Macabre Blog – Talking about Wickedly Decadent items

The Macabre staff decided to go for a drive toward California … just because.
Then we had the idea that the route should take us to Joshua Tree and then we said – “Why not go camping?” Media Minion was there once 30 years ago with two friends so it would be like reliving his youth.
Heck, it’s summer, it’s the desert, what could possibly go wrong?

We mapped out a simple route down US 95 which all the maps showed as connecting to Rt 62 which made it a simple straight shot – that wasn’t quite right though.
We found out that where 95 intersects I40 the road suddenly turns into a gravel road and abruptly ends at a sign declaring that we are at the Heart of the Mojave. Media Minion checked his GPS again and yes, it showed us on 95 and showed the road going onward. Look at the picture…. there’s NO ROAD, just desert. So we detoured.

This was a good thing, we traveled down some small roads and along old Route 66 for a bit and even saw Roy’s Motel and Cafe

There are Route 66 signs painted on the highway in front of the cafe – people were clustered there taking pictures.
Let me repeat that – signs painted on the HIGHWAY and people TAKING PICTURES in the road. We managed to swerve around the kneeling idiots and not turn them into road pizza. They didn’t seem to care that cars were whizzing toward them at 65 MPH. Somehow, no one was killed.
We really don’t understand how Darwin didn’t claim these people.

We finally reached Joshua Tree. It was much cooler than Vegas, comfortable in fact. Media Minion went bouldering and we hung out. The boulders are neat, one of them is Skull Rock, which looks a LOT like a skull.
We saw some bunnies, squirrels, and chipmunks running around the boulders and even climbing up them. The silence of the place was wonderful. Sure the occasional person could be heard or a car arriving or departing but otherwise, it was just the wind.
After nightfall, we looked at more stars than we could remember seeing in many years.
It was wonderful – well except for our resident Hellhound Kali, she wanted to go home to her chair and comfortable AC, she’s a very civilized Hellhound.

On our way out we went through the Mojave National Preserve and did more sightseeing. We saw the Hall of Horrors rock formation – it didn’t seem all that horrible.
We found a strange roadside church with the happiest looking man’s picture on the front and a sign off to the side saying “Save the persecuted Christians.”

Really? Persecuted? The same group who has their holy days celebrated by the ENTIRE country? The same group who basically fill every government position? How about saving the persecuted Wiccans, atheists, and LGBTQ+ folks?

We also encountered these 2 strange statues just sitting alongside the road. Large Chinese lion statues about 10′ or so tall just all alone. There was a sign indicating land was for sale but for the life of us we couldn’t figure out the why of the two lions. Other than that we traveled through many small – mostly dead – towns and saw some very strange folks living and just wandering around in the desert. I think the California desert is stranger than the Nevada one.

Oh and before we go, Hellhound Kali is NOT doing something rude and smelly in one of the photos, she’s just hunching because she’s really unhappy with the terrain there.

As always, click on a picture to see a larger version for more detail.

With all the talk online about storming Area 51, the Macabre staff decided to play advance guard and take a road trip out to the Extraterrestrial Highway (AKA Nevada State Route 375)  to get the lay of the land and see if we could see any black helicopters or alien spacecraft (we didn’t).

The views driving up to the ET highway were spectacular. It’s a lot of open desert out there and when you stop the only sound you can hear is the wind. Creepy yet relaxing at the same time.
It was a balmy 105 degrees Fahrenheit when the staff ventured into the wastelands in search of ET and let me tell you, if you do this, make sure your AC is working and bring plenty of fluids and hats, etc. for shade.

We stopped at all the standard tourist destinations such as the sign at the entry to the highway and the infamous Black Mailbox where we left some calling cards from Macabre Mercantile and Edmund de Wight. BTW we put in our cards AFTER taking the first photo of all the ‘offerings’ left there,  so don’t expect to see them except in 1 photo.

We even learned some science – it seems there are eastern and western varieties of Joshua Tree which meet right there on the ET Highway. We’re not saying it’s because of aliens, but…… aliens.

We visited a cute store called the Alien Research Center which is a metal Quonset hut with an ENORMOUS metal alien outside, you can’t miss it. It has lots of cute merchandise and a Marilyn Monroe being menaced by inflatable aliens inside. We found it humorous that they carry some of the same masks which we do. We took a picture of someone lurking outside the building but for some reason, it came out pixelated… was it an alien or maybe a MIB?

We bought souvenirs and then set out for the Black Mailbox and the Little A’Le’Inn in Rachel, NV where we had a wonderful lunch and chatted with the locals and petted the cutest puppies before returning to Vegas. There are a couple of interesting signs there telling about the history of the area and also a monument commemorating the filming of the film Independence Day at the site.

On the way home, we realized we were passing these 2 large lakes. Yes, there are lakes in the middle of the desert. The Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge is a wonderful spot to visit. They allow camping. We think we’ll give that a shot once the weather is cooler.

It’s a fun trip for both scenery and kitsch. If you’re planning on storming Area 51 this year, check out the tourist stops along the way.

FYI, the images with signs have been left full size. It’s worth clicking them to read the information if you’re so inclined.

Our new store is OPEN!

Follow Media Minion for a walkthrough of our new location in Fabulous Las Vegas, NV

It’s only about 6 minutes long so take a coffee break and check out our new locale.