our lives in small town, East Africa

Saturday, March 29, 2008

death valley

During spring break, we took a road trip down to Death Valley, the hottest and lowest place in the Western hemisphere. Luckily, it's still spring, so the temperature only reached 95 degrees while we were there. We had a great time, and saw all sorts of amazing geological features, including

Artist's Palette, though the pictures don't do justice to the beauty of the colors




The Devil's Golf Course, full of strange, rough salt deposits



Mesquite Sand Dunes, where the dunes are high and the sunset gorgeous






Zabriskie Point, where borax was once mined




Manly Beacon, named after a man named Manly who didn't get lost because of the beacon




Salt Creek, salty, hot home to a species of pup fish




and Badwater, the lowest point in the hemisphere (282 feet below sea level!)



Who knew there was so much to see in Death Valley?

2 comments:

Ace said...

Sounds like you picked the perfect time to visit Death Valley. The only memory that I have of it is that we once broke down there on our family vacation. In the middle of the summer. Tires were melting into the asphalt. :)

Sarah said...

Yikes! I would never go in the summer. A ranger told us that plenty of people do, though (especially Europeans--do they not know how hot 120 really is?).