The day after we arrived we drove out to Death Valley to enjoy the national park while the weather is nice. Mike and I had visited Death Valley on our honeymoon in the middle of July...when the weather isn't so nice. On the day (in July) we were there, the official high for the day was 127 degrees and the official low was a cool 99 degrees!
In December, the highs in Death Valley are only around 75 degrees.
This is a view from a lookout called Dante's View. It over looks death valley and is an elevation of about 9,000 feet (I think).
It was Mike's job to carry Scott around during our trip. We made a deal a few months ago that he would be the main carrier of Scott, since I carried him around for nine months. Scott loves his Baby Bjourn--thanks Stephen and Jessica!
Scott's first trip to Badwater Basin, the lowest place in the western hemisphere.
This was a place called the Devil's Golfcourse, not sure why. The uneven ground is actually created from salt deposits. As the water drains off the mountains into Death Valley, there is no outlet. So, salt builds up over time. By the way, it has only rained 1.08 inches for the year on the day we were there--Dec. 6.
Mike and I took a picture of this same thermometer two years earlier and the temperature read 125. Feeling 125-127 degrees is pretty crazy. Oppressive is the best word to describe it, like being in an oven.
In the above two pictures, we were at Scotty's Castle in Death Valley Nat'l Park. It was really interesting and was built in the early 30's for 2.5 million dollars.
While on our honeymoon, Mike and I stayed in the hotel portion of the Amargosa Opera House. It is found in Death Valley Junction, basically a ghost town. The town was founded by the company that mined Borax. There are a few buildings and this Opera House owned by Marta Beckett.
Marta bought the Opera House and hotel in the late sixties and renovated it. Below are the murals she has painted on the opera house walls. She was a dancer and began performing shows at Amargosa in 1968. She has performed on Saturdays during the winter ever since.
Since it was summer when Mike and I stayed here, she was not performing. When we learned that she was born in 1924, we didn't think we would get to see her perform. But, we found out she was doing a show while we were in Vegas. We went after our day at Death Valley.
Marta no longer dances, but instead sits and tells stories about her life in the Amargosa Opera House. It was really cool to see her and to meet a legend in the Death Valley area.
The hotel itself it pretty old and definitely not the Hilton, but we enjoyed our stay there (July 2006). When we arrived there, are key was in an envelope on the door. We didn't see one person there until the next morning when we checked out...talk about ghost town!
We also toured Hoover Dam during our trip. Really fascinating.
Behind Mike are the turbines that generate the electricity for Nevada, only four of the eight are needed during the winter months, no AC, I guess.
This is the massive bridge being built that will divert traffic from the Hoover Dam. It is scheduled to be complete in 2010. This picture doesn't do it justice...it is MASSIVE. I think it will be the tallest in North America.
Behind Mike are the turbines that generate the electricity for Nevada, only four of the eight are needed during the winter months, no AC, I guess.
This is the massive bridge being built that will divert traffic from the Hoover Dam. It is scheduled to be complete in 2010. This picture doesn't do it justice...it is MASSIVE. I think it will be the tallest in North America.We dressed Scott up in his Santa outfit and went to the Bellagio, our favorite Vegas hotel, for some Christmas photos. What was really weird is that there were probably about 10 different strangers that asked to take his picture. I know he's cute and all, but I thought that was kind of odd.
This was in the lobby of the Bellagio. On the ceiling you can see some really cool deocorations. Those are all different colored flowers made of glass. Scott looked at those for a long time, of course, so did I!
This was in the lobby of the Bellagio. On the ceiling you can see some really cool deocorations. Those are all different colored flowers made of glass. Scott looked at those for a long time, of course, so did I!
Naptime at home with Papa and Mo
