After loading our luggage on top of the van, we head west out of Vegas for a 3 hour ride to Death Valley. We stop in Pahrump, NV for lunch at a great sandwich shop called Port of Subs, and stock up on drinks for the week at the grocery store. I buy a box of Puffs tissues and another bag of Ricola cough drops. They would be my staple for the week. With Lynn following in the Trooper, our little caravan heads off to Death Valley.
Pahrump, NV. View of the Spring Mtns from parking lot.
It’s obvious what is important to this group!
If stranded in the desert, be sure to have plenty of booze!
The van has all our gear, the Trooper has all our food and drinks.
That’s Lynn back there, on the road to Death Valley
A first look at Telescope Mtn. tallest in Death Valley NP at 11, 049 ft.
Dust Devils-The winds were still blowing Monday
Eagle Rock-Horizontal layers of strata pushed eastwards almost vertically
Opera House at the end of the rail line for borax mining. Run by Marta Becket since 1968.
www.amargosa-opera-house.com
www.amargosa-opera-house.com
Last “real” bathroom we’ll see for a few days.
Golden Evening Primrose were in bloom everywhere
Creosote bushes everywhere
the terrain is very varied
Our campsite in the Funeral Mtns.
Hole in the Wall
Elevation 1800 ft.
Mudstone badlands at camp
This is our kitchen and dining room!
This fossil is of a gastropod-stomach-foot. They were everywhere.
We are ready for happy hour
Steve and Lynn preparing our appetizer
Warm spinach-artichoke dip and pita chips-this didn’t last long at all!
a snake! we didn’t see any real ones
Cotton top cactus
flowering Beavertail cactus
5pm-the shadows lengthen looking towards Hole in the Wall
preparing our delicious dinner
a first look at what we dubbed “Poop Canyon”
yay! I made it to Death Valley!
guess it hasn’t rained in a while
Closeup of a cottontop cactus
Shadows getting longer…
I’m going all Ansel Adams here
Eagerly awating dinner
our first sunset
it got chilly very fast when the sun went down
once dark, the stars were beautiful!
and our first dinner-pork medallions, grilled asparagus, apple chutney, salad, with apple pie and whipped cream for dessert!
