Shopping Locally: The Acton Market Country Store in Acton, CA

The Acton Market Country

 Store is much larger than

 The Original Acton Market.

Shoppers buy Sunglasses,

browse the Greeting Cards 

& have their choice of

 Gift Cards.

How did I miss the open area with Fresh Fruits and Veggies?

Many more brands are

stocked here. 

That's not surprising in a

noticeably larger store.

Pet Parents have lots of

food options here.

 

Staff at the Bakery told me

that these are the small

Eclairs.

The large ones must look

like Submarine Sandwiches.

The other Bakery choices

look amazing!

Acton Market Country
Store sells lots of Wine.

Temptations for younger

stoppers...

Butter, Margarine

& Eggs 

There are many choices

in the Dairy Case,

including Bottled Milk.

 I like this store very much.  There is much more selection here than at The Original Acton Market.

Shopping Locally: The Original Acton Market in Acton, CA

Downtown Acton
looks like a quaint
Old Western Town.

The Original Acton Market

is located in the middle.

Eric had a conversation with a fellow RVer, who is a life long resident of Acton, about the Original Acton Market.  The people running the Market were tenants of the person/company that owns this "strip mall."   A dispute occurred with the owner and The Original Acton Market tenants decided to leave this location.  They bought property across the road, built a new grocery store, Acton Market Country Store.

Children & Lottery Ticket
Buyers are enticed at the
entrance of the store.

Refrigerated Vegetables

in Cold Cases.

Fresh Fruits & Vegetables
that don't need to be
refrigerated.

This small store is well

stocked with detergents,

household products...

Canned Goods, Pasta, Rice, Spaghetti Sauces, etc....

The Wall of Wine continues
as the Beer Aisle.

Soda, Papergoods, etc.

The Dairy Aisle

Residents of this small community did take sides on what happened to the tenants who ran The Original Acton Market.  Many now shop exclusively at the new store, across the street.

Damn Near Perfect Pizza Baked in a Convection Oven

I baked Pizza in a Conventional Oven for over 25 years and the results were magnificent! 

Creating a decent pizza in a Convection Oven has been a challenge.  And, it took a while, months actually to make a damn near perfect Pizza.

Making the dough is easy... Water, Flour, Sugar, Yeast, and some Canola Oil.  After the dough rises, I struggled with getting to a crispy crust. 





I eventually settled on baking the
crust for 10 minutes to brown
the top side.

  

Then I flip it over and wait...

... until the crust is cool to

the touch.

I top the Pizza with whatever
toppings interest me & put
it in the Convection Oven
at 450 degrees.

This one has Ground Turkey

Bake about 12 minutes

The Pizza is ready to cut.

It's not the same as the Pizza
I've made in a Conventional
Oven, but it is damn near
perfect.





Eric and I agree that the crust is crispy, but not like my previous Pizzas.

The Kill Bill Wedding Chapel in Hi Vista, California

Eric and I like to visit places where TV shows and movies have been filmed.  We've visited numerous Breaking Bad locations, The Goonies film locations, the Kindergarten Cop Elementary School, etc.

Today's drive is to the Wedding Chapel in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Volume 1.





The church is at the corner of
Avenue G & 198th St. East
in Hi Vista.

Sanctuary

Adventist

Church is

fenced in.

It looks like it's
been abandoned.







This is the fictional Two Pines Wedding Chapel in the opening scene of Kill Bill.

Signs in the window include:

FILM Here & a phone number

Sanctuary Church & its address

A No Trespassing Sign

Eric takes a

shot of us at

the church.

Now I know why there's a FILM HERE sign in the window.  This church was also used in the 1985 Talking Heads music video Road to Nowhere and in a scene in the film Nurse Betty.  Apparently, it's available for filming for other projects.

This remote area is

close to Lancaster,
making it accessible
for filming.

The remains of a
building's foundation.

An abandoned

auto repair

shop.

Hollywood can make a place famous.  I wonder how many people drive to Hi Vista to visit The Kill Bill Wedding Chapel.

Update on The Salton Sea in Southern California

First, A Quick Recap:

The Salton Sea was originally part of the Gulf of California.  Silt deposits stopped the flow of the Colorado River to the Gulf, allowing water to collect in the depression and then evaporate. This process occurred repeatedly over millennia, creating a depression with salty soil.

Agriculture in the Imperial Valley depended on water.  Canals were constructed in 1901 and by 1904 silt was filling them in and restricting the needed water.  Three more canals were dug in 1905 to increase the flow of water to Imperial Valley.  Heavy rains and an early El Nino in 1905 inundated the Salton area for 16 months, resulting in California's largest lake - 35 miles long and 15 miles wide.

The Salton Sea and the Santa Rosa Mountains in the distance.

Three rivers flow into the Salton Sea, the New, the Whitewater and the Alamo.  They flow seasonally, making them unreliable water sources to the salty lake.  There is no outlet to allow water movement.  Whatever goes into the Salton Sea stays there.

In the 1920s locals started channeling agricultural wastewaters into the Salton Sea. The water level in the lake continued to rise.   Salt in the soil and salts from agricultural runoff increased the salinity of the Salton Sea until freshwater fish died off.  Saltwater fish were introduced.

I took this picture of the southern end of the lake in 2014.

Resorts were built along the shoreline in the 1920s.  During World War II, Navy planes practicing water landings introduced barnacles to the Salton Sea.

By the 1950s, the Salton Sea was a very popular recreation area.  State parks were built along the shoreline. And the crowds came, including  Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and the Rat Pack; Guy Lombardo raced speedboats.  The Pointer Sisters and Beach Boys performed at the lake in the 1960s.   According to the locals, every day there was a party.

Salt along the southern shoreline

Tropical Storms Kathleen (1976) and Doreen (1977) flooded the Salton Sea repeatedly, destroying shoreline property, washing away marinas and yacht clubs.  Agricultural runoff fed algae blooms which consumed the oxygen in the lake, leading to fish die-offs.  The stench from these events drove a number of shoreline dwellers and visitors away.

The Salton Sea is becoming saltier.  The Salton Sea Authority Web Site lists the lake's salinity level at 25% higher than ocean water (2014).

I took this picture in 2014:  Dead Tilapia are found regularly
on the beach. The sand consists of barnacles & dead fish.

California set up the Salton Sea Authority to revitalize the Salton Sea.  I hope the efforts
are successful. (January 2014)

Eric found this video about the Salton Sea on Atlas Obscura. 

Updates:  The lake continues to provide beautiful photo opportunities for shutterbugs.  Conditions at the Salton Sea continue to deteriorate.

Picture from January 2020 visit

Fishbones are still easy to find on the beach in 2020. 

In 2003 The Salton Sea Restoration Act was signed into law.   A study was completed and lack of promised funding to restore the lake led the Salton Sea Authority to consider private funding for this immense project.   

The Imperial Irrigation District started diverting much-needed water away from the Salton Sea area.  The water is now going to San Diego and to the cities in the Coachella Valley.  Changes in irrigation have slowed the amount of agricultural runoff into the lake.  Each year the lake shrinks.  State and federal politicians promise money to save the Salton Sea.  Funding doesn't arrive.  

A shrinking lake leaves salt and agricultural pesticides exposed to the air.  Asthma rates are going up as the polluted shoreline expands.  

The distressed lake is getting saltier and saltier.  I found an article stating that the Salton Sea is now 50% saltier than the Pacific Ocean.  More fish are dying off.  The annual bird count is dropping... fast.

Imperial County officials declared a State of Emergency at the Salton Sea with the hope that the declaration will break the 14 years of inaction on this growing environmental disaster.   The State has promised to jump-start the long-delayed restoration project.  Locals are skeptical as they continue to struggle with foul-smelling air, Asthma, and growing despair for the loss of their way of life and livelihoods.

Thousand Trails Soledad Canyon RV & Camping Resort in Acton, CA

This is our first visit to
Thousand Trails Soledad
Canyon RV & Camping
Resort.

The Registration Desk &

Offices

The map of this

sprawling Resort.

Brochures for area
attractions &
Camping World
Brochures

Coming Soon!

 Bridge Replacement

On August 4, 2017, three inches of rain fell and flooding washed away the bridge that connects sections of the Campground. 

Staff at the Registration Desk

told Eric & I that this temporary

bridge will be completed on

Friday.

The area to the left is where a permanent bridge will be constructed.

The East Lodge

Group seating & a TV.

Shelving holds books

& jigsaw puzzles.

Pool Tables

The Laundromat is in this building.

The swimming pool

The West Lodge has tables and chairs, a TV, Children's Books and a staffed office that signs out games, hula hoops, etc. The larger swimming pool and splash pad are adjacent to that Lodge.

There are playgrounds in larger sections of the Campground.

One of the Volley Ball
Courts

Tennis/Pickleball Courts

Electricians are working on power in the K Section of the Park.  The Country Store is closed for renovation. 

Eric & I told the staff that we

went to multiple campsites

before finding one that

has power in Section N.

I hope that the power is carefully checked and updated in all sections of this Resort.

Staff told Eric and me that two previous managers did not devote time and attention to maintaining and upgrading the Park.  The current manager is working hard to keep multiple projects on track for completion by Memorial Day, the start of the Campground's busiest season.