We're home from the long weekend. It's back to work tomorrow for a couple of days, then out of town again for me. I'll blog that when the time comes, no worries. For now, let me tell the tale of the weekend that was.
We set out late Saturday morning, heading up the 210 to the 14 and through Palmdale and Lancaster, cities I knew of from work but had never ventured to. From there it was onto smaller roads
that took us past the Trona Pinnacles
and Searles Lake, through the settlement of Trona (I was on the other side of the car from the town's buildings)
with its ongoing chemical mining operations, and then through Ridgecrest where we stopped for lunch. After that, it was back on small roads that opened up onto the Panamint Valley, one valley west from Death Valley.
We dropped down into it, and drove toward the park, stopping at the marker for the ghost town of Ballarat
and then at the sign for the entrance to Death Valley National Park.
There were a few blooms already visible,
though I think it won't be a great year for flowers unless we get more rain. We took pictures at the sign,
including of the Panamint Range and the snow on Telescope Peak,
then we headed east, deeper into the park.
There will be more sights from Death Valley in coming blog posts, but the first one that we got to admire (and come back to the next day) was the Mesquite Flat Dunes.
Gorgeous with the approaching sunset. A real delight. The sun dipped behind the Panamint Range,
and we made it to the hotel in dimming light.
Ah, the hotel. The Oasis at Death Valley. An historic site, a classic national parks hotel still nicely maintained. We stayed down below the main building, in the casitas.
But ah, what a fine building the main lodge is.
Come 7:00, we were sitting down to dinner in the dining room. Salmon for me, nicely prepared.
After dinner, we stopped by the pool bar,
and then it was home to the casita to unwind and head to bed so that we would be properly rested for a day of exploration.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment