Death Valley, Vegas and the Hoover Dam

On Sunday morning we kicked off the next leg of Al & Wil's most excellent adventure from Bishop to Las Vegas via Death Valley.  Good little girl guides / boy scouts that we are, we first paid a visit to Erick Schat's bakery to grab some sandwiches for on the way.  Who would have thought - a Dutch bakery in the middle of nowhere serving some damn fine wiches !

Multiple tens of miles into the journey we entered Death Valley (cue some Darth Vader music).  The name alone strikes fear into the hardest of hearts; a place that can turn a man into a whimpering little girl and a whimpering little girl into a mushy almost melted marshmallow (ok, so maybe I've gone a little over the top there).



The journey - 508km in 8h 49mins

I wasn't expecting a whole lot from Death Valley to be honest.  I thought it would be just flat arid land for miles and miles, but I'm man enough to admit that I was very very wrong.  It was actually cool to see the large variation in landscape and coloration, though it wasn't that cool getting out of the car to take the odd photo.

Father Crowley Point including Alma (west side entrance).

Father Crowley Point after Alma had run back to the car to express her friendship with the airco.

Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes.  It started to get really hot from here on in.

Me messing around because the heat has gone to my head somewhere just before Harmony Borax Works

I unintentionally touched the road taking this one and came away with third degree burns.

They have quite a few hikes (seriously people ?!?!) and points of interest dotted throughout the valley.  There's even a tribe that still lives there (as if the tourists are going to fall for that one).  One of the places we stopped for all of 5 minutes before almost evaporating was called the Harmony Borax Works.  Back in the day, a mineral called Borax (commonly used in household cleaning products) was mined there.  The miners nicknamed it 'white gold' (though it's not gold) - it's good to keep things confusing as it kind of makes it easier for the heat stroke victims to blend in with the rest of us.

Harmony Borax Works where it's hot.

Harmony Borax Works where it's not getting any cooler any time soon.



Oh look - it's hot.  In fact, it's burning up (50C) at Furnace Creek Visitor's Center 58m below sea level.

We spent a good 20 minutes or so at the visitor's center - obviously for the cool air conditioning and toilet facilities as opposed to the educational value before heading on towards a couple of other points of interest.  The original plan was to drive via Bad Water, but that road was closed due to road damage caused by flash floods so instead we drove part of the way to see a few sites and then doubled back.  We started off with the Golden Canyon.  Alma couldn't muster the energy to get out of the car due to the heat so I had to face it alone.  After a 5 mile waterless hike, I eventually made it that far (at least that was my story when I got back to the car !).


Golden Canyon

After that, it was on to the Devil's Golf Course; the name derived from an old guide book that stated that only the devil could play golf on its surface.  You'd have to admit that the name does make you want to come and see it.  If it was called, "Bumpy old salt pan" - chances are you'd think twice.

Devil's Golf Course.

Last but not least before bursting on to Las Vegas for the night was the Artist's drive which derives its name from the rock colorations in the area - quite lovely really.

Artist's Drive

Now we all know that what happens in Vegas ... ends up on FaceBook before you've even realized what's happened - but this time it's all kosher family material like wonderful trips to the Hoover Dam !

 

There are two of these lads there.  Us mortals believe that touching their feet brings good luck.

Two of the intake towers being fed by Lake Mead.

For a moment we thought that our turtle from Hawaii was after following us.

Under pressure to make sure we got back in time for our Vegas show, we paid a quick visit to Lake Mead before lashing back on to the freeway to head back to the hotel.  The original plan was to have a picnic and a swim - but eh ... not this time !

Lake Mead.

We finished the evening off with a viewing (sounds very posh doesn't it?) of the Cirque du Soleil show Zumanity at the New York New York hotel.  The individual acts were amazing while they also managed to pull in a lot of humor into the show.  It was also one of those that have a lot of interaction with the audience.  If your unfortunate enough to be picked on and dragged up to the stage, you just know your life is over !!!