 Another Route 66 treasure is Elmer's Bottle Tree Ranch in Oro Grande, a spit away from Victorville in California. This place is pure joy. The wacky humor, whimsical creativity and colorful artistic ingenuity of the ranch immediately captured my quirky imagination. Made of tall metallic trees with welded rusty boughs topped with dazzling glass bottles glinting in the sunlight, tinkling hanging mobiles and moving art pieces, all made from repurposed, recycled glass and a hodge podge of everyday household objects; bicycle wheels, kitchen utensils, old TV sets, discarded tools, even a rusty old jeep and right at the back of the funky forest of delights, a huge satellite dish. Elmer's Bottle Tree Ranch traces its origins back to the 1960's when artist Elmer Long began transforming his desert property into a captivating showcase of repurposed glass and other discarded objects to delight and inspire passing visitors on Route 66. Clearly it was a passion project. Today it stands as a living testament to the vibrant culture and history of The Mother Road embodying the spirit of resourcefulness and resilience that defined the highway's heyday, turning the ordinary into the extraordinary.
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Cheese might just be my favorite food. I have a wicked love affair with cheese. My family tease me about it. I know it is naughty, but I simply cannot resist the salty, crumbly, cheesy glory of cheese. So with a big cheesy smile I happily set off to visit a working cheese factory at Bravo Farms in Traver, California. The cheese was the main attraction for me and we watched enthralled at the churning and separating of the curds and whey. The curds were chunky and lumpy and the liquid was gradually squeezed and strained out of huge vats. We watched the making of Cheddar and Provolone with fascination. Of course we had to taste the goods. Deliciously fresh. The cheese was not the only attraction at Bravo Farms. We also happened upon a seven story higgledy piggledy storybook treehouse. We all climbed to the top and giggled at the whimsical structure like little kids. It was fun and worth the visit just to play a while in the treehouse. Bravo Farms was advertised as the second happiest place on Earth, and I might just agree. Bravo! 
This is what happens when Mum is in charge of the itinerary for Spring Break. You don't end up in Cancun or Las Vegas, oh no, you end up visiting much stranger things. First we sought out the World's Largest Swedish Coffee Pot in Kingsburg, California. Kingsburg is a quaint little town that pays tribute to its Swedish heritage. There are Viking restaurants, Scandinavian murals, and many Swedish references in town including the water tower that has been converted into an old fashioned Swedish Coffee Pot, complete with an authentic nordic design. It is located in a little park called, you guessed it, Coffee Pot Park, right in the center square of town. It's so tall you can see it from miles away! After the joy of finding the Coffee Pot we drove a short distance on to the headquarters of Sun-Maid, the number one grower of raisins in the world, to find another little treasure, the World's Largest Box of Raisins, also in Kingsburg. Henry could barely contain his excitement. After gently insisting everyone at least get out of the truck to take a look, we were all impressed by what we found. It was indeed a huge box of raisins. Now, I thought it was just a concrete block painted to look like a box of raisins but I was wrong. It was an actual box that actually contained thousands and thousands of actual raisins. Well, not now, but to gain the World Record, it had to be a functioning box of raisins. As we stood before it, there were no raisins inside, but it was still worth getting out of the truck to see this magnificent sight.
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AuthorLaura Barnes is a retired educator. Mostly she loves books, travels and mischief. She dabbles in writing. 
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