D and I just returned from a trip to Las Vegas, but I will wrap up our Death Valley posts first.

For lunch on Sunday we ate at the 49er Café in Furnace Creek Ranch.  This was the design on the tables:

Turkey sandwich and hamburger on a pretzel bun.  Overpriced…nothing too exciting.

After lunch, we bought a day pass to the pool/showers for $5 a person.  The pool was fed by warm springs, and the water was quite warm.

The kids had fun at the little park nearby.

Next we stopped by Furnace Creek Inn, a sister property that is more upscale.

For dinner, we made ramen with veggies.

The next morning, we packed up and left in the morning.  D chatted up our neighbors and talked to one young family that is trying to visit every national park.  What an ambitious and inspiring goal!

On the way home, we stopped by Lola’s Kitchen in Barstow.

We shared a breakfast burrito and a carne asada burrito.  Both were fine, but I am not quite sure what all the Yelp hype is about.  Maybe there’s not much competition in Barstow?

I didn’t have as much fun planning for this trip since the food options were so limited.  However, I was impressed with the stark beauty of Death Valley and liked how there was plenty of hiking options for small kids.  I was also excited to add one more cancellation to my national park passport.  D and I are already discussing where to go next!

Our next stop was the Salt Creek Interpretive Trail.  It is hard to believe that a creek could exist in Death Valley.  Even more incredible is that there is a species called Pupfish that live in the creek, that is only found in Death Valley.  Unfortunately, they can only be seen in February/March, so there were none to be found.

The boardwalk was a nice change of pace from walking on dirt/sand/rock.

At the end, the kids were counting the planks, just like I used to count the planks on the Seal Beach pier.

Our final stop was Harmony Borax Works, the site of the old borax processing plant.  By this time, the kids were really running out of steam, but it didn’t take long to look at the old equipment.

The overnight temperature was probably in the 50’s—not too bad at all.  Everyone had a good night’s sleep except for me.  I guess I am the light sleeper of the family.  At least I was able to sleep better the second night.  For breakfast we had quesadillas and fruit.  We were able to leave the campsite by 7:30 a.m.

Our first stop was the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes.  This was the kids’ favorite part of the trip.

There are no trails, so the book I read said to just keep looking back so you can keep track of where the parking lot is.

It was like a huge sandbox!  The kids ended up walking in their socks because they kept on complaining about sand in their shoes.

Hiking in sand is pretty difficult, and n tired himself out early, so we weren’t able to go too far.

Our next stop was my favorite, Mosaic Canyon.

This was a short hike, about 1.0 mile roundtrip.

n found this rock that he thought was shaped like a mitten and carried it with him along the hike.

Maybe it was because my expectations were not that high, but the Furnace Creek Campground wins for “Most Pleasant Surprise”.  We reserved campsite #108.  This whole row of campsites had plenty of shady trees; it felt like each campsite had its own mini forest!

Checking out the campsite.

Taking a break while Daddy set up the tent.

Our tent was also the perfect distance from the restroom—approx. 100 ft.–score!

Inside shot, for those who may be curious.  After setting up camp, we did some exploring.

Our first stop was Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America.

The white sign says “Sea Level”.  Our camera was not powerful enough to take a non-blurry shot.

D really wanted to taste the salt, but thankfully, he resisted.

We witnessed a boy scout leader yell at his troop for going off of the marked path despite this sign:

Our next destination was Artist’s Palette, which is a one-way scenic drive.  It was a bit longer than I thought.  At one point I actually wondered if we had taken a wrong turn.  Being that it was one-way, there was no turning back.

Note the green color—I believe that is why the Artist’s Palette received its name.

Our final stop was to hike Golden Canyon.  It was a 2.0 mile hike, which we began at 3:50 and finished at 4:45.  The mountains blocked the sun earlier than I thought, but we could still see fine.  The diminishing light actually made everything more picturesque and “golden”, if you will.

Love how you can see the moon in this picture!

By the time we arrived at the turnaround point, the kids (especially n), were done.  We decided against the additional .25 mi to see Red Cathedral, but we could see it in the distance.

The kids thought this rock looked like a frog/turtle.

Heading back.

We ended up cooking dinner in the dark and ate dinner in the dark.  Hence, no pictures of our hot dogs and chili.

Today we returned from a two-night trip to Death Valley National Park over Veteran’s Day weekend.  I know Death Valley may not top most people’s “must-see” list.  Neither D nor I had ever been before, so we thought, why not?  The weather was actually quite nice and there were plenty of sights to see.  It took us about 4.5 hours, with stops in Barstow, Baker, and Shoshone.

We continued our tradition of taking a picture of the welcome sign.  (This picture was actually taken today, on our way out of the park, since we missed it coming in).

We picked a good weekend to go!

Our first (unplanned) stop was Zabriskie Point.  I am not sure why I overlooked this stop in my initial plan.  We saw a bunch of cars on a turnoff not too far from the main road and decided to stop.

I believe this is the “point”, noted for its various colors.

At first, I thought this was the “point”.

We really appreciated the cloud cover.

Do the kids look different?  n recently had his first professional haircut and k lost one of her upper front teeth and has a big gap.

Our next stop was the Furnace Creek Visitor Center.  As you can see, the temperature was quite moderate, although by the time we left, the temperature had risen to 82 degrees.

The visitor center had informative displays, along with an impressive movie theater and short film about the park.  (n fell asleep again-ha!)

The kids earned their junior ranger badge, as shown here.  It took some coaxing for k to ask the ranger some questions, which was one of the requirements.  However, I knew she would be sad if only n earned the badge, so I am glad she overcame her shyness.  n was pleasantly surprised with the plastic badge, and commented, “I thought I was only going to get a sticker!”  Now they can add the pin to their Zion junior ranger pin on their Christmas stocking.

We packed some sandwiches/carrots/chips for lunch and ate on the picnic tables outside of the Visitors Center.  Our campsite awaited us!