Saturday, November 20, 2021

Family Travels

I have a folder with some scans of old family slides - the late 1940s, long before Major Pepperidge was a twinkle in anybody's eye. The slides were found in some boxes at my grandma's house after she passed; I never even knew they existed until then.

First up, there's my mom (at around age 13) along with my grandmother in 1948. They are at a geological formation known as "Devil's Postpile" near Mammoth Mountain in California. It is a "dark cliff of columnar basalt", with some columns as long as 60 feet. Many of the columns are hexagonal in profile, though others have five sides or even four. 

My mom says that when she visited the Postpile as a kid, it was so remote that getting there was quite an ordeal. I've been there myself, and while one still needs to walk a bit, it's not such a hike.



Here's one of my own photos from 2010.


Another feature of Devil's Postpile National Monument (established in 1911) is Rainbow Falls, on the San Joaquin River. That's it, way down there! There's even a rainbow, for no extra charge.


In 2010 I took this brief video on my old Canon camera.


About 50 miles to the northwest of Mammoth Mountain is the Sonora Pass, seen here in 1949. Sonora Pass is the second-highest highway pass in the Sierra Nevada mountains, and it was used by many prospectors during the California Gold Rush in 1849. That's my mom (14 years old) with my grandmother. My grandma made a note on the slide's mount that they were there during the 100-year anniversary of the famous Gold Rush.


Meanwhile, over in Nevada  (near Virginia City), we see my grandpa and grandma as they visited the Old Comstock Mine, part of the big Comstock Lode, where tons of silver was found, sparking a rush in 1859  that was nearly as great as the Gold Rush. 


About 20 miles north of Mammoth Mountain is Mono Lake, a large saline soda lake that has no outlet (which is why salts have accumulated in it for millennia). Mono Lake is a strange and beautiful place, famous for its brine shrimp and alkali flies, food to millions of migratory birds. "Tufa towers", tall limestone pinnacles that originally formed beneath the surface as freshwater springs caused calcium carbonate to precipitate, are among the strange sights visitors will see. As Southern California diverted the fresh water that filled the lake, its levels dropped drastically, exposing the tufa towers and also endangering the birds who used the lake as a stopover.   


Luckily, the Mono Lake Committee fought for years until Los Angeles agreed to maintain the lake to certain levels. In Mark Twain's "Roughing It", he describes taking a boat two the two prominent islands, mentioning that they'd put it off several times due to frequent storms. And in fact a storm did catch them on the way back to shore, and it nearly did them in. Ironically, now the islands can be accessed via a narrow land bridge, due to the low water levels. 


Here's a panorama that I took back in 2010!


I hope you have enjoyed some of these family travel photos from the '40s! I think I need to plan a trip to the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains as soon as I can.

22 comments:

Nanook said...

Major-
"Devil's Postpile" - Mother Nature's pipe organ-! These are all lovely images, reminding us of the natural beauty surrounding us.

Thanks, Major.

"Lou and Sue" said...

Major, thank you for including us in your travels - I’ve never been to any of these places and can see I’ve missed out on some beautiful and interesting sightseeing spots. Great pictures!

I’ve never heard of the Devil’s Postpile - that’s really cool. Love seeing your mom and grandparents in these shots, too. It’s also cool to see pictures (and video) that you’ve taken - thanks for sharing with us!

TokyoMagic! said...

Why don't they just remove all that rubble at the base of the Devil's Postpile and put a paved road, where a paved road ought to be! ;-)

Such beautiful scenery, Major! Thank you for sharing your personal family photos with us!

-Tokyo Mackerel!

JB said...

Major, We have a similar formation of columnar basalt here in Eugene, Oregon. Not as picturesque as the Devil's Postpile; but not bad, as basalt cliffs go. It's on the west side of Skinner's Butte- pronounced "byoot", by the way ;-). Just a couple of blocks from downtown. Rock climbers often use it for practice; as seen in this image:

https://27crags.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/000/039/39326/size_xl-69cbed81a791.jpg

I like your 2010 photo of the cliffs; how the bottoms of the columns flare out on the left side.

The Mono Lake area looks kind of eerie. A few stunted little trees and some scrub brush (plus the brine shrimp and alkali flies).

Tokyo Mackerel!, the poor-man's salmon.

Beautiful photos, Major. Thanks.

- Juan's Burro (the poor-man's DoorDash. He delivers your Thanksgiving dinner to your door... eventually... whatever the burro doesn't eat.)

MIKE COZART said...

Beautiful pictures!! I first visited the Devil’s Postpile when I was about 5 years old .... and I was slightly afraid because I was under the impression that the devil actually constructed it or was still making it. I was enthralled will dinosaurs at the the time and I remember people trying to explain to me that it was made by a volcano millions of years ago and not the devil. At that age I thought volcanos only existed when the dinosaurs - I had a serious if books - one by National Geographic and all the artists renderings ( I thought they where photographs) seemed to always show active volcanos in the distance.

Disney has replicated sections of the Devil’s Post Pile in DCA ( near Grizzly River Rapids) and near Cascade Falls along the new trestle of the Disneyland Railroad. I guess you could count “3” examples if you you include the lava flows and lava falls in the Allosaurus & Stegosaurus volcano scene of Primeval World as its a Devil’s Post Pile being formed.

And yes I said Allosaurus and not Tyrannosaurus rex as that’s what it is ... a Allosaurus. Disney has mistakenly called it a T Rex incorrectly as the allosaurus and Stegosaurus were contemporaries of each other and did not live at the same time as The Tyrannosaurus rex. “But anything is possible at Disneyland .....”

Except getting Tomorrowland together!!

Bu said...

My recommendation is to replace the devil business with plush toys made to look like post piles with fanciful faces and devil horns. Collect them all! All the cool kids in high school were forever going to mammoth to ski, and proudly wore all of their ski lift tickets on their puffy coats. We couldn’t afford such extravagance, and I was fine with my wee windbreaker which even today, I am much more comfortable being colder than in a bundle of down. I was way too busy obsessing about Disneyland to possibly be any sort of cool. I later in life went to Mammoth, but did not get to the barren mono lake…shrimp and flies sounds like an open market in Shanghai. Another idea for a candle. I do like “Beautiful Briny” from Bedknobs and Broomsticks! The Ingalls girls look so happy on their prairie of Walnut Grove! I did actually think it was a picture of Melissa Gilbert and the other one before I started reading captions. I went to Virginia City on a family trip to Lake Tahoe, but we did not get to that mine. I thought Virginia City was fascinating and awesome…nothing like the suburbs of LA, and a little Disneylandish. My parents were happy for slot machines, cigarettes, and day drinking. I was happy for Victorian Architecture and shops that sold “the best fudge ever.” We didn’t get the fudge, but I thought it was a fantastic place…and we passed Ponderosa Ranch on the way…but without slot machines, I guess the fun was out for the parents. Thanks for sharing pictures of yours and great to see your previous career in a boy band! Very impressive!

DKoren said...

Love these! I used to love visiting the Devil's Postpile, and I loved in the Western Sierras, so took the Sonora Pass all the time (in good weather) to pop over the range and visit my parents on the Eastern side. This would take me past all this country (except for the mine!). Such beautiful places! Thanks for sharing your family photos!

JG said...

Major, thank you for sharing the family photos! Your Mom and Grandmother look like they are having fun!

I’ve visited most of these places too. The waterfall and the post pile are new to me, however. Mono Lake is an eerie place for sure. My son goes camping over there for rock climbing.

Several visits over the years to Virginia City, which I have recommended to visitors from abroad as a sample of the real Wild West. I’m pretty sure I went in the mine, but that would have been a long, long time ago.

After our Scouts outing to Edwards AFB, we drove north through Owens Valley and across the Sonora Pass back to the Bay Area, it was a long drive, but such beautiful scenery, I want to go back and take about 5 days doing it.

One of the first jaunts I want to make when I retire is to drive through Yosemite and Tuolumne Pass and drive all that highway again going south.

JG

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, it was quite a thing to find these color photos from my family going all the way back to the 1940s. I even found some color photos of my great grandparents!

Lou and Sue, I hope that someday you will get to come to California and see some of these places, I love going to the eastern Sierras - the last time I went, we made sure to go before the summer rush, and it was incredible. Light crowds, snow still on the mountains… A+. I’ll see if I can find more family photos worth sharing!

TokyoMagic!, I was thinking that a 7-11 at the base of the Postpile would be mighty nice, I wads really in the mood for a cherry Slurpee right about then. And maybe a Slim Jim. And an air freshener for my car, and a fidget spinner.

JB, yes, apparently the columnar basalt formations are not super rare, I read of a number of others around the world. “Skinner’s Butte”, named after Seymour Skinner, of course. I don’t know if rock climbing is not allowed at the Devil’s Postpile, but I have never seen anybody climbing the face of it. Mono Lake is definitely a weird place, but it has that kind of desert beauty. I’ve always wanted to take a kayak tour, but we’ve never had time.

Mike Cozart, I actually thought that dinosaurs built the Devil’s Postpile. They had nothing better to do. I’m sure my 5 year-old brain had all kinds of misconceptions about pretty much everything, so you thinking that the Devil built the postpile is not that crazy. I’ve never been on the Grizzly River Rapids, though it looks like fun… my first visit to DCA, a friend’s young son went on that ride, and when he got off, it looked like he had just jumped in the water and climbed out. I decided I didn’t need to be soaking wet for the rest of the day. Maybe on a hot summer day though? You have to admit that even though they are hard to tell apart, a Tyrannosaur is just cool, even the name.

Bu, you have a lot of good ideas and should be in charge of the park service. I knew kids who skied every weekend, and one time I went along, but all the skiers left me alone to fend for myself. Did that suck? Yes! I’m actually related to all of the Ingalls girls, as well as to Napoleon and Cleopatra and George Washington. The one time I went to Tahoe, we saw lots of signs for the Ponderosa Ranch, and I really wanted to go, only to discover that it had closed mere months before. “Previous career in a boy band…”, huh?

DKoren, very nice that you had a regular excuse to explore the Sierras! My grandma and grandpa loved to go there every summer, we’d stay at June Lake and fish for trout, and go horseback riding. I have so many good memories of those many trips. The last time I went was in 2017, and while some things had changed, it was still wonderful.

JG, when my grandma married my grandpa and moved to California, she became a huge student of California history. They used to drive all up and down the State to fish and hike and explore, I loved to hear her stories of those days. I’d love to spend more time in the Mono Lake area - we did go for a hike a few miles from there, and it was neat to be up high for a nice view of the valley and the lake below us. When my niece and nephew were around 8 to 10 years old, my sister and her husband took them to June Lake for two summers in a row, but I guess the kids didn’t love it the way I did. I guess it’s not for everyone! If you ever do go to Yosemite and the Tuolumne Pass, don’t do it at peak summer vacation.

Bu said...

How very strange curious and odd...the video you posted earlier was some boy band (on my phone anyway)...I'm too old to know who they were...now I check it...and it's a waterfall (?) I thought the boy band thing was odd, but ya know...LA...everyone is famous...so maybe the Major was in a boy band (?) Who knows? I was the lowest form of celebrity- writers boyfriend.

Melissa said...

Your grandparents and Mom clearly knew how to have a good time. Look at those glorious Western skies!

Mike, I'm glad you brought up the DCA recreation, because I knew I had seen something like the Postpile somewhere, but my brain didn't make the connection to my DCA tour until I read your comment.

Anonymous said...

Post-pile motif is also used incredibly well at TokyoDisneySea’s Mysterious Island. There is even a touch used on the rerouted train in Frontierland…where we had our very own Rainbow Falls.

Those eastern Sierras are always awesome. Thanks for sharing those stories too.

Anonymous said...

I think those years...going into the late 40s through the 50s to early 60s were the best times to travel in the state. It was pretty easy to get around and still with a hint of adventure going to 'far-away' places. To avoid overheating many carried burlap water pouches in front of their radiators while going up the grade and through the pass to address overheating issues. How that has been forgotten in these times of reliable cars...and air conditioning not sucking power from the engine. In the 50s and 60s there were signs reminding drivers to turn them off while going up long steep grades to avoid the overheating issue. Now, I'm thinking you have some pictures of Bodie which was just north of Mono Lake. Always worth a stop but in those days the road was pretty rough. KS

JB said...

Major, actually, I think principal Skinner was indeed named after our town's namesake, Eugene Skinner, an early pioneer in the Willamette valley. Just as Springfield (nextdoor to Eugene) is sorta, maybe the 'real' Simpson's Springfield (They have several Simpson's murals on the sides of some of their downtown buildings. But no nuclear reactor). Matt Groening is from this area, well, Portland. The city of Eugene is generally considered to be the source for Shelbyville.

I've always gotten a kick out of place names like Devil's (this) and Devil's (that). There's tons of 'em up and down the Pacific Coast; from Washington down through Oregon and California. Is that a thing on the Atlantic Coast as well? You can also find them in-between, like Devil's Tower, Wyoming.

JG said...

JB, there’s a slew of “Devil’s this-or-that” in Death Valley. He gets credit for a racetrack, a golf course, a cornfield, and more besides.

You might think it’s overdone until you visit Death Valley.

KS, I remember those canvas bags, there was the road up to Sequoia Park where the stream crossed the road on every switchback with a radiator fountain, and Dad turning off the AC on the climb. I’m not sure when we stopped worrying about cars boiling over, but I haven’t given it a thought for decades, even in Death Valley. Dad told a story about a guy that used a potato for a radiator cap, he couldn’t let the radiator boil or the potato would blow out. Bodie is on my bucket list for sure. I drove out to the Inyo Mine, in the Funeral Mountains south of Furnace Creek, and loved it. Bodie has to be at least that cool.

JG

"Lou and Sue" said...

This is totally off today's subject, but I just glanced at the Disney store website....take a glance at the bling, and price, of these new Mickey Mouse ears. Buy one for each of your loved ones, this Christmas. Great stocking stuffers. See HERE!

Melissa said...

Whoa, that’s a spicy meatball.

JB said...

Sue, put me down for a dozen! Those ears look kinda hideous to me. (others may disagree). Way too busy. Would anybody actually wear them?

"Lou and Sue" said...

Melissa and JB, I think they look like something you'd buy at the Dollar Store. VERY cheap looking. If I paid $1, I'd wear them as a joke, maybe.

My sincere apologies to anyone who likes these ears or owns them.

"Lou and Sue" said...

JB, by the way, you're out of luck, as it states on Disney's web site:
"This item is limited to one per guest."

JB said...

Dang! Whatever will I do? And Sue, you hit the nail on the head about the Dollar Store thing.

JG said...

Sue, Melissa, JB. Just looked at that link. There are no words (that I can put on GDB).

JG