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Published: April 22nd 2009
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Photo 1
Kolob Canyon Since our last blog, we have left Glendale, UT and made it to Lone Pine, CA.
Along the way we took UT 14 from UT 89 over to I-15 then south on I-15 to Las Vegas. We stopped at Kolob Canyon (part of Zion NP) and it was spectacular though not as extensive as the Virgin River Canyon in the main part of the park. The drive over UT 14 was really pretty with LOTS of snow above 7500 ft. The pass was at 9910 ft. The interstate ran down through the Virgin River Canyon in AZ. It was spectacular with many curves that looked like they had to lead into a tunnel and then didn't do that. In Las Vegas, we stayed at Circus Circus KOA campground right on the strip. Gena and I took the double decker bus down to Fremont Street to take in the giant overhead arched "jumbo-tron" it was really cool, but the battery in Gena's camera died before we got any good pictures of it. Sooooo we returned to the campground, retrieved the video camera and road the bus south to see the lights and the especially the fountain at Bellagio. The first program
Photo 2
Kolob Canyon we saw was the last half of some rock song that we didn't recognize. The fountain was pretty, but the music left us cold. The next show however was really moving. The music was Swan Lake played on a piano and the fountain interpreted it to a "T" !!! Truly beautiful. Finally got to bed after 1 AM. The next morning we got up early and drove down to Hoover Dam and took the Power House Tour. VERY INTERESTING!! Also got to see the progress on the new bridge they are building just downstream of the dam. really neet!! Drove back to Vegas, packed up and drove as far as Pahrump, NV and spent the night in a very nice campground.
Since the predicted high in Death Valley was 107, we left Pahrump just before 8 AM and got through Death Valley before it got really hot. While DV is not really pretty, is sure is desolate, rugged, dry, and even in the morning pretty hot. Visitors center at Furnace Creek was very nice. We drove over a 4500 ft pass to get into the valley, then over a 4750 ft pass to get out of it and into
Photo 3
Hoover Dam Panamint Valley. Then had to drive over a 5200 ft pass to get out of Panamint Valley. It was truly a test of the Jeep. At the top of the pass out of Panamint Valley, we stopped at a pullout to look back. While we were there, we heard a jet. We located it as it came out from behind a butte and then dove down through a narrow, twisting canyon leading down into Panamint valley. It got down into the valley, made a 180 turn (must have pulling many G's as the valley is only 4 or 5 miles wide) and flew back up the canyon, emerging not 200 yards from where we were standing. I've included Gena's picture of it coming out of the revine. You;ve got to enlarge the image to really appreciate it. THAT MADE MY DAY!!!! It left my heart really pumping. It was an F-16 and he was really haulin'. We're staying in a very nice campground at the base of Mt Whitney so go see the lowest place in the US and the highest point in the Continental US with in just a couple of hours.
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