Death Valley

Upon leaving Las Vegas, we had a big day of driving ahead of us. We drove north along I-160 through Pahrump (I just like the name) then west on I-190 into California and Death Valley National Park...


...driving west to Furnace Creek before going south...


There were many places we wanted to see (and Death Valley is pretty big) but we only had so many daylight hours so we decided to just go to the lowest point in the United States. Below is a picture showing the "sea level" sign embedded in the mountain...



Sari, Nick and Spunky at the lowest point in the United States...


This might put the "sea level" marker in perspective...


View of Badwater Basin from the boardwalk. The white stuff you see (after the boardwalk ends, where the people are walking) isn't snow or water - its salt.


Driving to and from Badwater Basin from Furnace Creek Junction we drove through the Artists Palette.


Road to nowhere...


(looks like those "sand art" things again)






view from sea level, and climbing. (Rainbow Canyon?)


So, as you can see, there are not many facilities in Death Valley. By the time we drove out of the Park and stopped at the first town, I had to go to the washroom pretty badly. So we stopped at a little convenience store, had a friendly chat with the owners, and asked if they had a washroom we could use. Very nicely they said sure, around back...I rounded the corner with an open mind...

became a little nervous...


I peeked inside but couldn't bring myself to go in. The world's nastiest public restroom.

Maybe all the hunting tropheys and roadkill, stuffed and mounted inside (like several rattlesnakes, coyote, a small bear, various mounted heads with antlers, and I swear there was a jackalope) should have tipped us off that something wasn't quite right, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Why would I take a picture and post it, you ask? Because quite frankly, I was traumatized and I need all of you to experience it with me. I didn't even take a picture of this inside (honestly, I was backing away and couldn't go closer again) So the next time you are somewhere and you have to go to the bathroom and its really gross...I want you to think of this.

Ok, I'm over it and I'm ready to move on...we drove to the town Ridgecrest to spend the night, before driving to Sequoia National Park the next day.