Oh no, it's Whiskey Flat Days!

Yesterday we decided that if we wanted to see any more snow this year, we'd better go now, since it seems to be getting warmer every day. Our plan was to drive to Kernville, have lunch at the diner there, and then continue on to the Shirley Meadows ski area. Shirley Meadows is closed due to lack of snow, but we thought there might be enough around for sledding.

As we were driving up around Lake Isabella, we were passed by a large group of old classic cars. "It must be a classic car club, out for a drive," I guessed. But then, as we drove through the outskirts of Kernville, we saw regular cars parked all up and down the side of the road, and people walking along the road too. Parade floats. Carnival rides. People dressed up in old-fashioned clothes. "What is going on?"

What was going on (I'll cut to the chase) was Whiskey Flat Days, an annual extravaganza that celebrates the Old West days of Kernville and its environs, before there was a Lake Isabella. I'd heard of it, but had forgotten it's held on Presidents Day weekend. Thank you Ridgecrest newspapers, for not mentioning it.

We crawled along in traffic (normally Kernville has almost no traffic). The roads were lined with people. The restaurant we had planned to go to is behind all the tents in the photo above. Oh well. No place to park anyway.

We finally got out of town and headed south to Wofford Heights. We'd never noticed a restaurant there, but maybe... yes! There was a restaurant. We almost missed it, but pulled over just in time. The Chatterbox Cafe. They were busy (perhaps full of Whiskey Flat escapees, like us), but eventually we got served. Quite good food! We would definitely go back if the occasion presented itself.

After lunch we turned right on Highway 155 and headed northwest to Shirley Meadows. At first there was no sign of snow, but as we got closer we finally saw some. Still, it was pretty bare for a ski resort. We parked and got out and walked around a bit.

The kids didn't want to wear warm coats or mittens, so they got cold quickly. Baby B slipped down a snowy hillside and had to scramble back up bare-handed.... he came back to the car crying and I had to read a Ms. Frizzle book (The Magic School Bus: In the Time of the Dinosaurs) to him to calm him down. Pretty soon we gave up on Shirley Meadows and drove down the hill to where Rocket Boy had seen a hill that looked sled-able. Oh yes! Very sled-able!

At first the kids did not want anything more to do with snow. So Rocket Boy climbed the hill and went down on the sled himself. This looked like so much fun that Baby A and then finally Baby B agreed to do it with him. They each went down a few times, but then they were too cold and climbed back in the car for more of Ms. Frizzle. Rocket Boy was disappointed in them.

"It's OK," I told him. "Next year we'll be back in Boulder and they'll learn to love snow and sledding. We'll just take it slow. It'll be OK."

We went back to the Chatterbox Cafe for pie, and then drove on home to Ridgecrest (avoiding Kernville this time).

Now they're saying we're going to have rain and possibly snow on Tuesday and Wednesday. Maybe that wasn't our last chance for the year?