Death Valley and Time with Friends

(Clicking on the pictures should open them larger in a new window.)

Yesterday was a special day that needed to be remembered on the date not in a catch up post.
Once again, we would like to say to all Veterans, Thank You for Your Service!

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

We are parked at Sunset in Death Valley National Park. It is the overflow parking which is really a tiered parking lot. The  nice thing is Shirley and Ken grabbed a space on the top tier so we have a unobstructed view towards the mountains. Even though this is called the overflow we actually have a better view then if we were parked down in the regular camping area for this campground. When we leave here on Saturday we will have spent 13 nights parked in this spot and we could not be happier that this is the spot they chose. Another great thing, they are actually closing this area and are not letting anyone else park up here, but they are letting us stay in this spot,  so we will have less and less neighbors each day. I took the pictures below last evening as the sun was setting.

Upper left: our spot.
Upper Right: looking down at other tiers.
Middle left and bottom right: our nearest neighbors.
Bottom left: the regular parking area here at Sunset.

Now to continue catching up.

Monday, November 4, 2019

Location: California & Nevada
Established: October 31, 1994
Size: About 3.4 million acres

The largest national park south of Alaska, Death Valley is known for extremes: It is North America's driest and hottest spot (with fewer than two inches/five centimeters of rainfall annually and a record high of 134°F), and has the lowest elevation on the continent—282 feet below sea level. Even with its extremes, the park still receives nearly a million visitors each year.

In 1849 emigrants bound for California's gold fields strayed into the 120-mile long basin, enduring a two-month ordeal of "hunger and thirst and an awful silence." One of the last to leave looked down from a mountain at the narrow valley and said, "Good-bye, Death Valley."The moniker belies the beauty in this vast graben, the geological term for a sunken fragment of the Earth's crust. Here are rocks sculptured by erosion, richly tinted mudstone hills and canyons, luminous sand dunes, lush oases, and a 200-square-mile salt pan surrounded by mountains, one of America's greatest vertical rises. In some years spring rains trigger wildflower blooms amid more than a thousand varieties of plants. (Information found on the Naitonal Geographic Site.

Waking up to our first sunrise at Death Valley National Park.

So our day began with coffee and looking at the view above. There was then more coffee and sitting and chatting with friends. Eventually there was getting ready, getting in the Jeep, and going for a ride to check out some of the beauty that is found in this park. Even though Shirley and Ken had visited both these places the day before they wanted us to see the views and insisted both places were worth a second look. They were right, of course we had wonderful views driving in to the park, but both these stops were a wonderful introduction to this beautiful place.

First Stop: Artist Drive, this is a paved one way loop.

The Artist Pallet

Our shadows visited the canyon below.

The view as we finish the loop and 

come back out to the Valley.

Second Stop: Dantes View which is 5,000 feet above Death Valley. Another paved road but their are several hair pin turns going up.

Looking down towards Badwater Basin.
The lowest point in North America at 282 feet
below sea level.
We can also see the vast salt flats.

This is me trying to get a candid shot of Shirley and Ken
looking at the view. Ken is checking out the welds
on the railing

and now he is looking at me. Thank you Shirley for
ignoring me and continuing to look at the view.

One last look and we are on our way back.
It is time for Happy Hour.

We ended our day as it started sitting in a circle of four chatting away. Ken barbecued boneless spare ribs and Shirley had made potato salad along with string beans. We eventually moved inside their home on wheels for a delicious meal.

We say it a lot: We are so lucky/blessed to be living our retirement dream; traveling in our motorhome seeing this beautiful country we call home. The bonus we never expected is the wonderful friends we are making along the journey.

We are glad you took the time to stop by.

If you have time to leave a comment we would enjoy hearing from you.