While emotionally Lone Pine was a hit on our trip since we got to see the settings for TV shows and movies from our youth, we found that we loved being in Bishop. About 60 miles north from Lone Pine on US-395, Bishop’s population is almost twice as large; it also had a stand-alone Starbucks, as well as a Starbucks in Vons grocery store! This post is about some of the people we met and some places we went.
We stayed at Brown’s Town Campground just south of town and really enjoyed our time here.
They had set up a small western town from buildings in the area. The laundry was in one of the buildings!
While in the campground, we kept seeing puffs of white “fuzz” blowing around. Our guess is that they’re from nearby Cottonwood trees.
The first day in town, we scouted out the local visitors center. If you’re from northern California, you’ll remember the look of the building.
We spent almost an hour there with Chuck learning about all we could do and see around Bishop. At the end of the time, he asked if we liked prime rib. The local bowling alley serves prime rib dinners from Thursday through Sunday. This was Thursday, so to the bowling alley we went at 5:30 so we would be early enough for the special.
As we were seated, guess who we sat next to? You guessed right, Chuck and his wife Mary Mae!
Chuck knew everybody and introduced us to the owner and his wife. The owner had been one of Mary Mae’s students when he was in grade school!
The serving was huge, and we enjoyed every bite of the prime rib and baked potato. We sure recommend this restaurant if you’re ever in Bishop!
Another place we enjoyed going to was Eric Schat’s Bakery just across the street from the visitors center. Great sandwiches and the sourdough bread was delicious.
bread 
lots of bread
cookies 
lots of cookies
We love learning about the history of the towns we visit and they got their names. This historical sign on the edge of town gave us the info on Bishop.
of stock. On August 22, they reached the creek running through the
valley and established their ranch named San Francis Ranch.
After signing a peace treaty with the Paiute Indian chiefs, they were
able to build on their ranch. Later on the creek and then the
town was named for Samuel Bishop.
On one of our drives to the mountains, we saw an historical sign along the side of the road so stopped and learned about the original road (SR-23) and how it differed from US-395.
it skirt along the base of the mountains to shorted the drive from Big Pine (south of here) to Bishop
most passable terrain by foot or wagon.
Remember the information in a Lone Pine post about water and Los Angeles? We met a couple from Bishop in the parking lot of Big Pine Creek National Forest (post to come), and they gave us some insight about how this water issue affects Bishop. We mentioned that Bishop seems to be growing; shops and stores are full, and the town has a lot of energy. They said that Bishop is as large as it can get because if land isn’t part of BLM (Bureau of Land Management), it’s owned by Los Angeles because of water rights. Interesting.
Another new friend we met is Wil. He and I met the first day I was in this Starbucks working on the Alabama Hills post. He saw some of the pictures, and we talked about them since that’s one of his favorite spots. The last day we were in Bishop, Barney and I spent a couple of hours in Starbucks so I could finish up the Lone Pine posts, and Wil was there again. The three of us talked for a while about blogs and social media since that’s his business! Could this be an ongoing relationship for us? Wil gave Barney lots to read, and we may follow up with him as we continue with aypTravels.
Bishop is known for its Mule Days Celebration over Memorial Day weekend, and this is its 50th year celebration. We couldn’t stay for it this year, but maybe we’ll come back another year; sounds like great fun. We did learn a little about the use of mules in this area (pack mules) that we’ll be sharing soon.
