And now for something completely different!

Viva Las Vegas, baby!

We've been in the desert a long time - we were craving some colour and glitz.

Vegas delivers.

Sadly, no, we didn't see them.

How would you like to have your teeth an entire story high?

You probably need to experience this kind of EXCESS once in a while to put the rest of your life into perspective.

Okay, perspective achieved. Time to move on.

Goodbye, Death Valley

Just a few more pictures from Death Valley.
This was a nice walk in Titus Canyon. One of the few places that we could go with Taz, and only because it was a road and not a trail.

This coyote was just wandering down the road.

Taz has taken a liking to the tent.

Scotty's Castle. Not our cup of tea really, but we thought we should see it because there was so much literature about it and it was only a couple of miles from our campground. It wasn't even really Scotty's castle. It was built by some multi millionaire (nobody even remembers who he was) that was bilked out of a fortune by some shyster called Scotty.

You can't really see it, but the very top of this turret has some beautiful tile work.

Ubehebe Crater is beautiful, but we almost got blown over the edge. The wind continues to howl!

Dan at the edge of the crater, I was cowering in the van. I'm really sick of wind!

Dogs are not allowed to spit kibble into people's hands??

Ouch!!!

The story goes that Death Valley was named as one of the 49ers looked back and said "Goodbye, Death Valley"

We overheard a ranger telling someone that Rhyolite was a really cool ghost town, so we stopped to see it. That ranger is a big, fat liar. Do not plan your next vacation around a trip to Rhyolite. You can see all that it has to offer in the following 2 photos...

Death Valley cont'd

Laptopia! Between 10am and 3pm this is the most visited spot in the park. No less than a dozen people on laptops at any given time.

Scenes around Death Valley:

This was on a drive called Artist's Drive. The variety of colours is quite amazing.

Trying to imagine what the gold prospectors that crossed here in 1849 must've thought when they saw this vast expanse of nothing that had to be crossed.

Nope, not snow - salt flats

Dan playing on "The Devils Golf Course"

A close up of the salt formations.

Badwater Basin is the lowest point in the US at -282 feet.

If you enlarge this, you might be able to see the sign post indicating level on the hillside.

This is a sign that we're sick of seeing.

More of the Artist's Drive

So yes, it's scenic and yes, the history is fascinating, but the campground is not exactly beautiful

And the wind is unbelievable! Just ask the guys that slept on top of thier tent last night...

Death Valley

Wow! Who would've expected a WiFi connection in Death Valley?!
We arrived here a couple of days ago in the middle of a hurricane. The wind was ferocious! We tried putting up our tent, much to the amusement of our neighbours, but finally gave up because the back end kept collapsing.

This is the dust storm that we drove through.

Sand storm over the dunes.

I'm skipping around a bit here, but this is the rolly hills between Morro Bay and the Bakersfield area. It was really pretty here and the road was deserted - we had it all to ourselves.

Nobody has been able to identify this wildflower for me (3 different names so far), but there was LOT of it!

See what I mean?

Also not sure what these trees were, almond I think.

Use much electricity here?

Back-tracking a bit here. This is our campsite at Red Rock Canyon. Another spectacular backdrop! It's funny how you almost take this for granted after awhile.

Facing the other direction. We liked it here. Not only was it scenic, but it was almost empty. There were only 4 units in the park and Vincent was one of them. We would've stayed longer, but we thought we might be able to get away from the wind in Death Valley. Boy were we wrong!!

Photos of Taz the mountain dog:

The wind finally died down yesterday, so we're gonna spend a couple of days exploring Death Valley. Weather is great, we're back to shorts and thongs!