Traveling with Michelle: To the death . . .

Monday, 13 July, 2015

Nevada, California

Today our only itinerary item was to see Death Valley. The temps were forecast at 113 for Death Valley for today. Death Valley is a national park. We ordered a National Park pass online before we left—it has already more than paid for itself! We drove through the park and got out twice to take pictures. We found that the valley used to be full of beautiful lakes. But then came the volcanoes and earthquakes. In the photos, the black is lava. The volcanoes and earthquakes left this behind. And today, it was HOT!!! We got there at noon so that it wouldn’t be as hot, but it was already around 110. Signs everywhere warn of heat problems. There are many towns in Death Valley—I think the majority are Shoshone Native American villages. We saw one gas station—over 4 dollars per gallon!!! In Minnesota, we’ve been paying between 2.50 and 2.80, and this morning’s gas at Boulder City was just over 3 dollars. But, I digress. We discussed the temperature and agreed that 90 degrees with 70 degree dewpoints (60 is considered tropical), which we had before we left, is equally, if not more, uncomfortable than 110 degree dry heat.

Joshua and Shelby

We also came upon some sand dunes. I was driving, so I couldn't take photos from the road (soft shoulder) so I stopped at a viewing place. I tried to climb up one of the dunes that other people were looking from, but the fiery hot sand slid into my sandals and burned my feet!! So the photos are less interesting than they actually were.

We went through one town that had the elevation of -195 feet (195 feet below sea level). As we were getting toward the edge of the park, there were large hills to pass through. They were quite steep both up and down and I had to keep downshifting. When I tried to upshift, the speedometer went straight down no matter how much I pressed down on the gas. Of course, the air conditioner and the extreme heat probably were putting their stress on the engine as well. At one point, a sign suggested turning off your air conditioning for the next 20 miles so that your car would not overheat. We stuck it out and our strong Honda Fit triumphed.

After that, we drove small roads through many small non-tourist towns; they were very cute. Then we reached the small town of Bishop, CA where our hotel is. It is a nice small town. We unpacked and relaxed from being in the car and snacked on almonds. Later we walked down the street about half a mile to a restaurant I noticed as we drove into town and the desk clerk recommended--Jack's Restaurant and Bakery. The food and service were OK, but not great. Then we walked further to the local grocery store to get food for a picnic lunch tomorrow. Upon our return, the children went swimming--cold pool, warm hot tub.