Death Valley Day 1

The most beautiful sunrise in Joshua Tree.

It was certainly an exciting day in Death Valley! Well, the first four hours weren't that exciting. Mom made eggs and bacon and we got packed up by 7 o'clock. Then we made the four hour drive to Death Valley National Park. There was a construction zone with waits of up to 45 minutes, so we were pretty happy when we only had to do 8 minutes. Other than that, it was boring. 

We got into the park about noon, but we were in the far south end, and there is nothing at all down there. We found a lone picnic table in the middle of nowhere and Mom made lunch. Unfortunately, the wind was blowing, so the boys sat in the car while Dad ate his lunch alone at the breezy table. 

Another national park!

Mom sent Seth to take pics of the historic ruins while she made lunch. He did great!

There were some interesting things at the ruins.

I love looking at Seth's pictures.

Dad eating all alone in Death Valley.

The boys lunching in the car.

After that, it was more driving, but at least we were in the park. We watched the phone excitedly as the elevation dropped down to zero, and then fell all the way to -270 feet. At about that time, we reached our first major stop at a place called Bad Water Basin. In a rare freak weather event, a hurricane brought a glut of rain to this area, flooding the basin, which is usually a massive salt flat. For us, there was a very shallow salt water pool that stretched far across the valley. It's maximum depth wouldn't reach your knee, and it forms a perfect reflecting pool.

We parked about 200 feet below the "Sea Level" sign and walked out across the salt flat to the edge of the water. Mom, Dax, and Seth decided to wade a bit, so they took off their shoes and went in. We spent about an hour at this site, and toweled off when we got back to the car. It was really beautiful and we were lucky to see that sparkling basin.

We had fun watching the elevation drop.

Bad Water Basin covered in water.

This is the lowest point at 282 feet below sea level.

The water had such nice reflections.

We couldn't believe how different it looked compared to pictures we had seen.

We had fun exploring the basin.

Mom and Dax walked out into the water. But the salt was hurty!

Seth went the furthest.

Standing in the salty water.

Up the road a little further we did a hike to a natural bridge. It was steep in the soft sand, but it only ran about a third of a mile each way. Still, we were tired and stiff and didn't enjoy it quite as much as we should have. We made stops at the Devil's Golf Course and Artist's Canyon, both of which were nice, but we didn't stray too far from the van at either place.

Seth found a spot so it looks like he is floating.

We were pretty tired, but we made it.

Mom was the only one who walked up under the natural bridge.

Devil's Golf Course

Painter's Palette

Finally, we had our energy up for a serious hike into Golden Canyon. This canyon is famous for being used in Return of the Jedi, but mostly, we just thought it was pretty. The canyon was about as wide as a two lane road, and many smaller slots ran steeply into the rocks around it. Seth and Dad explored one, and Mark and Dad explored another, but both went on for hundreds of yards, and they never found the end of either one. We walked a long way in this canyon, and it was nearly dinner by the time we rolled into Furnace Creek and the Ranch where we are staying.

This is where a Jawa hides and watches R2D2 go by.

There are a lot of colors in the rocks in Death Valley.

The canyon was very pretty and did look golden in the afternoon light.

We had a fun time in the canyon.

The narrower sections were so cool.

These slanty rocks were cool, too.

We pulled up to check in, and Mom went inside, just as the wind started to really whip. Suddenly, the rain came, and it came in a torrent. Then a flash of lightning cracked very near us. All the light went out in the building, and the computers shut down, which delayed our checking in. Soon, though, the computers came back up and we got our key and headed to the room.

Unfortunately, the power still wasn't on in the rooms! We groped our way to the bathroom and brought in a few suitcases. Then we decided to head back to the cafeteria for dinner.

Unfortunately, the lights were out there, too! The General Store, the Ice Cream Parlor, and the Saloon were all dark. Only the door to the cafeteria was open, and as we stood hopefully in line, the power suddenly came back on, to no small applause.

We went into the cafeteria and ate (they gave us all the child's price for our troubles). There was lots of food, and we were hungry after our long day. The pool was still dark, but lights were on in our hotel room. So, we made sure that we had a roll-away bed for Seth and settled in for the night.

It was quite an adventure!

We also spotted this coyote just hanging out by the hotel.