Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world~Gustave Flaubert. A glimp

I am always so impressed by the geographical diversity of the US. Leaving the south tip of Seqouia National Park and hopefully all this rain by means of a large mountain pass, the name I'm not sure of. This seems to be the norm, big mountain passes that all look so different and then long valleys below. Often at an altitude difference of 2000-4000ft. Its quite amazing! This particular mountain range provided some unique views as we dropped into the valley and descended from the heavy rain filled clouds.

Death Valley National Park I think that this may be one of my favorite places. Even though we didn't do a bunch of exploring as the temperatures were too hot to leave the cat for long periods of time.

Death Valley, more specifically Badwater Basin has the lowest elevation in North America, 282ft below sea level. The ground is very rich in salt and our walk out along the basin gave us a good perspective of the intesity of heat and removing our sunglasses gave us the sensation of snow blinding. The wintery mountain peaks in the distance is Telescope Mountain, reaching 11,043 ft above sea level! What an amazing event to be standing below sea level looking onto this magestic summit.

Salt crystals from the basin, and yes they are salty!

Furnace Creek has the highest temperature ever recorded at 56 degrees celcius!. It is 3.4 million acres which makes Death Valley second largest park next to Alaska.

Our first couple of nights on some BLM land bordering the park. We were surprised to have to use our reflectix insulation in the windows as it dipped just above freezing.

Saline Valley Hot Springs Again we have had a few travellers recommend this hot spring. But came with a warning that if we planned to drive the van in expect a really rough road and like 5-6 hours to get there. We opted to take the bike but it still took 2.5-3 hours to get there. I'm so glad we committed some time and effort to see it. A great view of death valley below as we make our way up the mountain side to get to Saline Valley on the other side.

Over this mountain range the rocks parted to open up to the breathtaking Saline Valley and our first glimpse at the different types of rocks of Death Valley National Park.

After driving over some good sized fallen rocks, winding on switch backs and finishing with 19 miles of washboard we arrived at the hot springs. Feeling a little battered from the rough ride in we were relieved and surprised at the "spa" in front of us.

Upon walking into the palm tree surrounded oasis there is a palpable sense of calm and quiet while people mill around dressed or not, its up to you...

Wild burro!!

There is a shower area to wash off before you get in and 3 small pools to choose from. This oasis has been developed by people who enjoy spending their time here. Despite being in the park it is free to use and you could camp for up to 30 days, I assume some stay much longer. And because of this and the difficulty getting in it has almost become a community out in the middle of nowhere. There is a book case full of books and games, a communal fire pit, and a fresh water source. I wish we drove in with the van because I could have stayed for a week! But I also couldn't imagine driving Ol' Morrie all that way. We stayed for a good long soak, enjoyed conversation from other travellers and then time to head out.

Driving into Death Valley we got the first few glimpses of the geological diversity that exists here and the huge change in elevation. Years ago miners would extract lead, borax and gold from these hills.

In this particular canyon a military jet will sometimes fly down and through it, naming it the "Star Wars" canyon. We didn't get to see it but we talked with a guy that had recorded it. I'm sure its on You Tube if your interested. (photo below)

Driving down into the valley you can feel the temperatue change. Along the sides of the narrow highway it is common to see cyclists. I also believe that a runners race happens down here (the death race). These people are crazy!!

We camped just outside of the park at what seems like an old RV campground. All that remains are concrete pads to park on. One night we joined a communal fire and freshly made donuts by a guy we had seen months earlier at Slab City, but never got to meet him. He's a french Canadian!

We always planned to head back east, but we weren't sure how that would look like. Paul's sister and her husband have made plans to meet us in Las Vegas for a few days at Easter. So this was our driving force for going inland at this point. We had a few days before we met them in Vegas. There is some great BLM camping outside of Red Rock Canyon and Vegas. We prefer to sit for 3-5 days at at time. It allows us time to wind down after days of travel and uncertainty.

Our first night in Vegas we stayed in the parking lot of Red Rock Casino, off the strip. Our second night Mary and Michael arrived and we moved to their vacation village and were able to stay for the remainder of their stay. It was wonderful! The weather was warm and we spent our days laying around the pool and catching up. One night we walked the strip.

Botanical Garden

Paul and I have been to Vegas before and we weren't really looking for the night life that Vegas has to offer. It was super busy being Easter and spring break. So back to the hotel to relax. We toured Red Rock Canyon for an afternoon and then back to the pool!

After dropping our visitors off at the airport we headed east of Vegas to a Recreation Area to camp for 3 or so days. Lake Mead This was a great spot, beautiful skyline.

Benny was particularly photogenic today...SUNSET PHOTOSHOOT!

Arizona Hot Springs An early morning 3 mile hike into a canyon revealed a slot canyon hot spring. 4 pools all seperated by sand bags all of varying degrees.

Hot spring is just through the canyon

Beautiful spring desert flowers

We never took into account the difficulty of soaking in a hot tub for an hour and then having to wake your muscles up to hike back out in the heat. This picture is not our best but I think it shows how we were feeling this particular morning after not sleeping well the night before because of a wind storm overnight. But it was still so worth it!

We have a little over 3 weeks left in the US before we have to leave. End of April to be exact. We still have so much to see. Up next Grand Canyon National Park. Sending love to our friends and family