I've been researching the National Parks that I want to go to this year, and found a fun little gem that tells me when their typical on/off seasons are. Two things I'm considering while I'm traveling are temperature/weather and crowds.
So, it's inevitable that I'm going to get hit by crowds of people just like me trying to enjoy the wonder of these parks. Great. Let's enjoy it together, but parking... man, that's hard to come by, so I'm aiming for mostly off season dates, with the exception of Death Valley, well, because it's HOT!!! And it was HOT even in the middle of winter, but not like a gross hot, it was a wonderful hot. Super duper wonderful!
We stopped in Vegas at our usual stop at the Bellagio. Stopping here I actually realized how much I miss Las Vegas, not in a gambling, get drunk, and be a weirdo and party all night long way, but Vegas has a TON of nostalgia for me, and it's just so pretty and fun to experience.
Vegas I missed you! I will be back very soon. :)
Aryn didn't remember most of it, but it's been in the background of her little life just as much as it's been in mine. There's a surprising amount to do there for kids, and I really want to bring Nick to see it.
This trip really kind of made me hate my car. Haha! We spent way too much time in it. I didn't know this upon arriving but Death Valley is one of the largest national parks, and to see it, you must drive, A LOT! Ugh. Still, we had a great time, but our hotel was a full hour outside of the park, and to get anywhere within the park it was at least 30min, mostly more, to see anything.
We sucked it up and went on our adventures, really soaking up the time to stretch our legs and walk for miles when we were out of the car. This meant we really only saw four "locations" and I'm sure that's not even a fraction of the park.
This was our first stop on our way into the park at Zabriskie Point:
After this we finally found our way to the visitors center at Furnace Creek, where we bought dinkie little sandwiches and a hat for Nick. PACK LOTS OF FOOD!!! I always do, but for real, do it for this trip.
The sun sets crazy early, so I was happy to get into the park when we did and get a run down from a ranger of where everything was and how long it took to get there. She was fantastic and actually came up with a game plan for us on what to see for the remainder of our day, and what to come back and explore the day after. Utilize this people, the rangers are SUPER helpful. She also gave Aryn the booklet to achieve her third Jr. Ranger badge. There's a small story that goes along with this, there always is, because I ramble a lot. ;)
So, stop 1 ( two if you count Zabriskie Point, which I almost don't, that was a happy accident because I didn't know where I was going and was getting frustrated by the loooong drive) ...
BAD WATER aka: Salt Flats (I know, I know, I could have stayed in SLC for that... but these flats are way awesome!)
It was the pattern in the ground from the salt build up, and the fact that there was an actual small lake out there, which is a very rare thing I guess, but in winter they can have lakes, and flash floods... etc. We walked about a mile out into the middle of the "lake" or valley floor, the lowest elevation you can really get in Death Valley which was 282 feet BELOW sea level. I was stupid excited about that. Had the ocean been around, it would have been crushing me, and I don't know why I loved that... not the crushing part, but just knowing we were that low... hard to explain my weird enthusiasm for that, so I'm going to stop trying. Guys, it's just cool. I also wish I was I mermaid, so maybe that's part of it...
Stop 2: Artist's Pallette
It was on the way back from Bad Water so an easy loop to explore, but we were loosing daylight, but honestly it just made the whole experience better. I mean the place is called Artist's Pallette, and enjoying that kind of natural and colorful landscape at magic hour?! AMAZING!
My pictures don't do it justice, but the ground we hiked on was literally purple. Purple, guys, purple! My shoes were also purple, and I tried to take a photo of them in the purple sand, but it just didn't do it justice. You have to go see the purple sand!
We enjoyed the sunset out there, and honestly, we were so tired so we didn't do this, but we should have stayed to enjoy the view of the stars (they had a guided ranger thing with telescopes), which is the BEST view probably in the entire nation. We did get to enjoy them on our drive back, and man, what a crazy and amazing view. You definitely feel connected to the universe experiencing things like that. I want to go back just for the view of the stars!
The next morning we actually went back on the drive through Artist's Pallette and did a bunch more hiking that we weren't able to do in the dark the night before. I took zero photos. It was so much prettier in the evening, but the hiking was super fun! We stopped at the top of a hill for a snack and watching the sun starts it's trek across the sky.
Stop 3, which was a half an hour drive in the opposite direction from the day before, were the Sand Dunes.
I have to tell you that it is the strangest thing to come up on the dunes in your car and just see them placed in the middle of the valley with nothing else surrounding them, they seemed entirely out of place, like someone had picked them up and just dropped them there. Where did they come from? How do they exist? It's so weird to me. Aryn was able to ask a ranger this question and the answer was the mountains surrounding them stop the sand from going anywhere else, but still, they seemed very random.
We did a LOT of walking all up and down the dunes and by the end I was thoroughly exhausted and dreaming of coffee.
The weirdest thing we saw there was a plane. Totally unexpected, but probably more tourists seeing it from above:
I've always had a weird obsession with sand, it's so gorgeous and I just want to bury my face in it. Look how pretty...
Aryn and I agreed that this was our favorite stop.
Surprisingly that ate a large chunk of our day. On our way out of the dunes I handed Aryn the map to see if there was something nearby we could stop and look at. She decided on a mine that we never actually found (bummer) BUT we did come across an adorable little general store, and guess what they had... COFFEE!!! The lady at the register laughed at me when I told her I was so excited for coffee. Haha! I wish we had stayed a little longer to take a look at the little establishment, but again we were loosing daylight, and I had one more stop I was SUPER excited to see...
Stop 4: Borax Mills established in 1883 and only ran for five years. This is where they mined borax, or salt, with a wagon that was pulled by 20 mules.
Personal happy place, I LOVE LOVE LOVE exploring old things like this and learning about the people and culture behind it all.
It's a little like going back in time. To think that there were people here once, working and walking across the hot salt flats, and wondering what that must have been like for them.
It was here that Aryn finally ran into a ranger to interview for her Jr. Ranger badge. It was our very last stop before leaving the park with an almost incomplete booklet. Lucky girl was nearly too shy to ask her questions, that she had memorized and completely impressed the ranger. Way to go kiddo.
Last stop, visitor center for Jr. Ranger badge completion (no, this is not a scout thing, it's just a happy little thing kids can do to preoccupy them through boring old park sites).
Good job kiddo! That makes 3 badges... ah, ah, ah...
Before driving home we stopped in Las Vegas again to see the Dolphin habitat at the Mirage, something I've loved since I was her age.
So, it's inevitable that I'm going to get hit by crowds of people just like me trying to enjoy the wonder of these parks. Great. Let's enjoy it together, but parking... man, that's hard to come by, so I'm aiming for mostly off season dates, with the exception of Death Valley, well, because it's HOT!!! And it was HOT even in the middle of winter, but not like a gross hot, it was a wonderful hot. Super duper wonderful!
We stopped in Vegas at our usual stop at the Bellagio. Stopping here I actually realized how much I miss Las Vegas, not in a gambling, get drunk, and be a weirdo and party all night long way, but Vegas has a TON of nostalgia for me, and it's just so pretty and fun to experience.
Vegas I missed you! I will be back very soon. :)
Aryn didn't remember most of it, but it's been in the background of her little life just as much as it's been in mine. There's a surprising amount to do there for kids, and I really want to bring Nick to see it.
This trip really kind of made me hate my car. Haha! We spent way too much time in it. I didn't know this upon arriving but Death Valley is one of the largest national parks, and to see it, you must drive, A LOT! Ugh. Still, we had a great time, but our hotel was a full hour outside of the park, and to get anywhere within the park it was at least 30min, mostly more, to see anything.
We sucked it up and went on our adventures, really soaking up the time to stretch our legs and walk for miles when we were out of the car. This meant we really only saw four "locations" and I'm sure that's not even a fraction of the park.
This was our first stop on our way into the park at Zabriskie Point:
After this we finally found our way to the visitors center at Furnace Creek, where we bought dinkie little sandwiches and a hat for Nick. PACK LOTS OF FOOD!!! I always do, but for real, do it for this trip.
The sun sets crazy early, so I was happy to get into the park when we did and get a run down from a ranger of where everything was and how long it took to get there. She was fantastic and actually came up with a game plan for us on what to see for the remainder of our day, and what to come back and explore the day after. Utilize this people, the rangers are SUPER helpful. She also gave Aryn the booklet to achieve her third Jr. Ranger badge. There's a small story that goes along with this, there always is, because I ramble a lot. ;)
So, stop 1 ( two if you count Zabriskie Point, which I almost don't, that was a happy accident because I didn't know where I was going and was getting frustrated by the loooong drive) ...
BAD WATER aka: Salt Flats (I know, I know, I could have stayed in SLC for that... but these flats are way awesome!)
It was the pattern in the ground from the salt build up, and the fact that there was an actual small lake out there, which is a very rare thing I guess, but in winter they can have lakes, and flash floods... etc. We walked about a mile out into the middle of the "lake" or valley floor, the lowest elevation you can really get in Death Valley which was 282 feet BELOW sea level. I was stupid excited about that. Had the ocean been around, it would have been crushing me, and I don't know why I loved that... not the crushing part, but just knowing we were that low... hard to explain my weird enthusiasm for that, so I'm going to stop trying. Guys, it's just cool. I also wish I was I mermaid, so maybe that's part of it...
Stop 2: Artist's Pallette
It was on the way back from Bad Water so an easy loop to explore, but we were loosing daylight, but honestly it just made the whole experience better. I mean the place is called Artist's Pallette, and enjoying that kind of natural and colorful landscape at magic hour?! AMAZING!
My pictures don't do it justice, but the ground we hiked on was literally purple. Purple, guys, purple! My shoes were also purple, and I tried to take a photo of them in the purple sand, but it just didn't do it justice. You have to go see the purple sand!
We enjoyed the sunset out there, and honestly, we were so tired so we didn't do this, but we should have stayed to enjoy the view of the stars (they had a guided ranger thing with telescopes), which is the BEST view probably in the entire nation. We did get to enjoy them on our drive back, and man, what a crazy and amazing view. You definitely feel connected to the universe experiencing things like that. I want to go back just for the view of the stars!
The next morning we actually went back on the drive through Artist's Pallette and did a bunch more hiking that we weren't able to do in the dark the night before. I took zero photos. It was so much prettier in the evening, but the hiking was super fun! We stopped at the top of a hill for a snack and watching the sun starts it's trek across the sky.
Stop 3, which was a half an hour drive in the opposite direction from the day before, were the Sand Dunes.
I have to tell you that it is the strangest thing to come up on the dunes in your car and just see them placed in the middle of the valley with nothing else surrounding them, they seemed entirely out of place, like someone had picked them up and just dropped them there. Where did they come from? How do they exist? It's so weird to me. Aryn was able to ask a ranger this question and the answer was the mountains surrounding them stop the sand from going anywhere else, but still, they seemed very random.
We did a LOT of walking all up and down the dunes and by the end I was thoroughly exhausted and dreaming of coffee.
The weirdest thing we saw there was a plane. Totally unexpected, but probably more tourists seeing it from above:
I've always had a weird obsession with sand, it's so gorgeous and I just want to bury my face in it. Look how pretty...
Aryn and I agreed that this was our favorite stop.
Surprisingly that ate a large chunk of our day. On our way out of the dunes I handed Aryn the map to see if there was something nearby we could stop and look at. She decided on a mine that we never actually found (bummer) BUT we did come across an adorable little general store, and guess what they had... COFFEE!!! The lady at the register laughed at me when I told her I was so excited for coffee. Haha! I wish we had stayed a little longer to take a look at the little establishment, but again we were loosing daylight, and I had one more stop I was SUPER excited to see...
Stop 4: Borax Mills established in 1883 and only ran for five years. This is where they mined borax, or salt, with a wagon that was pulled by 20 mules.
Personal happy place, I LOVE LOVE LOVE exploring old things like this and learning about the people and culture behind it all.
It's a little like going back in time. To think that there were people here once, working and walking across the hot salt flats, and wondering what that must have been like for them.
It was here that Aryn finally ran into a ranger to interview for her Jr. Ranger badge. It was our very last stop before leaving the park with an almost incomplete booklet. Lucky girl was nearly too shy to ask her questions, that she had memorized and completely impressed the ranger. Way to go kiddo.
Last stop, visitor center for Jr. Ranger badge completion (no, this is not a scout thing, it's just a happy little thing kids can do to preoccupy them through boring old park sites).
Good job kiddo! That makes 3 badges... ah, ah, ah...
Before driving home we stopped in Las Vegas again to see the Dolphin habitat at the Mirage, something I've loved since I was her age.
And that concludes our trip to Death Valley (and Las Vegas).
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