and they showed things like the menu and the bill.

• Photoblog – Club 33 – 10-13-04

• Photoblog – Club 33 – 12-12-04

There is no narrative to this photoblog, unfortunately. He leaves us no clues about how he got into the club or why he was able to go twice. He doesn’t say if he is a member or a guest of one. He leaves hardly a trace of himself on his website: a few “rants” and a rambling introduction. All we have are these pictures, really.

Somehow, seeing these Club 33 pictures makes me think less of Disney intelligentsia and more of Disney obsessed fans. It’s actually a little disappointing.

Not too long ago, I did a story about Pottery World just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Starling Travel » Small Pleasures Week: Pottery and Patio World

At the time, I took some video of this fountain. Unfortunately, it was filmed “sideways” and I didn’t have the correct software to rotate it. Thanks to what I learned at SXSW, I have finally been able to remaster this 29 second video for your viewing pleasure.

When I filmed this video, it felt like light itself was spilling over the sides of the fountain. The chilly wind whipped around my hair, smelling like dirt and rain. In the background, the owners of Pottery World were playing Mexican music and I felt so at peace. Pottery World was truly a visit of small pleasures that week in Las Vegas.

Where: Google Local – Sloan, Nevada

While Mike and I were in Austin, we were able to get this video of the bats coming out of the Congress Avenue Bridge. March is early in the season for the bats, so the sky wasn’t black with them, but there were still a lot of them to be seen. We saw three waves of bats leave the bridge. This was the second one. The video is 1:11 minutes long.

There was a crowd of people under the bridge waiting for the bats to come out. A lady was jogging along the trail and asked us what was going on. We told her about the bats and she just shrugged and kept on jogging. I wonder if she thought there was a mugging or something. We were all there waiting with our cameras. I’m shocked I was able to get anything at all.

What didn’t show up on the video was the sound the bats made and the smell of the area under the bridge. It took me a while to recognize the smell, but I realized that it smelled like a hamster cage. The sound was just like the movies. I thought the movies made up that sound and bats only made ultrasonic noises, but they don’t. There is a high pitched sqeak, kind of like a mouse, that we could hear everywhere under the bridge.

It was amazing.

Since we just got back from Austin, Texas, I have been researching the area for interesting things to do. Here is a great article about San Antonio.

• Fodor’s Travel Wire | Just Back from San Antonio

She has great advice for people who are visiting the city:

What advice do you have for someone going to San Antonio? If you can, avoid the Alamo and the River Walk on weekends, when crowds of tourists converge on places like Ripley’s Believe it or Not and the Hard Rock Cafe. On Saturday and Sunday, do the art museums and the Mission Trail, or take a drive out to Hill Country, and save the more popular sights for Friday or Monday. Better still, come during the week. You also might want to check with your hotel to see when the big conventions will be in town, and consider scheduling your visit for a time when room rates are lower and restaurants are quieter.

That advice holds true of wherever you travel. Avoid the most popular tourist sites during the weekend and visit them during the week. Choose the less popular sites on the weekend and find out when the big conventions are in town so you can avoid travelling at that time.

Since we are going to Austin for a convention, we don’t have that luxury, but that won’t stop us from enjoying what that city has to offer and hopefully we’ll be able to make a quick stop in San Antonio while we’re down there.