The worlds tallest thermometer in the world was located in Baker.

When we first pulled into the campsite we thought we heard some music. So after supper we went and investigated, and sure enough there were three campers set up in a U shape, and some seniors were playing folk music. There were about ten people up on “stage” and they all took turns signing. Some of them were funny, some played instrumental only, and others performed in pairs. They were all quite good, and one man made the audience roar with laughter over his story telling song!!!?

First things first; we visited the National Park visitors center to get some help figuring out what to do each day. So the girls took advantage of the fact our parents were busy and got their centennial junior ranger badges! Almost every park we go to they fill out the junior ranger booklets and get their badges. (Their backpacks are going to be so full of pins by the time we get home!!!)

Zabriskie Point was the second stop. It was a 400meter hike that led up to a lookout point!

Dantes view overlooked Death Valley. We were around 5000ft above sea level looking down on something 282ft below sea level. It was such a shocking view because we drove up the opposite side of the mountain and couldn’t see anything except desolate shrubs and then all of a sudden, BAM!!! There is this amazing view way below you, that looks like a white sea.

We went on a six mile drive to see a hole in the rock but couldn’t find it anywhere, so decided to get out of the truck and explore to see if we could find it. There were random bushes scattered all over the ground, and when Lanaya walked past one she jumped back and screamed, “Snake!” So we examined the bush and saw this baby rattlesnake all coiled up. (Some lady had been out there camping and she knew more about snakes than we do, otherwise all we would’ve known was it’s a rattle snake…?) And you want to know a super cool fact, baby rattlesnakes are more dangerous than adults because they can’t control their venom if they bite you. Another one: not every rattlesnake injects venom in its bite, it depends on how threatened it feels. But the lamest part is… I never even saw the snake… the whole time I was just looking at the pile of poop that was also in the same bush!?

The hole in the rock was about four miles in. It wouldn’t have been so bad, except this road was not a normal gravel road… Its goal was to jiggle your brains, and everything else, out.

Badwater Basin is 282feet below sea level. The only, accessible anyway, place in North America where you can get this far below sea level without going below sea level. I had never felt lower in my life!

Apparently the whitest strip of salt in Badwater Basin… that’s why we got to walk on it…??

After Badwater Basin we went on the Artist Drive. There were all of these colourful minerals in the ground, and it looked as though someone had ground up a bunch of chalk and left it there!

Just around the corner was the entrance to this canyon… We walked about 200meters in and then decided to turn around and go back out because it was the end of the day and we all just wanted to go back to the camper and eat supper. ?

That night we drove to a look out and sat and looked up at the stars. We could see them all so clearly, and it made me realize that I missed the open skies back home. In most cities you can’t see the stars very clearly or else not at all.?

Wild burros!!! We have a game in our family where if you see a certain thing that Dad has put a reward on then whoever sees that particular thing, gets the prize. In this case it was Mom who won a box of Haagen Daazs!!!

An abandoned townsite, called Rhyolite.

Most of Thursday was spent at Titus Canyon, or at least, driving there. Us girls got to sit in the back of the truck and look at the scenery! The gravel road was bumpy, again, and there were some pretty tight corners winding around the mountain. Sometimes Mom would have to get out and direct!

The view from the road heading toward the canyon. We went through some big differences in elevation during the week spent in Death Valley!!!

For lunch we stopped at an abandoned mining town called Leadfield. The town was founded one year, and then six months later it “shut down.” We couldn’t actually go in the mine, it was all barred off, so we peeked through the slats and tried to see as far as we could… Which wasn’t far.?

Titus Canyon had some picturesque walls on either side. Mom took a time lapse of driving through and it looks as though we were bouncing off the walls, even though in reality we were FAR from bouncing off the walls!!!?

The sand dunes we stopped at on the way home, which don’t look that big, but once you start climbing… Trust me they’re  big!

Lanaya, as well as Mom, had great fun jumping down the dunes! The sand was super soft, and then in some spots gritty, warm on top, and when you sunk your toes in, cool.

An example of Mom jumping down the hill, it’s a little crude, but it gets the point across!

Friday was spent driving to the Racetrack and back. And on the way Lanaya spotted a huge Tarantula!!!

An interesting landmark, Teakettle Junction. One person left their teakettle there, and all of the other tourists have done the same.

Looking at the Racetrack from the Grandstand. The “Racetrack” is a dry lake bed that has a random pile of rocks on it. There’s more to the story… but that’s later on.

Cold spaghetti sandwiches. When Dad first suggested them for lunch, I was like, “Ummm, ok. But they ended up tasting pretty good!

The Racetrack!!! A dry riverbed that has trails mysteriously stretching out behind the rocks. The theory as to how the trails got there: when it storms, the lake bed gets wet and the wind howls. It blows hard enough that it slides the rocks along the mud. Sounds crazy; but also sounds pretty reasonable.

This sign reflected the road conditions. They were terrible!!! It wound back and forth, was rather steep, and at times, rather narrow. So narrow that looking over the edge of the truck, you would see a mini landslide and about an inch before the tire would be over the edge. Sometimes Mom would have to get out and direct because we didn’t want to wreck the running boards or drive off the road! It was too stressful to take more pictures…