A Trip to Death Valley

Last week, we ventured up to Death Valley to visit Edward's sister, Jennifer, and her husband Andrew. We've been planning this trip for quite some time. It was over Madison's spring break and happened to coincide with the end of a course here, so Edward could take a few days off. Our last trip to Death Valley to visit them was two years ago when I was eight months pregnant with Alex. Coupled with how sick I was and the seven hour drive, this trip was much better! We had a really good visit and enjoyed hanging out with Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Andrew.

The first evening there, we grilled out. Jennifer and Andrew live and work there, so they grilled out while we setup at our hotel room. We ate right outside of our room. Prior to the trip, we found these great chairs for the kids. They were unveiled this evening, so the kids were delighted with their surprise.

This is what the lodging looks like at Death Valley. There are several buildings like this, and we were very fortunate to have a ground floor room. We did last time too and requested it this time. That way, we could just eat and play outside of our room. The kids spent HOURS sitting in the grass picking up ladybugs. They miss grass so much! There wasn't any grass at Death Valley either, aside from here at the hotel.

Driving around...looks a lot like Yuma, except that we NEVER have clouds in Yuma!

So, our second day, we decided to go on a small hike at Mosaic Canyon. We knew the kids wouldn't be able to go far with temps near 100 already and Alex being pretty little. Luckily, my wonderful neighbor, Kellie, had given me her Kelty pack. She had mentioned months ago she still had it (youngest kid of theirs is five), and she had loved it for their three kids in Hawaii (stationed there). Anyways, she said she didn't know what shape it was in, but I could have it. It's in awesome shape! Plus, it worked perfectly. It's like we did a barter trade. Madison is at least a size bigger than their five-year-old, so we traded clothing for the pack, haha. Alex threw a major fit when we put him in it. He really let loose, but after a few minutes, he realized getting a free ride wasn't such a bad deal. Thanks again, Kellie!

Jumping fools

This is how narrow the canyon got.

Alex enjoying himself (with Jennifer behind us)

Rocky and dry

Madison and Luke just loved climbing all the rocks.

Madison wasn't too excited about this hike to start, but she fell in love with the rocks.

Madison and her pal, Aunt Jennifer. These two have a lot of fun together. The first night we were there, they camped out at a campsite across the street from our hotel. Luke wanted to go, but he fell asleep. Jennifer said Madison asked tons of questions and talked her to sleep basically. The next morning, she reported to Jennifer she heard coyotes running by after Jennifer fell asleep. I'm sure she did!

The girls (with Alex)

Family picture

Look how sandy and dusty she has gotten!

We left the canyon and stopped at Salt Creek to see the endangered fish species of pupfish. Alex was delighted to find some water in the bleak desert.

Luke spent most of his time stomping in the water.

Hard to see the small pupfish

Boys

Man, Alex is obsessed with rocks! It doesn't help our front yard is all rock. He carries rocks everywhere and was very glad to haul some around in Death Valley.

Gas prices in Death Valley...yes, that's $5.40 for 87 octane.

We had a picnic lunch after our hike and stop at the pupfish. The weather was kicking up with wind and sand blowing, so we enjoyed our day while we could. This is right by the hotel, on the golf course, where we had our lunch. The kids acted out "Little House on the Prairie" with their Conestoga wagon.

Silly faces

Saturday night, we had a birthday party for Luke. Jennifer made this great cake for Luke, and we brought Batman plates for his party. He's been talking about this little party for months, and we had a nice, relaxing evening. We had pizza and cake...and a windstorm!

A very cool Hot Wheels set

Sunday morning, we got ready to leave Death Valley. On our way out, we checked out a couple of sites. This is called the Devil's Golf Course, and you can see how rocky looking the terrain is. This stuff is hard to walk on and is very sharp! It's some sort of calcified salt, and it's definitely a challenge to walk on. We always joke at how life would have been so terrible for the settlers traveling west to discover Death Valley. I mean, the heat, horrible terrain...it's amazing any made it to the ocean. I'm sure many wagon trains thought, "Sure, there's an ocean and nice place to live beyond those mountains." And yes, that is snow on top of the mountains.

Yeah, this would not have been pleasant with a wagon.

This area, amist the rough terrain is Pluto's Hole. No, that's not snow. It's salt. Being so far below sea level, there is salt everywhere!!!! Jennifer and Andrew said the hole used to be bigger, but salt keeps filling it in. It's amazing to find these little springs of water in the middle of a desolate desert.

Family pictures-very windy still, so hard to get one

Snow?? Nope, that is salt. The white stuff can be seen everywhere, and it's all salt. The white stuff at the TOP of the picture is snow on top of the mountains.

Here we are, just a few miles down the road at the lowest point in the U.S., 282 feet below sea level. This is called Badwater Basin because a settler moving through here brought his oxen to drink here, and they refused to drink the salty water. He, then, called it "bad water."

We took this same picture last visit, but minus one kid :)

Very hard to see, but about two-thirds of the way up the mountain is the "Sea Level" sign. That's how far below sea level we were.

One interesting fact we've discovered over the last two years, is that Yuma is almost always five to eight degrees WARMER than Death Valley. Sadly, when you are talking about temps of 120 degrees plus, five degrees doesn't mean a thing (except that it's VERY hot)!!!!

Thanks for showing us around Death Valley, again, Jennifer and Andrew! We enjoyed visiting and will miss hanging out with you guys after we move. It's been nice having family "close" the winter months of the year out here!

We continued our trip in Palm Springs, where Edward attended a military medical conference. The kids and I enjoyed a couple of days at the pool and outlet mall. We met up with my childhood friend, Carin, who lives a couple hours from Palm Springs. It was really great seeing her again before we move. The kids had a blast with her, and it was great having some help at the pool with the three kids while Edward was in his meetings.

Back home now...one more trip-a work retreat to San Diego-before we move...