Alabama Hills aren't in Alabama

If you are going to Lone Pine,CA, to see the film museum that I blogged about last, just turn west at the only stop light in town and head into the Alabama Hills.  Have you seen TREMORS and the big rocks they are struck on while the giant worms attack?  That's the Alabama Hills.  Currently on TV is a commercial for Suburu (I think) where the drivers are standing on immense boulders looking for their car.  Yup, that's Alabama Hills.  These giant, odd-shaped granite rocks have been the scene for hundreds of movies and TV series and you can drive, climb or walk all around here. Let the kids run here.   There is a short-walk to an arch,  Take a picture with the arch and the snow-covered Sierra Nevadas.  The road to Alabama Hills also leads to Whitney Portal, the trailhead to climb the tallest peak in the continental US.  Oh, why ALABAMA Hills if they are in CALIFORNIA?  Well, they were named by a couple of miners sympathetic to the Confederate cause during the Civil War.  The Alabama was a confederate ship.  More tomorrow.