02-11-2013, 10:53 AM
tQ must dream of the day we travel to a place for which I don't have a bucket load of anecdotes only amusing to the people that were actually there. (And by that sand dune we put up the sheep pen!)
It was a quick trip. We drove up Saturday and came back Sunday. I had the usual weird dissonance of going back to a place after such a long time. I spent months in the sand building the town of Perfection but only had a vague recollection of our build sight. I know I was there I took pictures.
It beautifully clear weather with recent snowfall prettying up the hillsides. We stopped in the almost ghost town of Keeler, gatway to Cerro Gordo. It's not a ghost town because fifty people live there. According to the guide at the Film museum, one of the guys I worked with on Tremors still lives there. We left Keeler quickly because it had that beginning of a horror film vibe (They turned off the highway into a dilapidated town that didn't take kindly to strangers prowling their streets . . .)
Lone Pine looks the same. The same restaurants still exist, except for the Tin Shack which burned down ten years ago. We didn't stay at the Dow Villa, my home away from home, but opted for the cheaper comfort Inn. We toured the Alabama Hills, home of big odd rocks. Oddly, we took lots of pictures. I spent time hunting for the sights from 'Gunga Din' which was shot extensively in the Alabama Hills. We shot the famous Moebius Arch.
We took a break to nap and visit downtown, eating at the Pizza Factory (Sidenote, The Pizza Factory, a small chain, has a franchise in Wallace, Idaho, too) We also visited the Lone Pine Film museum. Skip it, if you have a chance. Unless you have seen a lot of westerns particularly those of Hopalong Cassidy. The museum would have been much better if it had actual photos of the locations where these films were shot. They did have a few for Gunga Din and there was a Tremors exhibit, including creatures that weren't in the Tremors shot in Lone Pine.
Sunday the plan was to get up before the sun and watch the sun rise over the Alabama Hills. Temperature at hotel departure was just south of freezing. The day before, there had been discussion about having a few more clouds in the clear blue sky to relieve the monotony. God answered by giving us one cloud for the morning. He placed it in the path of the sun as it rose. Ah, God laughs. The sun struck the mountains and the rocks for about a second before everything faded out.
It was a quick trip. We drove up Saturday and came back Sunday. I had the usual weird dissonance of going back to a place after such a long time. I spent months in the sand building the town of Perfection but only had a vague recollection of our build sight. I know I was there I took pictures.
It beautifully clear weather with recent snowfall prettying up the hillsides. We stopped in the almost ghost town of Keeler, gatway to Cerro Gordo. It's not a ghost town because fifty people live there. According to the guide at the Film museum, one of the guys I worked with on Tremors still lives there. We left Keeler quickly because it had that beginning of a horror film vibe (They turned off the highway into a dilapidated town that didn't take kindly to strangers prowling their streets . . .)
Lone Pine looks the same. The same restaurants still exist, except for the Tin Shack which burned down ten years ago. We didn't stay at the Dow Villa, my home away from home, but opted for the cheaper comfort Inn. We toured the Alabama Hills, home of big odd rocks. Oddly, we took lots of pictures. I spent time hunting for the sights from 'Gunga Din' which was shot extensively in the Alabama Hills. We shot the famous Moebius Arch.
We took a break to nap and visit downtown, eating at the Pizza Factory (Sidenote, The Pizza Factory, a small chain, has a franchise in Wallace, Idaho, too) We also visited the Lone Pine Film museum. Skip it, if you have a chance. Unless you have seen a lot of westerns particularly those of Hopalong Cassidy. The museum would have been much better if it had actual photos of the locations where these films were shot. They did have a few for Gunga Din and there was a Tremors exhibit, including creatures that weren't in the Tremors shot in Lone Pine.
Sunday the plan was to get up before the sun and watch the sun rise over the Alabama Hills. Temperature at hotel departure was just south of freezing. The day before, there had been discussion about having a few more clouds in the clear blue sky to relieve the monotony. God answered by giving us one cloud for the morning. He placed it in the path of the sun as it rose. Ah, God laughs. The sun struck the mountains and the rocks for about a second before everything faded out.
So much for the flickr badge idea. Dammit