We arrived at Manzanar as it opened and started with the 3.4 mile driving tour of the site.
Almost everything was demolished or sold after WW II and now only foundations and markers identifying most of the original buildings remain. Several small Japanese gardens with water features built by residents also are still there with no water. The National Park Service has an ongoing effort to construct replicas of a typical housing 'block" including barracks, mess hall, and latrines but there is still much more to do. Some buildings have been built however and the effort continues.
There is also a simple memorial at the site's cemetery. It was built to honor those who lived, died, and were born at Manzanar during their internment. It is a focal point for an annual pilgrimage by friends, relatives, and in some cases, internees who lived there during the war. The event has been held each year since 1977 and attracts people from all over to a memorial service and other related activities. Many visitors to the site also leave small momementos of their visit on the monument or on one of the nine graves of people still buried there.
After the driving tour, we returned to the outstanding visitor's center we had seen some sections of yesterday.. The center is housed in one of the few original buildings left at the site. It was used during the relocation period as an auditorium and gymnasium and now has been converted into a theater, exhibit hall, and a gift shop. It is very well done and an excellent tribute to the Japanese Americans who lived there during that difficult time in our nation's history.
This is a banner at the visitor's center with the names of all the internees at Manzanar from 1942 - 1945.
Manzanar: a hauntingly beautiful place. Everyone should come here, every school class should see this. Amazing. It makes me realize that the negative feelings I have now against Islamic people because of the terrorist attacks were much the same for white Americans toward the Japanese in the 30's and 40's. What we did to these innocent people was unchristian, unamerican and unconstitutional. (Poetic justice note: 10,000 Japanese Americans were removed from their homes on the west coast and relocated here against their will. Today, in the parking lot of the visitor's center, almost every car had a Japanese brand name.)
On to Death Valley National Park, a varied and dramatic desert landscape with several abrupt 2,000 - 3,000' elevation changes in the 100 mile crossing, from above Panamint Valley through Emigrant, Stovepipe Wells and Furnace Creek. Incredible rock formations, sand dunes, and salt flats framed by mountains in every direction. It needs more guard rails on it's scary, windy roads. But everything is relative - at one vista point where we stopped, a busload of German tourists were taking pictures of Big Mother and The Green Machine in the parking lot,. We think they approved.
We drove out the eastern side of the Park and headed for Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, NV, about 75 miles away. We got here around 5:00, had appetizers outside at the picnic table (the weather was perfect) and dinner in the RV. Our Las Vegas entertainment tonight was writing this blog for you (and for ourselves) and adding photos for the visual effects.
It will be on to the Phoenix, AZ area tomorrow, a travel day.
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