Death Valley

Yes, folks, that is correct. We drove through Death Valley in the middle of July. Dave had his heart set on it. And I can even say I'm glad we went, now that it's over. It was 110 degrees. To get to the park, we descended from 4,000 feet elevation. The lowest point in Death Valley (and in North America incidentally) was 282 feet below sea level. On the drive up and out the northwest corner, we ascended to 5,000 feet, descended back down to 0, and then ended back at about 5,000 feet above sea level again. My sinuses were screaming at me for all the ups and downs. But, we did it! We even got out of the car. Briefly. Once or twice.

The famed Devil's Golf Course was a must.

The Devil's Golf Course: rumor has it the name came from someone who said only the Devil himself could play golf here.

Dave, explaining to Justin the mysteries of the boulders that move by themselves here.

We were astonished to see there was actually water here! Way down at the lowest point of North America.

You read that right: 282 feet below sea level!

A big swatch of hardened salt deposits at Badwater

Do you see the white arrow up there? It is pointing to a sign that marks where actual sea level is.

Sand dunes. Dave briefly mentioned getting out to explore the dunes with Justin. I put my foot down, literally...on the gas pedal! Just kidding, I wasn't driving. It was a fleeting thought for Dave.

I thought the patterns from the clouds on the mountainside as well as the twisting and turning layers of rock were fascinating in this view. We were almost out of the park now. I couldn't wait to leave!!

Even though it added 3 hours to our trip home this day, I am still glad we chose to go this route. It allowed us to avoid the dreaded drive up the Valley on either I-5 or 99. This way we got to drive along the eastern side of the Sierra's and skirted Yosemite's backyard. It was a gorgeous drive and there were some mighty storms we managed to skirt the edges of. Coming down the pass (from 9,800 feet) the twists and turns were so steep we started smelling smoke. Realizing they were our brakes,  Dave pulled over in the next pullout he found. 5 minutes later, a car came screaming in behind us with the brakes actually flaming!! There were 3 guys from San Franciso who were quite startled and frightened. We were glad our brakes were ok. After a 30 minute rest, we continued on. We pulled into our driveway exactly at 10:00 p.m. after having driven 5,000 miles round trip. Wow.