Today's adventure took us into Death Valley. It was a long day we left at 9am and got home after 8pm but it was a great day. The desert is so picturesque and peacful. We can never seem to get enough of it. The first picture is looking down toward the last picture. In the 1st picture we are on Dante's Peak which is 5282 ft above the last picture and is 59F. In the last picture Yvonne and I are 282 ft below sea level and the temp. is 88F.

Early in the morning we toured the ghost town of Ryolite which was an old mining town that has since shut down. Spring flowers where in great abundance on the valley floor. We toured another old mining site which was the Borax mining company. For those oldies but moldies about my age, you will probably remember Boraxo. This is where it came from until it was mined in other areas where the weather was not as severe as here.

Virtualy ever kind of rock formation can be found in this 3.4 million acre park. There is lava rock, rock formations when the seas came in a left sediment , as well rocks that were scarred and left by the ice age. There is white, green, blue, red, black ,brown and many other different shades of sand and rock that is abundant here. Unfortunately a camera lens cannot capture every shade.

Death Valley has gotten its name from the many people that travelled out here during the California gold rush and many in our modern society that have gone for a short hike and did not take enough water. The hottest day on record here was July 10th 1913. 137F 52C. Oh yes it cools down at night to about 100f. In the summer the rocks are so hot you can burn yourself touching or leaning uo against them. You can actually fry eggs on these rocks. We are going to lay low tomorrow and I will post just pictures so you can see some more of this neat place.

We are here for 3 more days and then off to Vegas to meet our friend Dan and pick up some stained glass supplies. Then we will be in St. Georges touring Bryce and Zion Nat. Parks.

Take care all . Jim