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Published: March 17th 2010
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New Bridge
We've watched the progress of the new bridge near Hoover Dam over the years. It's an engineering marvel. Day 1
We left Prescott early in the morning and fought snow, rain, and sleet all the way to Kingman. Saw two semi trailer trucks and at least six cars in the ditch along the way. When we arrived at the Death Valley entrance it was sunny and warm and beautiful. Our first stop was at the Zabriskie Point overlook. A short uphill walk led us to a panoramic vista of beautiful vibrantly colored badlands. Traveling five miles further we arrived at the Furnace Creek Ranch, our home for the next four nights. Our room wasn't ready so we spent a couple of hours at the visitor center watching the slide show and seeing the exhibits and driving around the Furnace Creek area. Of course, we picked up a bird checklist. We checked out the beautiful golf course, the picnic grounds and the shops. Our room is very nice and a bellman brought us a lovely fruit and cheese tray, compliments of the concessioner. We had planned on grilling salmon and vegetables tonight so we set up a mini-chopping kitchen on our patio and started the process of chopping up potatoes and onions and wrapping these and asparagus into foil
packets. Carol and Bob didn't arrive until after seven so we decided not to cook. We had cheese, salami, crackers, fruit, nuts, and wine instead. It was great seeing our good friends again, I think we are going to have a fun week.
Day 2
Breakfast was in Carol and Bob's room. So glad we brought our own food, makes things so much easier. First stop of the day was back at Zabriskie Point to see this breathtaking view in the morning sun. We traveled up 5000 ft. to Dante's View which offered us a spectacular vista of most of the valley and the Panamint Range. It was definitely cooler there and I was ready to get back down to some warmth.
We stopped at the swanky Furnace Creek Inn for a lengthy self-guided tour of the lobby, grounds and pool and after checking the dinner menu decided we would pass on eating there. It was then time to get moving a bit and a two hour hike into Golden Canyon satisfied our desire to get a closer look at this amazing park. The trail wound through twisting narrows and colorful rock formations and offered great views
Cherry Patch Ranch
Just ring the bell for service! This place was not too far from Death Valley. of Manly Beacon and Red Cathedral. As the sun was going down we finished our day with Artist's Drive, stopping at Artist's Palette to photograph the beautiful colors in the rocks. Just as we got back to Furnace Creek, the wind starting howling and this made Joe's and my attempts at cooking our foil wrapped salmon and veggies a comedic affair. The grills were that flat kind with three sides and no top. We were trying to figure how to contain the heat (and coals) in the wind when a young chef from the Inn wandered by. He was eager to give advice and we ended up making covers for the grill with foil. To make things worse there was no water at the picnic area to put out the coals when we were finished, so we ended up using about six bottles of water ($) to drown the coals. I think it might have been worth it, it was all delicious.
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Connie
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Wow. What a contrast in landscape! I had no idea Furnace Creek would be so lush; it's name is a misnomer- Hope you have a great time.