I like your attitude. There is alot of discovery in Kern Cnty. My kid went on a school field trip to Carrizo (sp?) Plain and picked up fossilized clams and oysters off the ground, after seeing the famous Andreas Fault.  

Good source for tips and advice is Kern Mineral Society.

Cool blog post! I agree with you, too. I don't think Kern County is a boring place to live at all. I love living here, but I do hate all the bitter people who try to say we're a bunch of rednecks and there's really nothing to do here. That just irks me so much. Those people are jerks...

Thanks, you guys!!  Observer, I think we may have been on the old stage road, I remember going through White River to Jack Ranch Road, a very neat drive!!

I wish I knew the rest of the old stage roads too, I really like those long drives.  

Catpaw, the Carrizo Plain is so worth seeing, not only do you get a close up view of the San Andreas, you get to see Soda Lake, which is only a true lake fo a short while, then when it dries out it's all white chalky dust...still very neat to see

And then there's Painted Rock, which has tons of Native American pictographs (rock paintings)...even though some are heavily vandalized, they are still a sight to behold.

I remember going to rock waterslides a long time ago, somewhere near Kernville, maybe above it...does anyone remember those?

Oh what fun you must have...let me know if you all ever want an extra on your excursions.  I love adventure.  What a great addition to this site you will be.  Positive people are always welcome.  Especially when they are happy ones too! 

LoveVintage...sure why not!!! We have a Jeep that goes slow up hill, but we love to go out and just see stuff...even if there's no destination...we always find SOMETHING interesting...I'll keep you posted on where we're looking at going and you let me know if you're interested! I'd love somebody else to go along :D

Did you visit the penny bar while you were in McKittrick?

Take the Caliente road to Lorraine Canyon and have luch at the old shcool house converted to a cafe.  Take the back road to Tehachapi from Keene and see the Loop.

The back road out of Tehachapi, Willow Springs road will take you to Mojave turnoff or Rosamond where you can see the race track.  Don't forget to take your jeep to Red Rock Canyon.

Also make a loop to Taft and back up the highway to Frazier Park (can't remember the name of the road.)

Tehachapi out to Alpine Forest and down into Cummings Valley.  There are Indian grinding rocks there AND its a pretty drive.

Take Breckenridge Road over the mountain (paved) to the Lions Trail and revisit Havilah.  Take the time to read all the monument markings.

More as the come to me..lol.  I'm a native.

YAY Nancy Thanks so much!! I'm planning on going soon :D And please,, tell me more!!!!

I'm sure you've been up to Lake Isabella so next time keep going north and east out through Weldon on out to the desert.  You can do that on your way to Red Rock Canyon rather than taking 58 to 14 if you like.  It's a nice day trip on the back roads rather than the freeway.

Speaking of Tehachapi again.  Take a picnic lunch up Water Canyon Road off Highline to Tehachapi Mountain Park and hike some of the trails.  It's absolutely GORGEOUS up there and so much cooler that at times, in the shade, you might need a light shirt jacket.  (not if you're hiking tho..lol)

I'm sure you've made a tour of Pioneer Village and the oil museum but if not..do it.  It's so neat there.  Have you been up the Granite Station Road to Woody?  The used to have a little cafe there that made the BEST hamburgers..but that was years aago.  On the way up you'll see Granite station which used to be a tstagecoach stop.  There are a dozen little community mini towns up there and you can go on up to Greenhorn, Sugarloaf, and on over the mountain back down into Kernville.  Did I mention Keysville?  Thats a good road for a jeep and is an old mining town.  Not much left I understand, but historical. 

Have you been to the Taft Oil Museum?  I think they just unveiled a statue dedicated to oilfield workers or are getting ready to.  And I know you know that a short hour and a half drive (depending on your speed) through Taft will put you at the ocean and it's an interesting drive through Cuyama and New Cuyama.  Leave early and stop at Bucks there for fantastic biscuits and gravy on your way.

You can google any of these and get more directions and info.  I"ve always said if you're bored around here, it's your fault.

Should I apply at the visitor center or the Chamber of commerce?  I lub my area.

Observer, where do you get your water lillies and hyacinth?  I haven't been able to find it around here.  It was dropped form stores at one time because it was clogging the canals.  It used to grow so fast on my pond I would give the excess to  a friend whose Koi at it.  Now I hve none.

Observer, a local pet store?  I didn't think of that.  I know what you mean about the herons/egrets.  When I had the bigger pond the fish were fine in the summer when the tress and shrubs protected them but in the winter, they thinned me out to two fish.  I still have them but they're in a small pond on the porch.  I've wanted to get more hyacinth but havent' been able to find any.  I used to get it at the home improvement store on Ming and Ashe (brain fade here) but never get in that part of thown anymore.

Thanks for the info.

Observer, did you get it recently at a pet store? As Nancy points out, it's supposedly illegal to sell now because it's consider a noxious weed. I think that legislation went into effect within the past couple of years. Sadly, most of the good pond plants for filtration are also on the noxious weeds list. Even some prized indoor aquarium plants are listed on it. It's a big deal amongst the fish keepers who go for planted aquariums (not really my thing, but it's hard to not run across it while looking at other aquarium related websites).

I can't find the webpage on the legislation, but here's an aquatic plant retailer with a list of prohibited plants on one page (the others have them on the individual plant pages): www.pondsplantsandmore.com/Prohibited_Plant_List_ s/5.htm. You'll note both water hyacinth and water lettuce are on the list.

A friend wanted some for her pond and her husband went to see if he could scoops some from the canal by the water district off the Golden State freeway.  One of the guys was there scooping it up with a skip loader and just dumped a load in his truck. 

Like Shwain said, it was put on "the do not bring that stuff around here"  list several years back but I thought maybe they would sell it for fish tanks.  If you look on line at plant suppliers they say they cannot ship to CA.  It chokes the canals and waterways in the same way you mentioned you had to thin it periodically.

What irks me is the best species of Elodea (also called Egeria or Anacharis) for oxygenating and purifying water is also on the same list now. It's not as efficient as hyacinth at purifying the water, but stays purely below the water line, so is suitable for indoor aquariums. Apparently the strands get too long and can wrap around boat propellers... So because it can mess up a boat, I can't buy it for my fish tanks anymore. Cabomda is also now a noxious "weed" and that used to be a standard aquarium plant (although I never much cared for it, too messy when it wasn't happy). So yeah, the list affects even indoor fishkeepers whose plants would never see a natural waterway because of the irresponsible people who dumped their aquariums in the local waterways when they got sick of having fish and plants.

Hijacked Blog!! LOL I'm kidding guys...but does anynoe remember an old mine up near Caliente that you could go in?

I don't remember that one but then there's the Silver Queen or Yellow Jacket or something like that at Randsburg.  (still day tripping in Kern County)  Have you been there?  They DID have a store with a soda fountain still in operation.  I'm not sure if it's still open or not.  It's an interesting little town too.

Randsburg...

http://www.desertusa.com/ma...

http://www.ghosttowns.com/s...

Nancy, I bow down bwfore your knowledge!!

I would if I had a smily to do it :)

Violet..like I said..I've been around these parts for a long long time.  And I'm a sort of amateur local historian or a buff at the least.  I also lived in Tehachapi for 15 years so got to know a little about Eastern KC.  Not that it's anything like it was when I roamed around.  The Lancaster/Palmdale area was just a little bedroom community spot when I worked around that area.   My son and my ex used to motocross and desert race so we spent a lot of time in different areas.

My dad had a gold mine in Havilah back in the late 50's and early 6o's and we spend some time there too.  Now that's an interesting town.  Over 9000 people llived in that little valley/gully at one time.  It was the county seat of Kern County and a stage stop headed north.  It is also the birthplace of The Bakersfield Californian.  The last time I was up there the cabin my ex and I lived in was still standing..barely..lol..the roof was caving in but it was there.  The lilttle cabin behind it was still there oo..my mom and dad lived in that one.  I was young and had a new baby..I didn't stay long.