As you enter Ridgecrest, the billboard says 'Gateway to Death Valley". Now, there is a reason to stop and stay awhile. We never made it to Death Valley, that will be another trip. There is a really nice area there called Darwin Falls...literally and oasis in the middle of a scorching desert.
Apart from drivng the base and checking out my old elemetary school, Richmond, (which closed in 2019) and previous houses of residence. We were able to find a few activities in the town.
On Wednesday, they set up a small farmers market "downtown". The block is shut down and the vendors setup. Nice little activity. I discovered that hummus is actually very tasty. So, after the vendor gave us several sample mixtures, we purchased a tub of spicy hummus and a cucumber salad thing along with some chips. Amazing!! The only problem is that I got super thirsty. As luck would have it, the only actual stand alone bar was on the...wait for it people....next block over!!
The bar is called Flightline. Pretty standard little bar packed with folks becuase wednesdays are trivia night. We did not participate cuz I am pretty worser at trivia. A couple of cold beers down, some good company and all is well!
On Thursday, we did dive into some day drinking. I am reitred and my sister took the day off. In this heat, a cold beer sometimes hits the spot. So, we went to a restaurant called Casey's. We were not hungry so into the bar we went. My sister gave me a beer called '805' in a bottle and it is tasty. However, this same beer from tap into a large chilled mug is sublime. The bartender took care of us with some on the house chips and salsa. A refreshing hydration break. Probably similar to the 20-mule team folks experienced.
