It was St. Patrick's Day, and a good day for a drive with the Citronistas. And a day that prooved that Mother Nature is clearly Irish.
See, we planned to go to the Antelope Valley Poppy Preserve and view the vast carpet of California Poppies. No such luck! Mother Nature decreed that on St. Patrick's Day, viewing ORANGE flowers was not gonna happen! We were treated instead to fields of GREEN from the recent rains in SoCal. Good Auld Mother Nature!
We even had a pair of passengers: Peggy, Marianne's sister and her dog Baxter. She was surprised at the comfort and room of the backseat and Baxter was a wonderful passenger.
Despite that, we all had a great drive. We met at a place in Newhall called "Eggs 'n' Things" for breakfast. www.eggsnthings.net Constant Reader may remember, years ago we began a Drive there and the place STILL has excellent breakfast. Word of Warning: Get there EARLY, esp. on a weekend. We arrived about 8:30 and were seated immediatly. By the time we'd finished, the line was out the door and the lot was full!
It was built in 1924 by William Mullholland, the man that made SoCal possible after he and the MWD ripped off the Owens Valley of all their water. This dam was to be a resivor/hydoelectric dam. Trouble was, it was built on an "inactive" fault. When they began to fill it, water began seeping throught the fault. Billy M. ordered it patched, but it didn't work. Two years later, at two minutes to midnight, on March 12 (coincidence with our drive? I think not) the dam burst, sending a wall of water all the way to Ventura, killing 432 people (64 of whom were workers and their families putting up the power sation downstream) and flooding Filmore and Santa Paula.
I've pointed this out before, but there is a statue near the old Santa Paula train station of a pair of motorcycle cops. This is a tribure to the pair who, upon getting word of the approaching wall of water, fired up their Indians and alerted the town. Almost all the residents were able to get to higher ground and safety. You can still see some of the remnants of the dam.
From there it was up over the hill towards Elizabeth Lake, thence to the Poppy Preserve, and no flowers. Bummer. When in full bloom, it's amazing! Acres of orange flowers spreading like a carpet over the hillsides. Parking is $10 and they have potties and an interpretive center. Don't get there too early, as the poppies don't open up until mid-mornting. https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=627
Disapponted, we turned around and jumped over the hill from Willow Springs to Tehachapi and lunch at Kohnen's Country Bakery (www.kohnenscountrybakery.com). This place is GREAT. We had the MASSIVE Poor Boy. They SAY it's enough for two, more likely four. This sandwich was on a 12" diameter loaf of shepard's bread and piled with coldcuts. We saved 1/4 of it for dinner that night!
Now, we used to eat at the Village Grill, but the quality has dropped...a lot. We also tried the Red Barn BBQ and were underwhelmed. Still, it was a lot of fun, the weather was perfect (it wasn't even windy!) and the cruise home went smoothly.
Now, bring on the Guinness! AND I'll have a youtube video up soon, so you can ride along with us.
As for directions, you CAN use your GPS from Eggs 'n' Things as it probably won't send you on the freeway until you want to go home. But in any case here's the written ones:
Citroen Car Club St. Patrick’s Day Wild Flower Tour
17 March 2024
Meet at:
Eggs ’n’ Things Valencia
27560 Newhall Ranch Rd.
Santa Clarita
1 hr 33 min (73.1 miles) to Tehachapi and lunch, 90 miles or so back to start.
1. From parking lot, Turn right onto Dickason Dr 0.4 mi
2. Use the 2nd from the right lane to turn right onto Decoro Dr 0.3 mi
3. Continue straight to stay on Decoro Dr 0.2 mi
4. Use the left 2 lanes to turn left onto McBean Pkwy 1.3 mi
5. Use the right 2 lanes to turn right onto Copper Hill Dr 0.4 mi
6. Turn left onto San Francisquito Canyon Rd 6.0 mi
7. Turn right to stay on San Francisquito Canyon Rd 1.2 mi
8. About a mile past the San Francisquito Power Station, meet at the St. Francis Dam Disaster Site for another history lesson 10.0 mi
9. Head northeast on San Francisquito Canyon Rd 11.8 mi
10. Turn left onto Elizabeth Lake Rd 0.8 mi
11. Turn left to stay on Elizabeth Lake Rd 1.2 mi
12. Turn right onto Munz Ranch Rd 4.4 mi
13. Turn left onto Fairmont-Neenach Rd 1.1 mi
14. Continue onto Lancaster Rd
Destination will be on the right 1.8 mi
Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve
15101 Lancaster Rd, Lancaster, CA 93536
This is a state park, so there is an admission charge!!!!
15. Head east on Lancaster Rd toward 150th St W 1.8 mi
16. Continue onto Fairmont-Neenach Rd 1.6 mi
17. Continue onto 120th St W/Lancaster Rd 0.5 mi
18. Continue onto W Ave I 1.0 mi
19. Turn left onto 110th St W 5.0 mi
20. Turn right onto CA-138 E 2.0 mi
21. Turn left onto 90th St W 12.1 mi
22. Continue onto Tehachapi Willow Springs Rd 14.8 mi
23. Turn left onto E Tehachapi Blvd
24. Destination will be on the right 3.0 mi
Kohnen’s Country Bakery
125 W. Tehachapi Blvd.
Tehachapi, CA
49 min (41.9 mi)
There is also a neat Railroad Museum (of course) next to the restaurant.
There are other places to eat in Tehachapi if you wish.
To get home: East on CA 58, South on CA 14, S I-5
