Darwin Falls and Movie Road

One of the best things about our lifestyle is being able to take time to see the “small stuff.” On our way out of Death Valley we drove to Stovepipe Wells and Panamint Springs and hiked back to Darwin Falls. Who would guess there’s a waterfall in this desert. It was a fun hike back and forth across a creek and up and down rocks but worth the effort to see the vertical falls and clear pool.

The drive across the Sierra’s was a white knuckle one – a winding road with steep cliffs and big downgrades! We unhooked the car so I followed Roger in the car. I’m sure the scenery was breathtaking but neither of us took our eyes off the road! We went from 285 feet below sea level to over 5,000 feet at Town Pass then back down to about 1500 feet.

We were both looking forward to the town of Lone Pine – anxious to see something green if only a “lone pine!” Roger read a blog about boondocking in this area so we made our way to their “favorite campsite of all” in the Alabama Hills at the base of Mt. Whitney. We were not disappointed!

Lone Pine and the Movie Road area is know as a favorite movie filming location – especially, the old westerns but also more recent films. You can drive down Movie Road and just camp anywhere – we found a great place with a fire pit and leftover wood. The view of the snow capped mountains is gorgeous.

We toured the Lone Pine Film History Museum this morning – what a trip down memory lane. Names like: Hop Along Cassidy, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, The Lone Ranger, and of course “The Duke” John Wayne. Episodes of Rawhide and the movies – Gunga Din, How the West was Won and many other old westerns were filmed here. More recent movies are: Django Unchained, Tremors, and Iron Man. We keep expecting to see the Lone Ranger and Tonto race by on Silver – right Kemo Sabay??

After lunch we toured the Manzanar National Historic Site. Not a proud time in United States history. It is one of nine internment camps for Japanese Americans during World War II. In all about 110,000  people were held in these camps from 1942 until 1945 – 18,000 at Manzanar – and none were ever found to be anti-American of subversives. In fact, several were killed in action serving in our military while their families were held captive! Of course, we have heard about these camps but never really knew the details or appreciated the families sacrifices.

Scotty's Castle

No pictures because we didn't go see it!! It is literally a castle built in the far northern part of the park by a wealthy Chicago businessman in the 1930's. He and his wife loved the serenity of the desert. It is built over a natural spring and has many innovative designs for the time. They offer 2 tours - one of the house and one of the underground. Unfortunately, for some reason they were not offering the underground tour while we were here and of course, that's the one Roger really wanted to see. Add to that the fact that it is an hour forty five minute drive from Furnace Creek and when I called to make our reservations the recording said "due to road construction expect up to 45 minute delays." A possible 3 hour drive through the desert - each way - did not sound like fun to me!!

Furnace Creek Golf Course

 

 

The Furnace Creek Golf Course is watered by water from a spring near the resort. It flows through the swimming pool and into pools that provide landscaping for the course. Two coyotes ran across the fairway in front of us and then watched us from the shade!

 

 



Death Valley - Part 2

I am pleasantly surprised by this place - it wasn't on my top 10 bucket list! We have lucked out with cooler weather than usual and so have done more hiking than we thought we would.
A ranger said "90% of the visitors to the park are foreigners" - we haven't heard much English around here!

Dante's Peak



Sunset at Zabinski Point







Salt Creek

It is hard to believe that this marsh and creek is in Death Valley - it's the home of the tiny "pupfish" - that has acclimated to salt water.

 



Mosaic Canyon



"20 Mule Team Borax" Wagons

They mined borax from Death Valley for about 5 years. All we knew about it was from the TV - "20 Mule Team Borax" theatre and detergent. They hired Chinese laborers to scoop the borax (looks like salt) from the desert floor and haul it in wagons to a processing area where they boiled it and then dried it into crystals. The crystals were then loaded into wagons and pulled by 20 mule teams to trains in Mohave. I am amazed at the history I know nothing about!  We will never complain about how our jobs sometimes "sucked!"



Death Valley - Part 1

We literally "blew into" Death Valley National Park today - amidst 30-40 mph winds with 50 mph gusts! The dust blew so bad at times that you couldn't see in front of you and it pricked your skin. We parked and got out to go into the Visitor Center and it almost blew me over. I was trying to be positive and think how I was getting a free microdermabrasion but I was too gritty to enjoy it! We could even feel sand in our teeth! And the motorhome windowsills are covered with dust.
We got settled in the campground and decided it was too miserable outside to go anywhere so we thought we would go over the to Wrangler restaurant where they offered great steak dinners. At $42 for the cheapest steak we opted for a hamburger in the Saloon!
It gusted and blew and eventually rained - yes, rain! - during the night and this morning it was a beautiful 60 degrees with clear skies and no wind! Average temperature here in April is in the 90's.
The hottest day on record here was in July 1913 at 134 degrees. The caretaker of Furnace Creek Ranch - where we are camped - wrote that birds were falling out of the sky dead.
We explored the Badwater Basin - 282 feet below sea level - named by an early explorer because his donkey wouldn't drink the "bad water" - it was too salty. Roger and I were wondering how they got there to begin with! The ground looks like freshly plowed soil with hard salt crystals. 

We then hiked to Natural Bridge......

 

 

 

This picture is from the 8 mile Artist's Palette Drive ...........

 



 

Our first view of snow covered mountains this trip!

 

 

 

 



 

 



Lake Mead - Valley of Fire State Park

This is the view of Lake Mead from our front window. Notice how far the water line has receded - about 50 feet. But, it is still beautiful. Hoover Dam is just down the that canyon.

We rode our bikes on the Historic Railroad Trail this morning. It is about 4 miles long and follows the old railroad grade that was built to transport supplies to build the Hoover Dam in the early 1930's  There are 5 tunnels along the way. A fun trip but, we were disappointed that there was no good view of the dam at the end of the trail. The surface was gravel - loose gravel - so the going was tough and then no reward at the end! The helicopters giving tours of the dam were buzzing overhead like bees. We had to take the car to actually see the dam and the new bridge that was built after 9/11. We're pooped tonight!

We are seeing a lot of rented RV's, typical of the west, most with Europeans visiting our National Parks. There was a family from Switzerland next to us last night - three little girls that made us miss Samantha and Emily more than usual!

Yesterday we explored Valley of Fire State Park near Las Vegas. A scenic area of rock formations but we didn't do as much hiking as we hoped because the trails were deep soft sand and we aren't conditioned for that much work!

Westward Ho!

Well we left our little piece of paradise in Palm Creek Resort this morning and are headed for new adventures. We are on our way to the Hoover Dam area to try a new bike trail and hike a slot canyon and then on to Death Valley. Unfortunately, all our frig delays have made sure that the temperatures will be really hot by the time we get there! Probably won't hike - a Jeep tour sounds much better!

The Roadrunners have a storage unit in Quartzsite where they keep the club supplies for big rallies - no one has room to carry with them! - so we volunteered to take everything back on our way to Vegas. We ended up spending the night there - a ghost town compared to the winter rally! Hard to believe people live there year round - gets into the 120's in the summer!!

I am amazed at the saguaro cactus - some are so big and ugly looking - and yet in the springtime the blossoms are beautiful!

Easter 2014

Look what the Easter Bunny brought us! Between the new counters, sinks and tile plus the new refrigerator we have a whole new house! The frig will take some getting used to - it's big and tall - like the elephant in the room! Poor Roger worked all day taking the old frig out and getting the hole ready for the new one and then another whole day installing and hooking up the new one. The biggest problem was securing it to the coach so it wouldn't slide out as we are traveling down the road. Then I had to go to Target and get shelf liner and containers to put the food in so it won't slide around on the glass shelves. We are both tall but the top shelf is a challenge to reach! Think we will like the big freezer drawer though .

Annual Alfa Rally - 2014

We have had a great time at the Alfa "pre-rally" for our chapter - the "Roadrunners" - and then the Annual Alfa Rally for all the chapters here at Palm Creek RV Resort. There were 122 rigs from all over the United States. It was so good to see "old" friends and make new ones. Our good friends, Mike and Lorraine, were the Rally Masters and did a fantastic job. No one has volunteered to organize it next year because they are such a hard act to follow! All the dinners were catered by the resort and the food was exceptional. Between "happy hours" and the meals our waistlines and livers are suffering!!

There are several vendors here so we had 3 more windows fixed - they were "foggy" - and then after we saw what the RV tank cleaner guy was washing out of other rigs - basically, petrified poop! - we decided to have our gray and black water tanks power cleaned. OMG!!
We returned from the golf tournament yesterday to discover our refrigerator had died. We have delayed our travels until we can either get it fixed or install a new one. Hard to deal with it on Sunday so Roger has a good excuse to relax and watch the Masters Golf Tournament. Overall, it is a good place to have it happen but, wish it had done it this winter and not just as we were ready to leave for new adventures! Guess the RV gods figure we haven't spent enough money on it this year!!
There is an article about Pickleball in the new FMCA magazine and Palm Creek RV Resort is featured with a nice picture of the courts here.