Wednesday there was, what Bakersfield, CA, calls a "storm" - it wasn't enough to completely wet the ground, but combined with the blowing dust that accompanied the storm, it did make a mess. The car was so dirty it was almost embarrassing, but it looked like everyone else's car, so we headed out. We did some shopping (we are across the street from Costco). We really appreciate the convenience of the big stores after staying in so many small towns with little or no choice for shopping. The rest of the day was devoted to relaxing, reading and surfing the Internet.
I spent some time Thursday cleaning up the car and then went on to clean up the coach some. I say some because I still cannot completely clean it without spending several days on it. Just as I was calling it quits, Maggie and Jim stopped for a visit. They took us to lunch at Dickies Barbecue (one of our favorites!) - Thank-you guys. We reminisced about the "old days" and ate until we were in danger of exploding. Afterward, they drove us around and showed us some of the old downtown area of Bakersfield.
Friday we ventured out on our own. We parked outside the old Woolworth's building and walked around the town. Joani found a few Art Deco buildings to photograph.
The Woolworth's building, upstairs and down, was packed with antiques. They had a 1950's vintage lunch counter where we had some excellent hamburgers and fries.
With a name like "Tool's-N-Thangs" I had to look inside. It was a pawn shop and fortunately, there was nothing that I just had to have.
Fox Theater (1930) 2001 H St.
Not far from the downtown area was the Kern County Museum. It was a collection of buildings (donated over time) from the town's history. Most of them were more than 100 years old. There were individual houses and business buildings, including a General Store, a Doctor's Office, Drug Store, School, Train Depot and many, many more. They were setting up for an antique flea market on Saturday, so we had to dodge a few trucks as we roamed the grounds.
Kern County Museum (on our ASTC list)
Barnes Log Cabin, one of the oldest buildings in the museum, built-in 1868. It was donated and moved here in 1946. The Barnes family of NINE lived in this cabin.
Inside the caboose.
Inside the 1882 schoolhouse, moved to this location in 1952.
In the "Black Gold" exhibit, you take a ride in a diving bell to the bottom of the ocean and then it drills down through the ground until you reach oil. I have to say I learned a lot about the oil industry in this very nice exhibit.
The diving bell felt very realistic, on par with a Disney ride!
It said this was to scale, but David is having a hard time believing it.
This exhibit was the reason this museum was part of our science museum reciprocal free-admission
program (ASTC).
The plaque on the clock tower above.
The museum closed at 5:00 and we decided it was time to head back to the coach and relax for the evening.
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