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Published: August 12th 2006
Zabrinski Point, Death Valley, Nevada
The rock formations were amazing coloursStradling the border from East California to Western Nevada is Death Valley. Reputed to have recorded the second highest temperature on Earth ever. (not sure if that little piece of info has been beaten in recent years, what with global warming)
Anyway as we drove thru' it, it definately was not that hot, the wind that had followed us all around was still with us making feel decidedly chilly some of the time but then it was only April.
As we drove through, the rock formations were forever changing shape and colour and had to be seen to be believed, at times they gave way to huge sand dunes that seemed to appear out of no-where. We visited several well known sites including 'Artist Pallate', an array of fantastic coloured rock that appeared to be swirling around. '20 Mule Canyon', a narrow track cut through the rock that had to have the sand and dust continually blown of it by a huge machine to keep the track drivable. 'Bad Water basin', the lowest spot in the Western hemisphere. Lastly we saw 'Devils cornfield', an eiree place where hummocky stands of Arrow weed stood on a salt and sandy floor.
From here we travelled to Las Vegas. We spent a pleasant evening walking along the main stretch taking in the many themed hotels. One that really sticks in my mind is Belagios Hotel, every 30 minutes the fountains out front dance in time to classical music and coloured lights illuminate the whole spectacle, very moving, especially as they were playing 'time to say goodbye' and I knew soon we would be saying goodbye to Sharon for who knows how long.
We ended up dining by the side of a canal inside the Venetian Hotel, complete with Gondola!
After, we tried to watch the pirate ship battle outside 'Treasure Island Hotel' but the earlier one had been cancelled due to wind and rain so the one we watched was very crowded and we couldn't see much.
Of course we couldn't leave Las Vegas without visiting the Hollywood Wedding Chapel where Sharon and Scott had sneakily got married 6 months earlier.
Our last few days in California were spent checking out Santa Barbara's sunkissed beaches and dining out with our new found family, Tom and Wanda. We spent our final day together on a boat trip to Anacapa Island -
View From Zabrinski Point, Death Valley
Amazing rock formation everywhere you looked! very pretty.
Monday morning found us in a wet and windswept car park as we hugged Sharon goodbye before she set off to work and us to L.A. Airport.
One day we'll be back I'm sure.
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