Antelope Valley - Acton, CA

November 11- December 2, 2021

Welcome train at entrance to Soledad Canyon RV and Camping Resort

Site #176 in Soledad Canyon RV and Camping Resort was home during our visit to Antelope Valley.  The campground is located about two miles from the small town of Acton (population of 7,232).  It is surrounded by the Sierra Pelona Mountains and the San Gabriel Mountains, giving us scenic sunsets and amazing views!  Again, the hummingbirds were very prevalent.  Keeping the feeders full was a challenge I was up to!  The campground’s high desert location gave us yet further experience with the dry, dusty nature of the desert climate in December.  Given the alternative of snow, I’ll take dry and dusty! 

Mistletoe was everywhere in this campground!  I mistakenly thought mistletoe was a shrub.  Nope!  It’s a parasitic evergreen plant that attaches itself to trees.  Although the deciduous trees had already dropped their leaves, we could see very green bunches of mistletoe in the branches of most every tree in the campground.  I’m telling you, the learning never stops on this trip! 

We met Jo and Alan the first day of our stay here and hit it off immediately, taking turns hosting happy hour at each others’ campsites.  It turns out we both have an appreciation for a good gin and tonic, which we enjoyed around propane campfires with them.  One day, the four of us drove to Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park located in the Sierra Pelona Mountains (north of LA).  The park features stunning rock formations, which we appreciated on our 4.5 mile hike around the 932 acre park.  Many films were shot here, including a couple of episodes of Star Trek, the Star Trek IV movie, Blazing Saddles, The Flintstones, Little Miss Sunshine…  The massive hogback rock that is the iconic feature of the park is named “The Star Trek Rock” due to the episodes that were filmed there.  Any of you that know my husband very well might have guessed we had to watch these episodes and enjoy the landscape with new insight!  

The Star Trek Gorn is pretty ferocious!

The history of this park is fascinating!  Archaeological evidence shows people have lived in this area for at least 4300 years.  The Tataviam people arrived here around AD 450.  Evidence we saw of their lives here included pictographs and grinding bowls.  The last full-blooded Tataviam lived in the early 1900’s, but there are still people related to the tribe that live on. 

Holes left from Tataviam Tribe grinding juniper berries!

In the mid 1800’s, Tiburcio Vasquez used the Vasquez Rocks as his hide away!  He was a bandito who, along with his band of desperados, would rustle and pillage up and down California.  Quite often, he would give his stolen money to needy Mexican families, giving himself the reputation of being a modern-day Robin Hood.  Things didn’t end so merry for this Robin Hood, however, as he was eventually caught, tried and executed in March of 1875.  Pretty cool this park was named after him! 

Location of Bedrock in the Flintstone's movie

Climbing the Star Trek rock!

Thanksgiving hit in the middle of our visit here and we celebrated the day with Teresa and Scott, and their friends Janine and Tim.  Teresa cooked the turkey and several of the sides, Janine made the dressing along with more sides and I was in charge of the squash (sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie) and wine.  The meal was delicious and the company was delightful.  Following dinner, Scott broke out the board game “Fast Track”, and it turns out Dick is pretty quick with a few glasses of wine in him!

The town of Lancaster is about 30 miles north of our campground.  In Lancaster, we discovered the childhood home of Judy Garland, born Frances Ethel Gumm!  Her family moved from Grand Rapids, Minnesota to Lancaster when Francis was 4 years old.  Currently the owner of the house rents out rooms to tenants.  As with all things, change happens!  The house is located two blocks from “The BLVD” which is currently a trendy shopping, entertainment and dining area. We enjoyed a great lunch at Modern Tea Room, which offered outdoor seating and a wonderful menu.  We couldn’t resist trying their featured tea of the day, Apple Pie tea.  Yummy! 

Yes, we skipped to "We're Off to See the Wizard" down the sidewalk!

On the outskirts of Lancaster is the “Musical Road”.  If you drive 65 mph (the speed limit is 55, but the Lone Ranger rode faster than that!) along this short stretch of road, and use your imagination a bit, you can hear the William Tell Overture. The grooves were originally cut by Honda for a commercial but, apparently, there was a miscommunication on the spacing of the grooves.   This unfortunate miscommunication resulted in an off-key rendition and causes one to wince a bit!  Regardless, it’s an interesting feature of Lancaster to take in!

Prime Desert Woodland Preserve is also located on the outskirts of Lancaster.  It has slightly over three miles of interpretive trails winding through a beautiful desert landscape.  There we found Joshua trees, junipers, cacti, ravens, cactus wrens, and much more!  It offers interpretive trails so non-natives like us can learn a few things!

Joshua tree!

The California Aqueduct is a 444-mile combination of tunnels, pipes and canals that bring water from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to Southern California (or as the locals call it, SoCal).  Palmdale is located just south of Lancaster and offers a 3.4-mile section of the aqueduct with a nice hiking trail adjacent to it. If hiking alongside of an aqueduct is on your bucket list, here you go!  I can’t say I had ever considered the option before, but I’m glad we had the opportunity to do it!

Who would guess that Palmdale is where the space shuttles were built?  Today, one of the two 747s that flew the shuttles from where they landed at Edwards Airforce Base (just north east of Lancaster) to Cape Canaveral, Florida is on display at the Joe Davies Heritage Airpark. It’s quite a site to take in!  This stop on our adventure has to be one of my husband’s favorites!  Between being able to walk around right where Star Trek was filmed and then being able to see where the space shuttles hung out, come on!  This geeky guy had to be in heaven!

Wally was another neighbor that we were really blessed to get to know.  Wally lives full time in his RV and spends a great deal of time helping other full-time RV owners with repairs. Wally has done everything you can think of, from servicing jet engines in Vietnam while in the Air Force during the war, to overseeing the maintenance of high-rise buildings in LA.  If you don’t have a part you need, Wally probably can figure out a way to engineer one.  He is creative, kind, knowledgeable and very much a servant of the Lord. 

We spent a day going to Santa Clarita where we were able to attend Mass at another mission.  Santa Clarita San Fernando Rey de España Mission was founded on September 8, 1797 and was the seventeenth of the twenty-one Spanish missions established by the Franciscan Monks.  Although the same basic architecture has been consistent in the six missions we have been to, this one had a big surprise for us!  Following Mass, we noticed a sign on one of the side doors of the church.  Typically, this door has led us to a courtyard.  Not at this mission!  The sign said “Bob Hope Garden”.  I was thinking it must be some rose garden or other decorative garden that had been named in Bob Hope’s memory, probably after a large donation or something – right?  Well, I think I was partially right.  It was a beautifully landscaped garden and there probably was a large donation made.  What I wasn’t expecting is that this garden is also the final resting spot of Bob and Dolores Hope!   Out of the blue, I was remembering myself as a young girl watching his shows.  Now, there was a great comedian!  One of his great quotes is “If you watch a game, it’s fun, if you play it, it’s recreation.  If you work at it, it’s golf.”  (Sorry, Kathy!  I couldn’t resist!).  

While we were in Santa Clarita, we found ourselves taking in the Newhall Western Walk of Fame.  Instead of the stars you find with the actors’ names in Hollywood, there are images of saddles imbedded up and down the sidewalk with the names of western actors.  As we strolled up and down the sidewalk, taking in each of the great actors, we found ourselves drawn to the Newhall Smokehouse.  Yep, admittedly, all of my senses were alerted!  The aroma alone would have pulled me in, but couple that with the live music, Christmas decorations, and the beautiful day, we found ourselves seated at an outdoor table before you could wipe the drool from my chin!  I’m not sure I was dressed to LA suburban standards, but what the heck.  Judging from the look I got from one woman seated near the band, the groupies there were no more impressed with me than I was with them!  I’m pretty sure we were all the same age, some just had spent a lot of time with plastic surgeons, nail and hair salons and shop at some pretty fancy clothing stores!  I’m not sure how LA will go when we visit there.  I’m just a simple gal who likes her hiking clothes and sunscreen!  I’m sure Bob Hope would have some witty thing to say about this situation!  I just had to laugh!

Next stop:  Santa Paula!