Deserts and Vineyards

I usually suck at nature photography, so I was happy to capture this hummingbird on my camera on the hills near Paso Robles.

"We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold...", begins the gonzo classic Fear and loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson. As we entered California, crossing the Colorado river from Arizona, I thought that someone might have spiked my dinner with hallucinogenics. The outside thermometer of our rental car showed 102 Fahrenheit (39 Celsius) even though it was more than an hour after sunset. As I stopped the car outside our motel in Needles, CA, and opened the door, I realized there was nothing wrong with my senses or the thermometer. The June in Californian desert is hot, even at night.

The other distinctive feature of the desert are the freight trains. They can be seen in New Mexico and Arizona, too. Apparently they mostly transport goods from China onwards from U.S. west coast ports. I didn't manage to take any useful photos of them, but I captured the video below on my phone somewhere between Barstow and Paso Robles. Here, too, I missed the engines, and actually this was one of the shortest trains we saw.

The are two separate traffic history  museums on the old Barstow Railway Station, Western America Railroad Museum and Route 66 Museum. I dare to recommend them to those who generally enjoy such museums. The museums are run by enthusiastic volunteers, with low resources, and it shows at times. Best part is the outdoor area of the railroad museum with mighty diesel engines. I would have enjoyed it more in a less extreme heat.

There is, of course, a Ford model T in the Route 66 museum.

Santa Fe company's FP45 diesel engine from 1967.

It probably is a little stupid to complain about heat on a desert, but the temperatures really were extreme. A malfunction in the car's air conditioning would have been literally life-threatening. It was impossible to spend more than very short period of time outdoors.

On the hills between the desert and the Pacific Ocean in Paso Robles, a wealthy, pleasant American small town straight out of a Hollywood movie. There are a lot of vineyards in and around Paso Robles, like many other places in California. During last two decades or so wine tourism has developed into a big thing around the state. I am not an expert on wine, but the Paso Robles varieties we tasted were good. There are a lot of tasting rooms around town and many vineyards around it are open for visitors. Visiting them provides an excellent opportunity to spend a lot of money in a short time.

There's an actual Wild West saloon in Paso Robles, the Pine Street Saloon in a building that dates from 1857, Naturally, it is haunted.

For a few years now, the state of California has suffered from a drought of historical proportions. The situation is so severe that the governor proclaimed a state of emergency in January 2015. Around Paso Robles it was not hard to believe that the situation was indeed exceptional. Of course, I don't know what the vegetation normally looks like in June, but I would imagine there would be some green instead of brown and gray.

California is one of the world's most productive agricultural lands, and the drought has obviously hit the farmers badly. We saw many roadside signs demanding politicians "do something". I have to say I don't really know what, say, the governor of California could do, perhaps he should perform a rain dance?

We visited the Californian Desert and Paso Robles June 19th to 22nd 2015.

Not the Seven Cities of Gold

There's no such a concentration of ancient pueblo buildings in Zuni as in, for example, Acoma, but there are some traditional Adobe structures..

In late 16th century the Spanish had subdued most of present day Mexico under their power. For some reason, a rumor about Seven Cities of Gold began to spread among them. They were supposed to be found in the North, across a great desert. The first one to look for them was Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, who, however, never found them. Neither did anyone else, even though many have followed him during the centuries.

In New Mexico and Arizona we visited same parts where the Spanish conquistadors centuries earlier spread war, horror and destruction in their search for the Golden Cities. We didn't find any Cities of Gold, but seven places well worth visiting.

1. Inscription Rock Trading & Coffee Co

A recently shorn alpaca outside the cafe.

On our long drive from Acoma to Zuni Pueblo I felt an urgent need to drink coffee. Let's be honest: the coffee served in service stations in Finland is usually not good at all. However, it is far better than the disgusting goo that most roadside cafes in the U.S. torment their customers with. Of course, in big cities very good coffee is available, but now we were pretty close to Nowhere, New Mexico. I was fully prepared ensure my adequate caffeine intake with some disgusting, watery liquid.

Just east of El Morro National Monument (see below) we ran into a very pleasant surprise: a very nice couple serving excellent coffee in a most pleasing environment. In addition, outside the cafe there were two llamas and an alpaca.

2. El Morro National Monument

Steep walls of El Morro.

The summers of New Mexico are hot and dry. Historically, drinking water has been in short supply. A rock known as El Morro shelters the only water spring within miles. It is hardly surprising that passers-by have stopped here to fill their water containers for centuries, perhaps millennia.

In addition, the ancestors of the present-day Zuni built a small town on top of the hill in the 13th century. Archaeological evidence suggests that the settlement was abandoned relatively soon, even before the Spanish conquest. The inhabitants of that town did start a tradition that has continued to our days: making inscriptions in the soft sandstone of El Morro,

Ancient petroglyphs by the ancestral puebloans.

The Spanish embraced this tradition. Their first inscriptions date from early 17th century. The rock wall carries boastful descriptions of "pacification" of the pueblo peoples and other conquests. Some more modest travelers only inscribed their names, the date and the words paso por aqui, "passed by here". When the English-speaking Americans reached New Mexico in 19th century, they continued the tradition of inscriptions. Today, El Morro is a National Monument run by the National Park Service. As always, NPS does an excellent job providing information about the site and keeping the infrastructure in shape.

Boastful Spanish inscriptions.

El Morro spring.

3. Zuni Pueblo
The Zuni are an extraordinary people. Their language seems not to be related to any other language known to mankind, They are known, among other things, for their colorful and intricate ceremonies which combine a thousands of years old understanding of the Universe and the powers influencing it with Roman-Catholic christianity taught to the Zuni by the Spanish.

Earlier the Zuni have inhabited a vast area in several villages and towns. It is possible that the stories about "Cities of Gold" referred to their and other pueblo people's dwellings. After the Pueblo revolt of 1680 and the subsequent return of the Spanish most of the Zuni have lived in Zuni Pueblo, in western New Mexico.

The traditions of the Zuni have been a subject of active ethnographic research, and a number of books have been published on the subject. The Zuni have not always been too happy about it. At least some Zuni people think that some of their ceremonies are not meant to be observed by outsiders. Perhaps this is the reason that the Zuni are exceptionally reserved about photography. All photography within the pueblo is subject to permission, and for example inside the church no photography is allowed at all. However, photography is the only thing the Zuni are reserved about, they are equally as welcoming and friendly as other Americans.

Zuni Pueblo is not an impressive and beautiful place in a similar way as, for example, Acoma Pueblo. Old adobe buildings have disappeared, with the exception of the church (see below). The small but well-run A:shiwi A:wan -museum gets my recommendations. We were told that Zuni Pueblo is one of the best places for shopping for authentic Native American made arts and crafts. However, we didn't do any shopping, due to restrictions imposed by our schedule, budget and the airline luggage weight limits. The fuel prices were lowest we saw on our road trip.

4. Our Lady of Guadalupe Church

The church, built in 1629, was almost in ruins for a long time. It was renovated in 1960s.

I have visited quite a number of different churches. The Roman Catholic mission in Zuni Pueblo, built by the Spanish in 1629, is one of the most peculiar. Its walls are decorated with colorful murals that depict the traditional ceremonies of the Zuni. Reportedly, there were similar paintings already a long time ago, but the original ones were destroyed, when the church was abandoned for years. In 1970 Alex Seowtewa, a Zuni artist, decided to paint new murals. The project took several decades, but now there are murals depicting the Zuni winter solstice ceremonies on the northern wall, and summer solstice ceremonies on the southern wall.

The church can only be visited with a guide. We had the good fortune to get Ken Seowtewa, Alex Seowtewa's son, to present the church for us. He had helped his father in painting the walls, and had a lot of stories to tell and a wealth of information to share about the making of paintings (he even pointed out a Star Trek connection) and symbolism involving them, the history of the church and the culture of the Zuni. As explained by him, Zuni clan system is approximately similar to the one of the Acoma and the Navajo: the clan membership is determined by the mother. Among other things, the clan system has protected the Zuni from inbreeding, quite contrary to the traditions of European royal families which favored marriages among close relatives. Right after explaining this mr. Seowtewa apologized to us, as we were the only Europeans present. We told him there was no need to apologize, as Finland is a republic!

5. Inn at Halona
Most people who travel by car in the USA probably spend several nights at motels. So did we. Most motels are well kept and provide good value for money. However, the motels are also very like each other, there's not much to distinguish between them. We recommend trying different kinds of accommodation every now and then.

In Zuni Pueblo, Inn at Halona provides excellent accommodation. The old building has a special feeling to it, and the place is situated right in the center. The prices are only slightly higher than roadside motels, and include a truly remarkable breakfast. We recommend a local specialty, blue corn pancakes.

6. Petrified Forest National Park

Petrified wood.

A whole trunk of a petrified tree.

Long time ago, before the dinosaurs, a dense forest grew in what now is Eastern Arizona. Due to unique geological events, the trees did not molder after the forest died, but they were petrified and turned into jewel-like colorful stone. Nowadays the forest is aptly named Petrified Forest National Park.

A cactus in bloom.

In addition to weird stone trees there are other things to see in the park. About a thousand years ago the ancestral pueblo people built several small towns in the area. They were, however, abandoned already before the first contact with Europeans, probably because of a drought that destroyed their fields, and the inhabitants moved to more fertile parts. There is little left of their buildings, but there are some paintings made by them to be seen in Puerco Pueblo. One of them is said to indicate the exact moment of summer solstice. We visited the place slightly less than 48 hours too early to see that.

We were told the spiral-like symbol in the center of the picture is illuminated by the sun at the exact moment of summer solstice, and only then..

Puerco Pueblo petroglyphs.

Present-day Petrified Forest is not forest but desert. It is known as "Painted Desert" because of the colorful soil. We've visited quite a few places that felt otherworldly, like they were situated on a different planet than our home. This was one of those places.

Painted desert.

"Drove mys Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry..." - actually, we drove a Hyundai from Budget car rental.

As Petrified Forest is a U.S. National Park, there of course is a well-equipped informative visitor center with a museum and helpful, knowledgeable park rangers. There's an entrance fee, like most National Parks.

This Studebaker broke down on the historical route 66 before the Second World War and has stood in the middle of the desert ever since.

7. Mi Pueblo
On a U.S. road trip it is very difficult to avoid eating in fast food chains. When in Winlsow, Arizona, we recommend Mi Pueblo, an independent restaurant run by a family of Mexican origin. The food  was very tasty indeed, prices were reasonable and atmosphere cozy. Much nicer than most highway-side industrial fast food joints.

We were looking for Seven Cities of Gold on June 18th-19th 2015

The valley of Rocks

When approaching Monument Valley from Northeast on route 163, it seems to be mandatory to take a picture like this.

On the Arizona - Utah border, there is a place called Tse'Bii'Ndzisgaii, "The Valley of Rocks", one of the great natural wonders of Southwestern USA. The white man calls it Monument Valley. It is one of the most photographed places in the World, and has appeared in numerous movies, cartoons and games. That's no surprise, the sandstone formations look like Salvador Dali's feverish hallucinations, but they do exist, however difficult it is to believe in them.

Places like Monument Valley make a visitor - at least me - feel very, very small. The formation of the strange natural sandstone sculptures have taken millions of years, and not even stone is forever. What meaning can my temporal existence have compared to that?

"The mittens", left and right.

Monument Valley is administered by the Navajo Nation. From a visitor's point of view there is no significant difference to federally run national parks of the USA. There's an entrance fee and a visitor center and a small but nice museum with exhibitions on Monument Valley and Navajo history. The restaurant at the visitor center is less overpriced than I would have expected. There's also a shop where one can buy, among other things, art by Navajo artists, with a proof of authenticity. There's even a hotel within the Monument Valley area, but that was a bit too pricey for us, even though a sunrise and sunset seen from the balconies would, no doubt, been quite an experience.

We do not buy many souvenirs, but from Monument Valley we purchased this sand painting made by Navajo artist Anna Chee. In YouTube, there's a 1949 film about the making of a traditional sand painting (it's silent and the sand painting begins at 18:50, before that there are other interesting things like Monument Valley landscapes). 

In Navajo lands, there is a lot of very fine red sand. When it rains, the sand either turns to mud or flows away with the water. When we visited Monument Valley, it was baking under a merciless sun, but it had rained on the previous days. Conequently, the 17 mile gravel road in the valley had either turned to mud or flown away with the water, and we decided not to drive it. We did, however, visit the John Ford point, a vantage point named after the movie director known for his westerns.

Monument Valley has "played" the role of a foreign planet in many movies. No surprise.

In August 2015, as I wrote this, there was a miserable natural disaster going on near Monument Valley. More than 11 million liter (3 million US gallons) of waste water contaminated with heavy metals was accidentally released to San Juan river, to the north of Monument Valley. Many Navajo farmers rely for the river for irrigation water, and their crops are in danger when the water is unusable. Most of them are not particularly wealthy people to begin with, and their entire livelihood is endangered by the waste water spill.

We visited Monument Valley on June 15th 2015.

Horseshoe Bend & Antelope Canyon

Light and shadow in Antelope Canyon.

East of the Grand Canyon's Northern Rim the landscape changes rapidly. A Nordic like pine forest soon transforms to a hot desert, where strange sandstone formations rise over otherwise flat landscape. Less than two hours' drive from the Canyon is Navajo Bridge, the first bridge over the Colorado River east of Hoover Dam. The first bridge was built in 1929: before that, the river could only be crossed by a ferry, known as Lee's Ferry. Today there are not one but two bridges, the original one and the new bridge, built in 1995. Cars cross over the new bridge, the old one is used by pedestrians. Here the Colorado River is the border of Navajo Nation.

The New Navajo Bridge, picture taken from the old one.

A short distance northeast from the bridge, by route 89, lies Horseshoe Bend. This is one of the many natural phenomena in Arizona that are hard to believe in, even after seeing it with one's on eyes. The Colorado River makes a 270-degree turn around a sandstone rock. It's definitely worth stopping, if driving past. There's a parking lot by the route 89, and about half a mile walk to the bend itself from there. It's not a great distance, but feels much longer at least in the heat of June, climbing over a steep hill in soft red sand. By the way, most of Navajo lands seems to consist of that fine sand, and after your visit you will find it absolutely everywhere, including but not limited to your shoes, clothes and luggage weeks after returning home.

A fish-eye lens view of the Horseshoe bend. With conventional lenses I could not get a full view. I suffer from vertigo and there was absolutely no chance to get closer to the edge of the cliff..

A lizard runs away from the photographer in red sand.

Some twenty more minutes drive from Horseshoe Bend is yet another astonishing place, whose existence seems to go against reason and laws of nature, namely Antelope Canyon. Actually there are two of them, Upper and Lower Antelope Canyons. We visited the upper one. The lower one looks quite similar, if the pictures I've seen are to be believed. Both are administered by Navajo Nation parks. They can only be visited on a guided tour, and prices are a bit steep: the two of us paid almost 100 dollars.

Entrance to the Upper Antelope Canyon.

It was well worth the price, though, as the Canyon is very impressive. Not surprisingly, it is also very popular, and I have to say that it was a bit too crowded. With fewer visitors - a lot fewer - it would have been far more enjoyable. Of course, it's rather hypocritical for me to complain about it, as I was a part of the crowd. I strongly recommend timing your visit outside of holiday season, to a weekday and early morning, if at all possible.

The crowded Canyon.

Anyway, the light and shadow was an incredible sight.

Sandstone formations seemed surreal.

They say the light in the canyon is very different in the morning than in the evening - makes sense. Our visit was in early afternoon.

Our guide Shanderee Laughter demonstrating how the sandstone formations and Antelope Canyon came to be.

There's a far less pleasant landscape within sight of the Antelope Canyon, an enormous coal plant, the Navajo Generating Station. The plant and Kayenta coal mine are economically vital to Navajo Nation, providing money and jobs to a region suffering from high unemployment. On the other hand, the plant is the third largest source of carbon dioxide emissions in all of United States. The mines have caused, and continue to cause, serious environmental damage. Many think that the wealth and problems generated by the coal business are not distributed in a just and equal way.

The gigantic chimneys of Navajo Generating Station.

Below, a document about the Navajo coal business.

We visited Horseshoe Bend & Antelope Canyon on June 14th 2015

Surrounded by Sacred Mountains

A Mesa on sunset. This is a typical landscape in the land bordered by the Sacred Mountains.

East of Grand Canyon is the homeland of the Navajo, who call themselves Diné, "the People". According to their own traditional origin story, the Creator has told them to live in their land bordered by four Sacred Mountains. Most of this land is today included in Navajo Nation, a self-governed territory of the Navajo. It occupies parts of three U.S. States, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

On our travels we prefer small private accommodations over chain hotels. For example the "Grandma accommodations" in the Balkans and small B&B's in Ireland offer great deals in regards to price, quality and, above all, ambience. This time we spent two nights on a farm near Many Farms village. We booked it through Airbnb. The place was rather basic - earth floor and no running water, but functioning WiFi. During our short visit we got at least some insight into modern day life among the Navajo, much more than we would have had we stayed in a roadside motel.

We stayed in a hogan, a traditional Navajo dwelling. The Arizona summer was hot, but even during the day the hogan remained reasonably cool. As the farm was situated in a high elevation on a mesa, it got almost chilly at night. We didn't need the wood-burning stove for heating, though, but I'm sure it's necessary in winter.

Hogan from the inside...

...and from the outside. This is a "female" hogan: a "male" one has a porch-like extension in front of the entrance. "Female" hogans are for accommodation, "male" hogans for ceremonial purposes. The entrance always faces east and the rising sun.

Our hogan was equipped with all necessary things for accommodation, but also with travel guides and books on the Navajo and their land. The surrounding landscape was incredibly beautiful. We took a walk in the evening, to a small canyon situated literally on the back yard, and were accompanied by our host's two friendly dogs. When it got dark, we got to see the stars without any disturbing artificial light. My personal highlight of our four-week trip was a morning coffee sitting in front of the hogan, the dogs and horses keeping me company, while Jóhonaa'éí (the Sun, literally "He who rules the day"), rose from behind  a mesa.

We don't have a canyon like this in our back yard.

Blossoming cacti neither.

As an urban dweller I am unaccustomed to the company of white horses when I'm having my morning coffee.

"...the indian sun is rising instead of going down..." (Johnny Cash: Navajo)

Navajo Nation is the largest self-governing Native American territory in the United States. According to official statistics the Navajo are the second most populous Native people. They are more than 300 000, majority of whom speak Navajo at home. It seems that the existence of the Navajo as a nation is secure. I think it can be stated that they have been more successful in dealing with settlers from Europe than many other Native American peoples.

However, there are many tragic and horrible chapters in the history of the Navajo. The most sinister probably is "The Long Walk", a forced relocation by the U.S. Military to Bosque Redondo reservation in New Mexico in 1864-1866. The conditions in badly overcrowded reservation and on the way there were unbearable. Thousands died of hunger and disease. The relocation caused also spiritual suffering, since according to their traditional beliefs the Navajo were meant to live in the land the Creator gave them, the land bordered by the four Sacred Mountains, and it would be impossible for them to succeed elsewhere. In 1868 the Navajo leaders managed to negotiate a treaty granting them the right to return home. This is exceptional in the story of the United States, land once taken from Native Americans has not often been returned.

A historical hogan in the Canyon de Chelly visitor center.

There is also another interesting chapter in Navajo history connected to the U.S. Military. During the Second World War young Navajo men were drafted to signal troops an deployed on the Pacific front. Based on their complicated mother tongue, they created a radio signal code which the Japanese were never able to break. The impact of the "Code Talkers" to the outcome of the war was significant, and their effort for the United States is a great source of pride for many Navajos even today. There were Code Talkers from other Native American peoples, too, but the Navajo were by far the biggest and consequently most influential group.

Navajo code explained in the Monument Valley museum.

Today the Code Talkers are remembered as national heroes, but during the war they were treated as second-class citizens. For example, in New Mexico the Native Americans were banned from voting until 1962. Most Navajos of the Code Talkers' generation were educated in Federal Indian Schools. There they were prohibited from speaking languages other than English. As schoolchildren they might have been beaten for speaking their own language. As adults they were awarded medals for it. Oh, the irony of history.

From a traveler's point of view, the Navajo Nation isn't that different from other regions of the Southwest United States. The small towns are no different than others in Arizona, Utah or New Mexico. However, alcohol is prohibited, like in most other Native American-governed areas. Spoken Navajo can be heard sometimes, also on  radio, but English is far more common. Like all Americans, the Navajos we talked to were very polite, helpful and friendly, and wanted to know where we are from. In one respect they were a little different than most other Americans: the Navajo generally speak less loudly. I understand that needlessly rising one's voice is considered impolite.

There's one thing connected to the Navajo self-government that may cause confusion fo the tourist. In the USA, the states can decide many things themselves, for example whether to observe the daylight saving time or not. Arizona doesn't, but the Navajo Nation does. Consequently, the Navajo are an our ahead of the rest of Arizona in the summer, but at the same time as all of Utah and New Mexico. As if that wasn't complicated enough, the Hopi, whose lands are completely surrounded by the Navajo Nation, observe the Arizona time. Make sure you consider this when asking about opening times and such!

The fusion of Navajo traditions and modern popular culture has created some interesting results, such as  Navajo Metal and a Navajo-language version of the original Star Wars movie. Generally speakin, I couldn't care less about any beauty contest, but I do respect Miss Navajo Nation, who has to prove her skills in sheep butchering, among other things. To people interested in contemporary Navajo culture, I recommend Jim Kristofic's book Navajos wear Nikes, which is also available as an e-book from  Amazon. And of course, travel to Navajo lands and see it yourself!

We visited the land bordered by the four Sacred Mountains from June 14th  to 17th 2015.

Loathing in Las Vegas

A miniature Eiffel tower. Blah.

"It's very tacky here."
- my wife on Las Vegas, after approximately 8 minutes in the city.

I didn't like Las Vegas at all. I admit that I had a strong prejudice against it and didn't give the city a fair chance. Actually we only stopped in Las Vegas because it was a convenient place to spend a night driving from California to Grand Canyon. That, and we had to see it once, didn't we?

I am not interested in gambling, and like to drink my alcoholic and other beverages in cozy pubs rather than gigantic nightclubs. A plastic and neon complex, its existence based on Nevada's lax legislation on gambling, alcohol, marriage and divorce, built in a middle of desert, is not an appealing concept to me.

We spent one night in Las Vegas, and the things I best remembe are:

• A casino-hotel-restaurant complex next to our motel. It's name was a colloquial expression for woman's breasts.
• A black hotel modeled after an Egyptian pyramid, shooting a ray of light towards the sky from the top.
• A plastic imitation of Paris, a plastic imitation of New York and a plastic imitation of Venice ("plastic" used figuratively here, I know that they are not actually made of plastic).
• A flyer I was given on Las Vegas Strip. It suggested that we should visit a night club show where scantily clad young women shot heavy machine guns. We didn't.

I found Las Vegas repulsive. However, I understand that this is because of my personal tastes and preferences. Obviously many people enjoy the city, good for them.

Of course, I could have found things in Las Vegas that are interesting to me. There's a wide variety of cultural activities, museums and theaters, that I would probably have enjoyed and I could have spent a nice couple of days in the city. However, the number of days we could spend on our trip was limited, and I chose to spend those days elsewhere. I believe this was the right decision for me. (Sidenote from Marja: It was. For both of us.)

Leaving Las Vegas, we saw a gold-plated hotel, owned by Donald Trump, in the rear mirror. I stepped on the gas pedal to make it disappear.

We stopped in Las Vegas June 11th and 12th 2015.

In the Valley of Death

The road to the basementt of the World. Well, basement of North America anyway.

Death Valley National Park on the California-Nevada border is a hot place. In July the daily average high temperature is devastating 46.9 centigrade, 116.5 Fahrenheit. The lowest point of North America, Badwater Basin, 86 meter or 282 feet under sea level, is situated in Death Valley. It's one of the least rainy places on Earth.

Mesquite sand dunes.

Mesquite sand dunes.

I am no fan of very warm weather. Even Finnish summer heat may be too much for me. Death Valley was excessively over-the-top too much. The only thing I was capable of was to stop the car, snap a picture or two, escape to the air-conditioned car and gulp down a pint of water. The landscape was very different than anything I've seen anywhere else. The drive through Death Valley felt unreal, like a trip to another planet or a feverish nightmare.

Out-of-this-world landscapes.

Death Valley is not completely dead. Even on the floor of the valley there are plants growing and lizards running between rocks. Incredible as it may be, there are also people who call Death Valley home. The Timbisha Shoshone have made a living in the extreme conditions for more than a thousand years. A powerful example of human persistence indeed.

A powerful example of the weirdness of babies: a baby sitting in the scorching ground, happily playing with sand, and reacting with vehement "no, no" when his or her dad suggested leaving.

We drove through Death Valleyn on June 11th 2015.

Manzanar

One observation tower is standing, but that one is a replica from 2005, too.

In the Californian Desert west from Sierra Nevada the summer temperatures can reach nightmarish heights. The shade temperature frequently rises over 40 centigrades (104 Fahrenheit) - but shade is nowhere to be found, with nothing but knee-high shrubs growing as far as the eye can see. Thankfully, our rental car was equipped with air conditioning and we did bring plenty of water to drink. In the middle of the desert, between the small towns of Lone Pine and Independence, not far from Death Valley National Park, lies perhaps the worst place in the desert: Manzanar.

During the Second World War more than 10000 Japanese-Americans were forcefully relocated from the Californian coast, most of them from Los Angeles and around, to "Manzanar War Relocation Center", a small square area in the middle of the desert, to cramped barracks behind barbed wire. All told, over 100000 Americans of Japanese ancestry were relocated to Manzanar and other camps like it. The majority were citizens of the United States. Not single one of them was ever prosecuted for co-operation with the enemy. Thousands of young Japanese Americans fought in the armed forces of USA at the same time as their families were effectively imprisoned in inhumane conditions under a merciless sun. A more detailed history of Manzanar can be found, for example, in Wikipedia.

The exhibition building, originally Manzanar school auditorium. On the foregroud a firetruck from 1940s.

In 1992 Manzanar was designated a National Historic Site, a preserved area administered by the Federal Government of the United States. It is run by National Park Service, which does an excellent job here, too. There is a very informative and emotional, yet dispassionate exhibition in the only building left from the relocation camp time. I remember particularly well an example of the way the grown-ups ruin everything. "White" students from the nearby Owens Valley school once wanted to play a friendly basketball game against Manzanar school team. Unfortunately, the Owens Valley school board vetoed this idea, even though every student in both schools signed an appeal for a permission to play!

A home plate from Manzanar baseball fiedl, c. 1943. I find it rather ironic that the residents in Manzanar were keen of the most Amreican of all sports.

Without downplaying the burden of those who had to live in Manzanar, it is important to understand that it never was a similar concentration camp as those that existed at the same time in for example Germany and Soviet Union for extermination of people that the authorities deemed undesirable. No one was deliberately killed in Manzanar, there were few instances of physical violence, and at least basic health care and nutrition needs were taken care of. This doesn't mean that what happened was right. Just because even more horrible atrocities were being committed elsewhere at the same time, doesn't mean that the relocation of Japanese-Americans wasn't downright criminal. In his apology to those relocated, President Reagan more or less agreed.

People of my generation may be familiar with the relocation of Japanese-Americans from the first Karate Kid movie. In what to me is the most powerful scene in the movie Mr. Miyagi, drunk, remembers his wife who died of child-birth in Manzanar. A clip of the scene below (starts at 2:48).

Pat Morita, who played Mr. Miyagi was born in Isleton California in 1932 and a US citizen. Nevertheless, he spent a part of his childhood in a relocation center in Gila River, Arizona. Another famous American of Japanese descent, George Takei, spent the years from 1942 to the end of the war in Rohwer War Relocation Center in Arkansas and Tula Lake in California.

Manzanar is not a place to leave the visitor in high spirits. Because good food makes everything better, a decent remedy would be a visit to Lone Pine, about ten miles south of Manzanar. In the corner of Main Street and Mountain View Street the restaurant Bonanza has amazing guacamole and the best pico de gallo either of us has ever had.

We visited Manzanar on June 11th 2015.