Death Valley Day

Good afternoon.
 Thursday took us up over the Sierra Mountains to the eastern side of the mountain range. Like i said in the last post, because of all the late season snow, several passes were still closed. So we had to go up to highway 88. That pass is around the same elevation, but they keep that road open all year.

 And it was a very pretty drive. Thankfully, we didn't have any snow while taking that route.
We landed in Mammoth lakes. A large ski resort on the eastern side of the Sierras. We wee just spending the night as it was already a 6 hour drive to get there, and it would be another 2 hrs to Death Valley. And we wanted to get to Death Valley in the morning.
So we checked into our Motel 6 and had dinner at a little sports bar across the street. This was our first, and probably last stay at a Motel 6. The room was clean, but very small. They don't give you shampoo, and you could hear every step above us. Thankfully, they got in late and went right to bed.
And it wasn't that cheap! But it was a resort area.
Anyway, we got up Friday morning and headed on to Death Valley.

This was the parking area for the lowest spot in the US. You could walk out to the salt flat which nearly everyone did.

And even with California's normally high gas prices of $4.35, this was not the place to gas up if you didn't have to! But to make sure we could make it to our next hotel, we did put in 5 gallons.

A very good view of the valley from this overlook!

All that white is salt deposits from a river that flows through the valley part of the year.

Click on the pic. The sign says I was 282 ft 'below' sea level. And did you know that Mt Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States is only 84 miles to the northwest. Crazy that the highest and lowest points are so close to each other!

And Craig is standing at a sign describing Badwater Basin. It's a year round spring but is undrinkable due to the very high salt content.
So, after spending the day in Death Valley, it was time to head home. We drove for 2 hours to a little Casino/hotel on the Nevada/California line. Had a decent room, a nice little fun casino, and even live music for a Friday night.
Saturday morning, we got back to Vegas, safe and sound. It was another good trip!   :-)