In The Alabama Hills by auntietk
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Description
The Alabama Hills are just outside Lone Pine, California, on the east side of the Sierra Nevada mountains. A lot of scenes from old western movies were filmed here, as well as location shooting for Star Trek, Gunga Din, Django Unchained, and many others. If you visit the Alabama Hills and you want to look at the places where your favorite movies were filmed, be sure to go to the movie museum in Lone Pine and get a map! It helps to have a car with a bit of clearance as well, since the roads are unpaved. (Note to Sig: you wouldn't want to take the BMW in here. Go with a friend who has an SUV or take the Yaris. The CRV did great out there.)
We also visited the internment camp at Manzanar, which is right down the road from Lone Pine. It wasn't the sort of thing where you take pictures, though. It was all about the experience. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, President Roosevelt signed an order that put into motion one of the darker episodes in our nation's history. All Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast were rounded up and put in camps for the duration of the war. They lost their homes and their businesses, in addition to their freedom. About 120,000 people were incarcerated, living in barracks and eating cafeteria food, with barbed wire and armed guards making sure the perimeter was secured. If you are unfamiliar with this shameful bit of American history, you can read the Wiki HERE
We were going to continue north and cross the mountains west of Reno, but some less-than-optimal weather came through and dumped snow where we were going to be driving, so we changed our route and crossed at Tehachapi in the south. Today we're having a day off in Lodi due to wind. (Oh Lord, stuck in Lodi again.)
Tomorrow we head for the coast!
Comments (26)
Faemike55
I wonder how many people are going to catch that one musical reference as well as start singing it.
fabulous capture
photosynthesis
Wonderfully textured & layered landscape, with bonus clouds. I've been to a lot of California & Nevada, but somehow missed the Alabama Hills. I got the Lodi reference - didn't sing it, but I did hear it in my head. I've been missing your photos, Tara - hope you'll be posting more soon...
Krittermom
So good to see a post from you. Hope all is well. My mother saw to it for many years we took several weeks in the summer and traveled. We saw most of America. Camped in many places. Few kids got the opportunity to see the many places we saw. This brings back great memories.
npauling
A beautiful capture and those rocks in the foreground look so interesting. Amazing how rounded they are. It is lovely to be able to go where you want to and to be able to change your plans when it suits. Enjoy the rest of your trip,
kgb224
Superb capture Tara. Have a safe journey. God bless.
AidanaWillowRaven
Majestic view ...
jocko500
lovely
bmac62
What a fun place this was! I saw a lot of backgrounds that made me think of old Hopalong Cassidy and Roy Rogers movies. In my head I could hear bullets ricocheting off the rocks and whizzing away as the bad guys tried to ambush the good guys. Of course the good guys always won!
giulband
WOW !! Beautiful picture's composition and great landscape !!
LivingPixels
Superb shot breathtaking!!!
SunriseGirl
I am so glad you posted a great description of this place. I had never heard of it before, in fact, when I read the title I thought the hills were in Alabama. I was thinking, "huh, I did not know Alabama had this type of scenery". Of course , I have never been to Alabama either. Then I read your wonderful description of the area and recognized the typical western scenery of many movies. Southern Utah also has several areas where movies were made and interestingly Utah also had one of the infamous American-Japanese detention camps. It just goes to show what fear can do to people's reason. In looking at the candidates for US president currently I see one in particular who seems to be using fear tactics as well. I sure hope we do not end up with a leadership that makes the same type of decisions. Anyway, enough of that, what I am really most happy about here is to see a post from you and hear about your adventures. You are not on my favorite artists list for no reason. :) Thanks for sharing your journey. Safe travels.
wysiwig
Shows how much I know, I thought you were in Alabama. A very impressive landscape and a terrific capture. Last time I was in Lodi was for the Gold Rush Rock Festival of Oct. 4, 1969 at Lake Amador. Over 40,000 people attended where Santana, Bebe King, Taj Mahal, Bo Diddley, Albert Collins, Ike and Tina and the Ikettes, Cold Blood and The Sons of Champlin and others played for three days. Oh to be young and stupid again.
anahata.c
Ok, RR has been so bad with ebots, I just got the ebot for this NOW---it's 1 AM on the 26th. (I was about to go to sleep when I saw a TARA upload!) Second, the first thing I saw was the photo, and I thought: What the hell happened to Alabama??? This sure wasn't the Alabama I remembered! (Then I read your text...)
A beautiful sweeping shot, Tara. I recognize the terrain from films yes, and I can see why people shot films here (and still do). But the terrain is beautiful all by itself, and you caught it with a long sweeping shot that has closeness and vastness all at the same time. A real beauty of a capture. And I assume that's Bill? If it is, it's nice to see him! The range of light and shadow in your shot, and hues in the deep rust ground, next to the blue-gray mountains, and a heavy "lowering" sky---it's all beautiful. And as for the internment camps, it's a heavy piece of US history, and I can see why you wouldn't take shots...probably more to look at than actually photograph. This is a beautiful photo, Tara, and I hope the rest of your trip is smooth and beautiful. What a surprise to see you both post! I didn't even GET the ebot for Bill (it'll roll in tomorrow), but I looked to be sure. I'll head over there now. A beautiful return to RR!
awjay
super shot
Wolfenshire
That is a very cool place to visit.
durleybeachbum
Wonderful un-threatening hills! This is a really intriguing landscape, which I should love to explore in person, but I shall instead rely on you two!
Juliette.Gribnau
oh so beautiful !!!!! makes me want to travel
rudiruth
WOW
faroutsider
My kind of scenery! Love the textures of the different zones, fore-, middle- and background.
MrsRatbag
What a rich and deeply beautiful landscape! Gorgeous capture, and it's good to hear from you!
dochtersions
What an AMAZING view, Tara!!! I see a lot of sheep backs, with Bill among them. And if I'm not mistaken, bills pants fluttering in the wind. The wind that blows in Alabama, not in his pants, LOL. Anyway it's an intriguing and a so different landscape to me, something that I of course never have seen. So thank you for, and your story, as this incredible shot, dear Tara. btw, I worried about you because of your absence here (doing no uploads). Now I am relieved and excited about your trip. Let's go, dear friends.
TruForm
Very nice!
radioham
So many people forget what was done those days but the worse thing to my mind is the droping of the two A Bombs did it do any good...... yes it may have ended the war an few weeks early but the cost is still being paid
beachzz
People still get ebots??? I haven't had one in ages; thought they'd done away with them when they did all those changes a ways back. Ah well.....I still just check every time I'm online to see who's done what. At any rate, I love your take on the same scene Bill shot---and I guess you got him while he got the shot!! I've heard of this place and knew lots of westerns were filmed here but have never been there.
As far as Manzanar goes, what a horrible time that was and so very, very wrong. And you're right, not the place for fotos.
nikolais
gorgeous sight, Tara! you captured it so wonderfully! as regards history, we have so much in common!
junge1
An interesting capture Tara and an even more interesting narrative and itinerary update. When I looked at the night shot and you mentioned Alabama Hills, I thought vaguely, in the back of my mind, that these are pretty high hills, and in Alabama? But it didn't ring a bell. I was totally unaware of these hills, but I may have been there with my mother in 1984-85, because it is close to Mt. Whitney. But I also know that we didn't go all the way there, because the road was closed due to snow. Did you ever make it to Bodie, or was that cut short by the snow too. Anyway, thanks for the tip. The Yaris it will be it if I go there. It is on my bucket list of things to do. Bucket list? - where did that come from. 10 - 20 years nobody knew what that meant and now it part of our vocabulary.