Golden Canyon, Death Valley ☀ Day 1 part 1

Howdee all.

I am lovin the Valley of Death…..☀

Our first day we did a few hikes and a drive.

This first hike is into Golden Canyon..about a four mile round trip.

Rocky canyon walls

I took allot of photos

I wanted to do a slideshow…but I cant do it offline…and i need to post this in a fifteen minute time period…so we don't waste the day doing wifi…

So I give you photos…instead of slideshow…

Shades of Golden, Orange and Yellow Golden….and Blue sky

Not allot of vegetation here..not sure what the plant is below.. Sunlight streaming thru rock..

We approach the CathedralThru the road of gold

The Cathedral getting closerBeautiful contrasts…Yellow, blue and orange

Andrew and Jeff…..on the yellow brick road… Andrew climbing up dune like hills..

The Cathedral

Jeff and Andrew checking out another route We leave the Cathedral and travel loop back to the car…

I am now wondering if this other golden mountain is the Cathedral… or maybe just a second one….

Sand dune looking hills Great textures….

This was a mining area….we check out a mineQuartz…

Crystals…Almost out of the Canyon

The valley beyond

Onward to the car…. and our next adventure….

So I am in Love with this Valley..☀☀☀

Guess,I wouldn't be lovin it so much in the summer…but now its gorgeous, fascinating…and I cant wait for our next adventure ☀

☀☀☀☀☀☀☀☀☀☀☀☀☀☀☀☀☀

end of part 1 of 4…

Devils Golf Course part 2

Badwater Basin part 3

Artists loop drive part 4

Furnace Creek, Death Valley National Park

Howdee all,

We finally left Las Vegas and are now in Death Valley

Here we are getting settled in our campsite...

Nice mountain views…

Andrew setting up his tent..check out the orange glow of the sun hitting the mountains behind him..

The tents behind are a group of Texas A&M students studying Geology..

The sun starts to set…

  We did a walk around the camp area…and low and behold…

A Golf course…Jeff and Andrew are making plans..  Checking out the golf course…

Cant wait to go hiking here!….

We really need to do some intense calorie busting hikes…

Reason..

After Gambling at a local casino…Jeff racked up some comp points…

At most casinos you can use those points at the spa, or stores around the casino.

Not at Red Rock casino..Jeff was told we could spend the points on Hotel rooms or Restaurants…We were leaving in an hour for Death Valley…we didnt need a hotel room.

Jeff convinced a Casino host to give us some money to spend, of the 180 points left,...at the gift shop where I found a shirt and sweatshirt for 80 dollars. She would give him no more to use at the gift shop..

That left us with 100 dollars..

The rest of the money we had to use at Restaurants..so we went and spent 40 dollars on salads and a sandwich for lunch..and went crazy with the leftover 60.

So between the three of us we left with one apple coated with chocolate, pecan toffee candy, 2 apple turnovers, 1 pecan sticky bun, 3 dark chocolate cookies, 3 oatmeal cookies, 3 muffins, one pecan tart…and smiling faces..

 

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We have absolutely no cell service…nada nada…

if anyone needs to contact us please send an email…

I can get email and internet between 10 and 3..if I am around…

I will try and do that at least 2x…

Rock Climbing Calico Basin

Howdee all,

Mark and Debbie took us rock climbing a few days ago..

Mark setting up the rope…

After Mark Sets up the Rope he heads down Deb getting Andrew set up to climb Andrews first climb  Looks like Andrew enjoyed the climb! Deb ClimbsMy Turn

Thats me! Andrew relaxing after the climb One more time 

Check out the photo album

View Full Album

We are leaving Las Vegas today and heading to Death Valley…and probably no internet whatsoever…

We will be in Death Valley for a week…and will arrive in Quartzite on the 15th..

Hope to see some of my blogger buddies there!

Thanks Mark and Debbie for letting us stay so long in your beautiful Calico Basin

Its been a blast!

Andrew does Red Rock

Howdee all,

Nephew Andrew is with us for two weeks. A week here in Red Rock Canyon and then a week in Death Valley.

Jeff is teaching him how to get up early and go gambling..So far I don't think he has lost too much..and Jeff is about even.

We tend to do afternoon hikes most every day.

We thought we would break Andrew in with a hike that we did when Nephew David was visiting..

Some light bouldering around the Calico rocks

Andrew enjoyed the candy cane striped rocks And enjoyed the challenge of bouldering..

I really..enjoy the mixture of rocks here,..stripes, polka dot and orange.  Andrew going down a boulder..hummm.. watched by the experts.. Nice job getting down! Another fun way to cross thru boulders…pressure with the feet on one and pressure with the hands on another..till you reach the bottom… Or…Jump…. …Andrew is feeling at home amongst the red rocks… Like his new Home?

More Andrew adventures to come…stay tuned Rick and Gail for more fun..

You might want to brace yourself for the next segment..Mom Gail..

as Andrew will be rock climbing up a 60 foot high rock face…

YIKES..

ps..I do some rock climbing too!

Birding with Twitter buddy

Howdee all,

Last week…Fellow tweeter Pat Bumstead aka @Patbumstead and I met for the first time. We had been reading each others tweets for sometime now and chatting via twitter. She knew that I was here in Vegas..and she and her husband were flying in from Canada to visit family. So we planned to meet up for a day of birding.

She and hubby met us in Calico Basin where we have been parked for over a month now…(Thanks Mark and Debbie for letting us stay so long!)

We started our birding day at Red Springs..not to far from where we are staying.

Crissal Thrasher

Canyon Wren

We then drove to Spring Mountain state park..

on the way we saw two Golden Eagle soaring high in the sky.

    We did a tour of the Ranch house…former home to Howard Hughes and other Hollywood stars.

I wanted to take this off the wall and put in my bedroom. Birding is a bit slow here in the winter..but this Say’s Phoebe posed for us a few times.

Lunch at the park with awesome backdrop!

Say’s posing again..

We walked to the pond to see what ducks were there.

Amongst the many coots were Green wing teal, Rink necked ducks. Ruddy ducks. and a few Killdeer. Red-naped Sapsucker

Wild Burro we went to Bonnie springs in search of the Mexican Black-throated Magpie Jay..

no luck..but I did spot this awesome stage coach..And a Peacock…

Went to a wash in search of the Magpie Jay…Pat spotted this fence post decorated as a face  Pat also spotted the moon rising….nice photo op. We then went to the town of Blue Diamond to look for the Magpie Jay again…

no luck…

Pat made friends with a not so wild Burro…who she called Stevie

It was so nice to meet Pat ..my tweet buddy…and spend the day with her!

But all good days come to an end..

Until we meet again.

Check out Pats awesome blog

Bird Canada