California's Best Trips 2 - Full PDF eBook

Mon-Sat) to get all kinds of

imported Swedish food

and gifts (yes, they have

Viking hats). Kingsburg

also produces raisins...a

lot of raisins. Heading

just north of town on

Golden State Blvd, you’ll

find the Sun Maid Raisin

Store (13525 S. Bethel Ave;

h9:30-5pm Mon-Fri), where

you can get all kinds

of dried fruit and snap

classic road-trip photos

in front of the giant

raisin box.

5 p267

The Drive » Back out to Hwy

99 and 30 minutes further south

is Tulare.

7 Tulare

Tulare is another small

agricultural hub and

one-time headquarters of

Southern Pacific railroad.

Now the biggest news in

town is the International

Agri-Center (%559-688-

1751; http://www.farmshow.org; 4450

S Laspina St, Tulare; half-/

full-day farm tours $15/$25;

hby appointment; c) and

its annual World Ag

Expo, held in February.

Native son David Watte

offers half-day tours of

local farms through the

Agri-Center year around.

Want to wander through

fields of black-eyed beans

or under shady almond

trees? Watte is your

man. He hosts groups of

growers from other parts

of the world and any city

slickers looking to, in

his own words, ‘stop and

kick the tires a little bit.’

His own family farm – all

4000 acres of it – grows

dairy feed and cotton.

5 p267

The Drive » In the hour that it

takes to drive to Bakersfield, the

landscape is dotted by evidence

of California’s other gold rush:

rusting rigs alongside the route

that continue to burrow into

Southern California’s vast oil

fields.

8 Bakersfield

The children of tough-

as-nails ‘Oakies’ (people

from Oklahoma) arrived

in Bakersfield to work the

derricks and minted the

‘Bakersfield Sound’ in

the mid-1950s. The poorly

mannered child of western

swing, Bakersfield’s brand

of country waved a defiant

middle finger to the silky

country of Nashville.

Its heroes Buck Owens

and Merle Haggard have

streets named after them.

Learn about them at

the musty Kern County

Museum (%661-852-5000;

http://www.kcmuseum.org; 3801

Chester Ave, Bakersfield; adult/

child $8/5; h10am-5pm Mon-

Sat, noon-5pm Sun; c). The

music memorabilia on the

second floor includes the

gold lamé stage gear of

Bonnie Owens, the first

lady of Bakersfield. She

chalked up marriages

to Buck (who supplied

her surname) and Merle

Haggard.

At night, check out

Buck Owens’ Crystal

Palace (%661-328-7560;

http://www.buckowens.com; 2800

Buck Owens Blvd, Bakersfield;

mains $8-25; hrestaurant 5pm-

midnight Mon-Sat, 9:30am-2pm

Sun). Part music museum,

part honky-tonk, part

steakhouse, the Palace has

a top-drawer country act

every night. Check out the

1974 Pontiac convertible

mounted behind the bar.

Designed by rhinestone

cowboy clothier Nudie

Cohn, it’s decorated with

six-shooter door handles

and a hand-tooled leather

interior and is studded

with silver dollars.

According to lore, Buck

won it off Elvis Presley in

a poker game.

54 p267

TRIP HIGHLIGHT

Some of the best places for music were surrounding

towns like Farmersville – little places with no air-

conditioning, no TV. Folks would come outside and

drink beer and play guitar, and kids would play in the

yard. You’d hear twangs from Texas, Oklahoma and

Arkansas. That became the ‘Bakersfield Sound.’

Gerald Haslam, Oildale, CA

THE BAKERSFIELD

SOUND

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE:

CENTRAL.CALIFORNIA.

25

(^) HIGHWAY 99 THROUGH CENTRAL VALLEY