We are in Port Hueneme

We left Death Valley on Saturday and traveled to the coast to Port Hueneme, CA. We will be here till Sunday 11/20 before traveling north to Los Banos for Ch 1's Thanksgiving Rally.

Corky's Birthday

Corky's birthday is November 18th, but we decided to celebrate it early on Friday night, 11/11. We had a potluck dinner with carrot cake. Yum! Corky was surprised with the "party". You will have to ask her how old she is! 

Very tired Trail Riders

We watched as over 80 very tired trail riders arrived at Furnace Creek after their 125 mile ride from Ridgecrest over portions of the famed 20-Mule Team route. 

CHAPARRAL

While we were waiting for the wagon train and trail riders to arrive, Chaparrel entertained us with "Western Cowboy music". 

The Wagon Train Arrives at Furnace Creek

The crowd watches as the Modern Day Wagon Train arrives in Furnace Creek after their 100 mile trek through the desert. 

One of the wagons

The family in the wagon are decendants of the Wade Family who made the trek through Death Valley in 1849. The original Wades were the only family to actually escape from Death Valley with their wagon. 

Scotty's Castle

We took a tour of Scotty's Castle, an oasis in the middle of the desert. The castle takes its name from Walter Scott, aka "Death Valley Scotty", an ex-cowboy, prospector and performer in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. The mansion was built by Albert Johnson, a friend of Scotty. Scotty told visitors that he financed the building with booty from a secret gold mine under the castle. The Johnson's lived there in the 1920's. 

The begger coyote

This coyote hangs around the road on the way to Scotty's Castle waiting for a handout. By the looks of him, he is well fed. 

Natural spring in the desert at Scotty's Castle

A spring flows through the property at Scotty's Castle. It furnishes the water and also runs a water wheel that helps produce electricity. 

Scotty's Castle

A view of Scotty's Castle from the hill behind, where Walter Scott (Scotty) is buried. 

Death Valley National Park

We enter the largest national park in the US. at 3.3 million acres. DV is open all year, but winter visits are strongly encouraged. Temperatures frequently soar above 120 in the summer. We arrived here on November 4 and there has only been 1 day that it was below 80 during the day. The evenings cool off but we still don't have to use the blanket at night to sleep. We are here for the 56th Annual Death Valley Encampment of the Death Valley 49ers. We have enjoyed music at night, art shows during the day, & many park ranger talks and films. We have been in the swimming pool for our daily "bath". On Friday the modern day Death Valley wagon train arrives at Furnace Creek Ranch. They have spent the past 5 days on a 100 mile trek across Death Valley. The Trail riders arrive after the wagon train. They have been on a 125 mile trek across the desert. I will post more pictures of this. We are having a great time here camping with our friends: Steve& Nancy, Ed & Corky, Ralph & Debbie and Bob & Del. We have potlucks every night, then play cards or visit Fiddlers stage to just enjoy the music. Life is Good! Hugs, Sandy & Ed

Furnace Creek "Oasis"

We are staying at the Sunset Campground across the street from the Furance Creek Ranch. This is a resort complex with 3 restaurants, a saloon, a general store, the Borax Museum, a golf course, an surstrip, a spring fed swimming pool, tennis, hiking, and horseback riding. 

The drive to Furnace Creek

I took this picture on the way to our campground at Furnace Creek. We have not visited the 20 mule team canyon. I hear that it a place to hike and we are not going to do that this trip. 

China Ranch

Just a few miles outside Death Valley National Park we visited the China Ranch Date Farm. There are springs here in the desert and this is one of these oasises here in the area. We drove down this steep and narrow road to get to this place, but it was well worth the drive. 

China Ranch Date Farm

Ed with our friends "Corky" and Del at the China Ranch where they grow dates. Notice the "dressed up" date tree. They cover the dates to keep the sun and birds off the dates until they are ready to be picked. We had to try their famous date shakes and date nut bread. Yum! 

20 Mule Team Wagons

Ed poses beside the 20-mule Team wagons and water wagon at the Harmony Borax Works. 

Harmony Borax Works

Ed is looking at the Harmony Borax Works, a mining operation that dates back to 1883. At full operation, 40 men produced three tons of borax daily and used the famed 20-mule teams to haul borax 165 miles to the railroad town of Mojave. The scraped the borax off the ground behind Ed, mixed it with water to disolve the borax and get the dirt out, then evaporated the water off to get the "processed borax" to haul out. 

Mesquite Flat Dunes

Two miles east of Stovepipe Wells Village we saw these 150 foot sand dunes. There are trails to explore them, but we chose to just look at them from the road. Those bushes in the foreground are called Devils cornstalks.

Artist's Drive

Here is one of the many beautiful views along Artist's Drive. A geologic tour of one of Death Valley's most explosive volcanic periods. This drive is a dipping, curving on-way road that weaves through striking ravines and colorful rock formations. It is a 9 mile loop off Badwater Road that is well worth the drive. We stopped every opportunity to take pictures of this area.

Artists Palette

This area of Death Valley is awesome. Here the colors spash across the barren hills like an artists palette, waiting for the paint brush. Greens, yellows, blues, pinks, reds, black, browns, white. 

Badwater Basin

Here we are at Badwater, the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere at 282 feet felow sea level. Two to four thousand years ago this area was the site of a 30 foot lake that evaporated and left a one to five foot layer of salt in its wake. That white stuff you see behind us is salt. 

Devil's Golf Course in Death Valley

Ed and our friends, Steve and Nancy, take a closer look at the gnarled crystalline salt spires that dot the landscape and look like coral reef at Devil's Golf Course.