rupert_s

So after spending a couple of nights Curry Village in Yosemite we're heading down to Big Bear Lake and are looking for somewhere to stay en-route.

As its three 30-something men on tour, something lively such as bar with live music to keep us out of trouble would suit..we were thinking in the Frensno area...

Any ideas folks?

mlshanks

Fresno leaves most of the drive for the second day. (roughly 90 of 400 miles)

I'd think about Bakersfield... (roughly halfway)

Can't say as I think of either town much for it's nightlife... Which I'd associate with Los Angeles or SFO, but doubtless you should be able to find a bar or club w/ live music in either.

Try Yelp.com and search for "[community name] nightlife"

RichardInSF

There's always that Buck Owens place in Bakersfield.

http://www.buckowens.com/index2.html

Never been, never expect to go, but it might be a possibility....

SoCal

What time of year? Do you want scenery? Is "nightlife" a necessity for that night? You could do the whole drive in one long (not extremely long) day, so I assume you want short drives. It also means that going not quite half way or more than half way one day won't make a huge difference. You'd end up with two fairly short drives for each day.

-Taking Hwy. 99 south to Bakersfield, then Hwy. 58 over Tehachapi Pass to Hwy. 395 south, etc., would be an easy drive. Boring, but easy. Bakersfield is known for country music, but I imagine you could find other types.

-The most scenic route, by far, would be to drive over Tioga Pass in Yosemite (closed by snow in winter) to Hwy. 395, and south from there. The scenery is so great I'd opt for it even if it means one quiet evening. The "liveliest" place along the way would likely be Mammoth Lakes (ski resort in winter, a bit quieter but still active in summer), though that would make for a short day the first day (unless you make side trips, such as to Bodie State Park--ghost town). There are several other towns, such as Bishop, further south (might be quiet nightlife, but if you ask the locals I'm sure they can direct you to anyplace with music, etc.). Then an easy drive into Big Bear. BTW, 395 passes near the old mining towns of Johannesburg and Randsburg; the latter has the White House Saloon and Floozy House.

Note: in earlier post, I think the poster was meaning the city of San Francisco, though SFO is actually the designation for the airport, south of the city.

rupert_s

Thanks for all the responses, we are travelling on October 9th (so not far away now). I think we're going to go with skoenig's plan...

The Tioga Pass & the 395 look a great option - and with the weather expected to be pretty darn hot I don't think snow will be an issue!

According to google maps the scenic route only adds 20minutes on to the journey time which we can happily accommodate.

Thanks all

SoCal

Not that you'd have time for all of them, but you might do an Internet search of some places to see if want to add them to your itinerary, such as:
-Bodie State Park (ghost town).
-Mono Lake
-Hot Creek (near Mammoth).
-Bristlecone Pines (oldest living things, or at least the oldest tree), east of Big Pine.
-Manzanar National Historic Site.
-Red Rock Canyon State Park.

I've been in the area in October, and it will likely be much cooler than the record high temps currently in Southern California, but snow probably not a concern.

RichardInSF

Bodie is about a 15 mile drive each way on a graded, but dirt, road. I found Bodie to be mostly full of campers/trailers when I went but maybe October is enough off-season that it won't be so bad. I'd be inclined to skip it but then I tend to go to real ghost towns.

Mono Lake, Manzanar, and Red Rock Canyon are close to the highway. Bristlecone Pines is interesting but it is a detour. You will be driving at around 11,000 feet when you get there, that is interesting in itself.

SoCal

Bodie is a "real" ghost town. Not a remake. Not restored. It's in a state of "arrested decay" (they haven't restored it but prevent it from decaying further). 10,000 people lived there at one point. The road into Bodie from Hwy. 395 is paved for about 10 miles and then graded dirt for the last 3 (always a good idea to ask about road conditions locally in case a storm has damaged the road). There is (or at least was) an all-dirt road from Hwy. 167. You can look at the Web site at http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=509 and see if Bodie's for you. I agree it's not for everyone. I enjoyed it, more than once. My wife was less than thrilled. You can find ghost towns that are even more given-up-for-ghost (I've been to several), though many are in far worse states of disrepair. Randsburg, near Red Rock Canyon, is interesting but not a ghost town.

RichardInSF

10,000 people may have lived there at one time, but when I visited, there were 10,000 RV's in the campground. OK, a slight exaggeration for dramatic effect, but one of the nice things about real ghost towns is, well, hardly anyone is there.

Bodie would be fine if not crowded but as a State Park, it gets a lot of publicity relative to the places where the decay is not so arrested.

Still would be worth a visit if you haven't seen a ghost town before. Rhyolite near Death Valley is similar in concept.

SoCal

The last time I was in Bodie was in mid-October, and it wasn't crowded, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be when OP visits. I've been to some very uncrowded ghost towns, but many are either hard to get to (e.g., requiring 4WD) and/or are unprotected by rangers or police so buildings, etc. get carted off by souvenir hunters. I've been to Rhyolite several times. Fewer buildings and, overall, less interesting than Bodie IMHO, but worth a stop if one's in the area. My late father did research on the Death Valley 49ers and took me to many ghost towns. One of the best was Rawhide, Nevada, but I heard nothing is left now. One he visited on his own was Aurora, several miles from Bodie. Mark Twain worked there are one point. I don't think a passenger car could get there, and by now I doubt there's much, if anything, left.

rupert_s

Currently in the HIX in Bishop. We took the 120 across which has most amazing views - excellent recommendation. We were lucky as it had been closed earlier in the week because of snow and opened just yesterday.

Brodie was interesting - if you go make sure you buy the US$2 guide. To get there it was 10 miles of paved road and 3 miles unpaved - our rented RAV4 made it fine.

On tomorrow to Big Bear Lake.

Thanks all.

abmj-jr

As you pass through the little town of Lone Pine, look to the west for a pretty nice view of the Sierra crest and Mount Whitney - the highest point in the lower 48 states. Without a map or guide you won't be able to pick it out as other peaks of the crest look higher from the highway but it will be there. The reddish foothills between the highway and the real mountains are the Alabama Hills where many Hollywood westerns were shot.

If you have time, stop in at the interagency tourist information office for a minute.

azepine00

As you head south you'll pass near Mojave and Victorville airports where airlines mothball unused planes.

BTW (if this is your first trip here) after seeing Sierra mountains Big Bear Lake will not look particularly attractive...

rupert_s

We did pull up a dirt track on the west side of Victorville airport (now looking a google maps we might have been better on the east side) - there's a mount of dirt which gives view across the airfield, near by there were a number of (what appeared to be) retired Qantas 747's parked up as well as a variety of other planes from UA, BA & NW.

At the actual airport there was some activity with a 787 & a 747 both in Boeing livery on the apron.

chanp

I m away right now, but if I was in town, I d have shown you a great time in fresno and that would have been my suggestion.