Death Valley

Hello again!  I've been busy this last month, but there's been stuff I wanted to share...

Last month we took a short camping trip to Death Valley with our friends, Robert and Angela Zook.  My childhood vision of Death Valley was a completely desolate place, where no one ever visited because there was nothing to do there but die.  Picture vultures surrounding carcasses.  Happily, such notions have been crushed. 

Our favorite sight, by far, was Badwater Basin - a seasonal salt water lake.  It also happens to be the lowest point in the US, at -282 feet.

There was only about 1 1/2 inches of water in the basin so we walked out to the middle of it.  It had this cool effect of looking like we were walking on water

Here's a view of Badwater from Dante's View -

And here's Corban practicing his smiles (he looks like such a goof!)

 

After Badwater we hiked to a Natural Rock Bridge where Corban had a great time throwing rocks - without pants because he got them wet at the lake.

Here's some of the scenery - 

Artist's Palette - note the blues and pinks

Devil's Golfcourse

View from Zabriskie Point

Weird guy on weird rock

Corban struttin his stuff on the Mesquite sand dunes

We actually saw a bunch of other stuff, but this post is getting long enough.  It was an awesome weekend getaway and things went nearly perfect - everything but the EXTREME wind our second night.  I really thought our tent was going to blow away.  None of us could sleep, except for Corban.  I only wish he'd sleep that well at home.