Survived Death Valley

Headed down the Generals Highway out of Sequoia park only to confirm what the lady at the hotel said was true. What we did yesterday was the easy way into the park. Miles and miles of very windy roads and 10mph turns. Finally got on to the 70mph multi lane expressway and started making good time. Needing some essential items and some lunch we (stupidly) decided to stop in Bakersfield. Now I am sure lots of good things come from there but we didn't see any and the never ending roadworks and road changes since our sat nav maps were produced meant that mission was only partially successful and wasted nearly two hours. After passing the biggest farm of wind turbines I have ever seen we started to move into more desert like scenery. Stopped briefly at the ghost town of Ballarat (the namesake of my birthplace) we made it to Stovepipe Wells at sunset. Later than we had hoped for (curse you Bakersfield) but the lighting on the landscape was sensational.





Happy also to discover that the resort there was more sophisticated than you might expect for such a remote location.

Despite a raging sandstorm (and the lowest temperatures anyone can remember courtesy of a cold front from Alaska sweeping through), we set forth on Tuesday to Rhyolite, a ghost town built late 1800's but was pretty much deserted by early 1900's.

Has a number of sculptures by an artists collective nearby with my favourite the surreal "Last Supper".

Off to Furnace Creek and then on to Devils Golf Course and Badwater. Stark but beautiful scenery. Checked in to the hotel and then headed off to Zabriski Point and then Dante's view around sunset.

View partially obscured by the sand storm but still impressive. Temperature dropped from 65F before we started up Dantes view and it was 41F by the time we got to the top (5400ft).

Heading to Vegas tomorrow