Death Valley - Lone Pine - Cambria

Death Valley – 26C at 8 am, and this is Autumn.  Would not recommend it in the summer, apparently it is 45C day and night.  It was interesting going from Vegas which is so busy, along the interstate highway to Death Valley.  The desert is full of saltbush and small sparse bushes.  Very stark landscape, not unlike moonscape.  Occasional Sand Dunes, but nothing like the coastal areas.  The amazing difference in the mountains in the background was what made it very interesting for all of us.  There were lots of Winnebago.  It was a $20 fee to drive through Death Valley, not bad as National Park fees go!

Zabriski Point

This is a very spectacular part of Death Valley.  

 It was a reasonably steep climb to the lookout but so worth the view.   

Miles and miles of spectacular valley and rock formations.   

Dozens of people here, buses and cars. 

Kurt looking splendid against the backdrop

 

  Beautiful blue sky

Artist Drive

This was an interesting 13 kilometre one way drive that showcased the different colours in the mountain range.  Some of the rocks looked like camouflage and others looked just beautiful.  You could pull over every kilometre or so to take pics.  We were quite amazed at how blue they sky was.  A beautiful contrast to the mountains.

Badwater

We then travelled another 24 kms to the salt flats called badwater.  The salt has made the water undrinkable and hence the locals call it badwater.  It is part of the national park and is being reclaimed.  It is very fragile landscape here.

Badwater is 284 feet BELOW sea level, pretty cool place!

We spent the night at Stovepipe wells, right in the middle of Death Valley.   

The staff there were very friendly, and we noticed a lot of German tourists.  Beautiful sunrise in the desert.  The mountains change colour in all lights.  Got Andy a great TeeShirt here and I picked up some nice coral earrings.

We drove through Death Valley to Lone Pine, got in about 5.30, a longish day.  The local Lone Pine Move Museum features artifacts from great western movies.  The museum stays open until 7.00 pm and for the $5 entry, you get to sit through a classic western. 

The museum was fascinating, had so many brilliants exhibits, my favourite being the white Cadillac covered in silver dollars, donated by Nudies, a local western celebrity. 

 So many movie posters beautifully framed and lots of costumes.    

We got to see Hopalong Cassidy.  You know what, it was much better watching this in the landscape that you had just visited, you could recognise the land marks. Thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Andy loved the museum posing with some of his favourite stars

We stayed at Dow Villas and Amanda booked Andy and me into the John Wayne room, apparently the room he used to stay in during filming at Lone Pine. 

 You could almost feel his presence there. Not a good photo of Andy and the Duke, will lighten it later.

Lone Pine is a delightful little town of about 1600 people.  Many employment here is the provision of utilities of water and power and the museum girl was telling us that most people in town work for the County. She worked at the hospital, the same as her mother and grandmother.  Her fiancé is an electrician.  The Sierra Nevada mountains in the background were quite majestic with Mt Whitney the most famous of them.  Amanda and Kurt both commented that it reminded them of New Zealand.

Much cooler weather as we had climbed about 5,000 feet.

Lone Pine to Cambria

We had to descend from the Mountains, through much more desert, and then along Hwy 395 and across to the Hwy 399.  Today has been a lot of driving but it is so interesting to see the change in the landscape. 

  I have managed to avoid driving, leaving it to the experts.  I am happy sitting in the back seat keeping baby amused.  She is a good little traveller, finding Andy’s hat the most entertaining toy today.  You see it has mesh bits on it and a cord and she can chew on the edge and it feels good.  Phoebe cut her fifth tooth in the last couple of days, doing well!

Tonight Nanny and Grumpy are going to have Phoebe sleep with us, to give mum and dad a night off.  We cant expect her to sleep all day in the car and all night as well now can we.

Have crocheted about 8 squares so far, but am running out of yarn.  Hopefully will pick some up when we hit San Fran in a couple of days.  Have not seen a craft shop yet.

We have seen a few signs on the roads about voting and a little on tv, but not as much as I expected.  There has been a little talk about the damage in New York.  Amanda and Kurt are due to travel on to New York in about 16 days time.  Will email the hotel next week to see how it is going.  Apparently they are forecasting another big storm, this time with snow!