Badwater Basin

Our next destination was Badwater Basin in Death Valley.  Badwater Basin was given its name by a man who stumbled upon the shallow water and was desperate for his mule to drink.  The mule stuck its nose up to the water but refused to drink.  Not understanding why, the man simply said it must be bad water.  Since then, the name stuck.  There is a little pool of water (and by little I mean it would go up to my ankle and I could walk through it in about ten steps) (and it's not pictured so I hope you aren't looking too hard for it) and the reason it stays salty is because of the plant life that grows in it.

Once again, our little camera is using all its might to zoom in on this picture, showing us where sea level is.  We are 282 feet below sea level.  The lowest point in North America!

This sandy stuff that Austin is crouching down on is none other than SALT. 

This time I made Carl taste it. 
Open up, shnookums! True love. (And I don't think I've ever said the word "shnookums" aloud.  Fun fact of the day.)

Excuse my shriveled up skin.  Salt really does take the moisture out of things.

Isn't it pretty?  It almost looks like you are looking out over a lake.  Nope, salt.  Salt as far as the eyes can see.

Tonight we will leave Death Valley and head to a town called Beatty.

Devil's Golf Course

In case you were wondering where we are on this trip now, let's just say we still have a long road ahead of us.  Case in point:

So we're heading over now to the Devil's Golf Course.  When you see these photos, especially if you're a golfer, you'll know why they call it that.

These [extremely sharp] rocks had white clumps all over them... what was it you ask?  SALT!

Don't worry, I knew what it was before I put it on my tongue.  I'm not crazy, y'all!

Now, by this point, the sun was setting.  So we hopped over to our next destination, eager for the sunlight to not leave us quite yet.

Dunes in Death Valley

Thanks for continuing on through our trip!  Let's see... where were we... Oh yes.  We were stretching our legs in the desert.  

So we made our way to the sand dunes where our legs got much more than a stretch.  We got a good workout in the dunes!  Man were they gorgeous....

Unfortunately, these were all taken with an iPhone4S.
Carl and I are wondering if we should invest in a good camera.
What say you? (Suggestions on models, perhaps?)

14 Square Miles of dunes.

Amazing how you can scream as loud as you can and it doesn't reach very far.  The air just takes it away and perhaps the sand even drinks it in.

How did we learn about the our screaming not reaching very far?

Well, let me tell you a little story.


You see, it all started with this guy.

RUNNING.

And running.


He's in this picture, too.  Can you find him?

With the zoom on.

Carl and I started chasing after him, but...well, let's just say he was the Energizer bunny.
He kept going, and going, and going.

And going.

Once I reached the top of one of the dunes, I told Carl to (say this in a really dramatic voice) "Go on without me."  Then I pulled out my camera and snapped this picture of him.


He got a little farther (further?)  and got this one of me.  And this is with his little camera (iPhone) zooming in with all its might.

He got pretty far away from me before finally getting Austin's attention.  This was me, with the zoom on Carl's camera.

After finally catching Austin's attention, he was able to direct him to return to the car via hand waving and other exaggerated gestures.  Some foot stomping might've been involved.
{Eh hem.}

*We explained once again that when we are in wilderness, you cannot simply run without abandon.
I don't think 12 year old boys quite grasp the fact that mountain lions, coyotes and rattle snakes are deadly.*

And there are signs posted warning you of such things.
We even saw some animal tracks.  PROOF that the signs weren't telling us a tall tale!

Want to know what these were tracks of?
{Yeah, me too.  Heh, heh}

Again, no idea what little creature made this.

BUT THIS ONE, I CAN IDENTIFY!

By the time we got back to the car, our skin was a little more pink, and the sun was a little lower.

So we rushed on to our next destination in Death Valley...

Stay tuned!

Death Valley

A few weekends ago, the three of us set of for another adventure in the west.  We left on a Thursday soon as Carl got off work and headed down south to Bakersfield.  We arrived in Bakersfield and stayed in a little hotel that night, ready to take on our trip the next morning.

Friday morning we set out, heading for Death Valley.  Death Valley national park backs into the California border where it touches Nevada.  It's known for it's extreme summer temperatures, reaching up to 134 degrees!  Thankfully when we went, it was in the winter so we didn't have to experience those wretched summer temps!

We arrived into Death Valley and were amazed when we saw the canyon running through the park.  Not the Grand Canyon... just a really big, rocky one.  Ravens were flying around us, and it was quite a sight to behold.

 

After scoping out the canyon for a bit, we got back in the car and started heading more into the valley. We came upon a tiny town called Panamint Springs and decided to grab a bite to eat in the cabin type restaurant. We enjoyed ourselves, and Austin enjoyed climbing rocks.  

After we ate our super expensive lunch (one restaurant in the middle of nowhere kind of has a monopoly, ya know...) we drove further into the Valley. We got out to stretch our legs, so here we are in the desert.

 

Stay tuned to hear about the rest of our way through Death Valley, and beyond!