Death Valley

Friday July 13, 2012

Before heading out of Vegas, we wanted to visit the "Pawn Stars" store and also get our picture in front of the iconic "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign. Both are on the strip with the "Gold and Silver" pawn shop north and the fabulous sign south. We go north first to the pawn shop.

Pawn Stars

Then we head south.

Fabulous

What the heck. I'm feeling especially festive so we stop at a Duncan Donuts and get a dozen donuts for breakfast. After that acquisition, we have one last stop to get fuel and we'll be ready to go. While at the gas stop, Audrey and Jill decide to get some hot chocolate to go with the donuts.

Is This a Good Idea?

Now it's off to Death Valley. This is the part of the trip that will be new to me. I wanted to visit the park on my spring trip, but I decided to bypass Death Valley and Yosemite due to time constraints.

We entered the park from the south on S-178. This road goes north through the valley and the scenery is spectacular. My preconceived notions of Death Valley were obliterated. It is one of the most dramatic landscapes one could ever behold. As a bonus, we had the good fortune of an overcast day so the temperatures were moderate for the season. In fact, we had a little rain at the beginning of the passage.

Death Valley was awesome! The scenery was jaw dropping and the roads entertaining. I couldn't help thinking how much fun this would have been on my motorcycle.

Exiting the park, we ran into a traffic jam. That's right, there's only a handful of cars in hundreds of square miles and we hit a traffic jam. Apparently there was a flash flood and the road was washed out. Luckily we showed up after it had been blocked for a couple of hours. We only had to wait about five minutes.

Washed Out

We've covered a lot of ground today and now are headed to the Sequoia National Park and Yosemite. It's way past lunch time, so we decide to stop at a rest stop for a picnic. We still have six Nathan's hot dog wieners, so I get out the burner and pan to do some hot dog cooking.

Yummy Hot Dogs

Since there were only six wieners, the adults let the junior travelers have two dogs each. Debbie and I each had one hot dog and a sandwich. It was all good, but I was a little concerned about cooking the dogs completely with the pan I was using. I didn't have any oil and the heat transfer was a little iffy using my warped cookware. Nobody complained so I must have done it right.

On the road again, we are headed to Bakersfield, CA for the evening. Once there, we find a hotel and pile in for the evening. I'm not feeling that great and Jill is still coughing. A good rest is very welcome at this point. The only thing I know about Bakersfield is Buck Owens, Merle Haggard and Dwight Yokham. Buck moved here, Merle hailed from here, and Dwight sang about the place.

A long day comes to an end.

Photos