Day 2 - Death Valley to Las Vegas

We're off to an early start today! Sunrise at Zabriskie's Point is supposed to be fabulous so we're on the road by 6:20am. We make it there just in time ... to see the sun hiding behind the clouds. Still, the gentle slopes of Zabriskie are a sight to behold:

We return to the hotel for the elaborate breakfast buffet and eat as much as we can. It's going to be a long day and who knows when we'll be able to eat again. After breakfast we check out the general store next door and pick up some souvenirs, then on to the Borax museum. Death Valley was once a mining site for borax. These are a few of the old coaches.

After checking out we decide to head over to the Devil's Golf Course. The road there is closed because of recent flooding, but we're not easily deterred. "Hey, that's not bad!" I said. Well, let's just say that it's hard to tell distances here. After a while we can't even see where we parked the car anymore, but the view is incredible:

A close up of the sharp salt deposits the area was named after:

Even the mud cracks here have salt on them:

A short distance down the road is the lowest point in the entire northern hemisphere. It's named Badwater Basin after a pioneer said it was "bad water" because his donkey refused to drink from the salty water.

There's a small amount of water at the basin all year round. It's home to a rare species of snails, but we didn't see any.

The way back leads us past Artist Drive, a one way canyon that winds through a series of bizarre colored mountains.

The most famous part of the canyon is a viewing area called Artist's Palette. The mountains there are a mix of mint green, rose pink and other strange colors.

Another green mountain on the way out:

The weather at this point is starting to become more ominous and the wind is howling around the car. A sign next to the road warns against dust storms like this one:

In the shelter of the canyon it's still very pleasant and we decide to take a short walk into Golden Canyon. It's considered an easy hike with its mostly flat terrain and we walk on and on without realizing how far we've gone. Sandy poses in a hollow in the rock wall:

I do the same:

There's supposed to be a spectacular formation of red rocks past the end of the trail and once we figure out that we've already almost completed the trail it makes sense to just keep on going. It's called Red Rock Cathedral and the rocks are arranged in vertical bands, somewhat like an organ. I took a few pictures of it, but as it turns out there was something even better at the end of the trail.

It's not listed on the trail map, probably because it's a very steep climb (going downhill was not easy), but the view back towards the salt flats was incredible. You can tell how high up on the mountain I was by looking at Sandy; she's right in the middle towards the bottom of the picture. The picture really does not do this place justice. The way the little bit of sunlight reflected off the salt was unreal!

Another nice view on the way back to the car:

And a picture of desert holly about to bloom. You see them everywhere.

We say goodbye to Death Valley and drive to Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. It's starting to rain now and we're glad to be out of the narrow canyons of Death Valley. Not a good place to be during a rain storm!

A sea of grey and brown stretches out in every direction.

The refuge is built around a series of springs that contain a species of fish found only in Death Valley and Ash Meadows; the pupfish. In spring the males are a striking royal blue and we're lucky enough to see them. They're tiny little things so it was hard to get a good picture of them, but here's a view of one of the springs with its green/blue water:

Cute bridge over one of the streams:

Even if you can't see the water you can easily tell where it runs.

We try to hit Red Rock Canyon on our way back to Vegas, but it's almost completely dark by the time we get there and we decide to go straight to Fremont Street. It's just like any old street in Vegas; bright lights, casinos with scantily clad servers, tacky souvenir shops ... except for one thing; the Fremont Street Experience. Every hour they play a short presentation on the cover that spans the street. Here's a snapshot from the one we watched:

Our next stop is the Rio. Sandy has fond memories of their dinner buffet and after struggling with directions and having to wind our way through a seemingly endless array of slots and roulette tables we sit down to eat. The buffet stretches out from one end of the restaurant to the other ... even for American stands this is unreal! It takes me a good 10 minutes before I've made my way around all the stations. The food wasn't as good as Sandy remembered, but the experience alone was worth it. FYI: the mango ice cream is delicious!

At this point we're both starting to feel pretty tired and we decide to drive down the strip to get to our hotel. It's stop and go traffic, but that's okay; it's nice to have time to look around at all the glittering lights. Here's a quick picture I snapped at a traffic light; hotel Paris with its fake Eiffel Tower:

Our hotel for tonight is a couple of miles off the Strip, but our room (should I say apartment?) is really nice. We got a free update so now we're in a suite with a living room with built-in fireplace, a kitchen with gas cook top and to top it all off a lavish bathroom with a jacuzzi. I'll try to snap some pictures of it tomorrow morning.

Total mileage for today: 207 miles

PS. I'm posting this message from my "office" at the Palazzo. The life of luxury definitely agrees with me!