Last night, we stayed fairly close to home in the Mojave Desert, at a little town called California City. It was just another small, but nice campground, away from the ‘burbs. We went through some of the photos from this trip while we were relaxing on our last night out, and decided that we would always remember the frosty trip to the Grand Canyon as a highlight of our winter ’08 vacation.
Click on the image to enlarge.
When we got up this morning, we were in Pahrump, Nevada, near the eastern gateway to Death Valley National Park. We drove from there to Furnace Creek, near the lowest point in the continental United States. The elevation here was about 190 feet below sea level. The actual low spot is about minus 282 feet at Badwater Basin. We stopped at the village and took this picture of the wagons that were hitched to the famous 20 Mule Teams that hauled borax from here to Mojave, a considerable distance to the southwest. We then went from Furnace Creek to Scotty’s Castle, another interesting historical landmark in the park.
After we finished touring Death Valley today, we headed westward along California State Route 190, which took us over two mountain passes with winding and narrow roads. We went over the first pass and descended to Panamint Valley. Then over the White Mountains to descend into the Owens Valley, just east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where the highest point in the continental United States, Mount Whitney, looms at 14,491 feet above sea level. Mount Whitney in the picture to the left is not the one that looks tallest, since the linear perspective makes the peak to the left look taller. Mount Whitney is the peak among the very jagged peaks near the center and just to the right – it’s the one that looks tallest among those jagged peaks.
Click on either image to enlarge. Photo credits – Damsel.
As promised, here is one of the photos I took this morning at the Grand Canyon Village. This is looking northeast near Bright Angel Trail Head. The icicles are hanging from the famous Lookout Studio near Bright Angel Lodge.
Click the image for large view.
When we pulled into Grand Canyon Village today, the snow was everywhere. When we saw the train at the station, it reminded us of the Disney Polar Express movie. In the background is the towering El Tovar, one of the oldest lodges in the Village.
We will post some images taken from the South Rim tomorrow. We were sidetracked today and did not get to the rim itself – but that’s another story.
First of all, we hope everyone is having a very Merry Christmas.
Our journey on this Christmas Day started in Wickenberg, Arizona. We traveled across the north side of Phoenix, got on Interstate 17 and got as far as Flagstaff. We’re currently parked in an RV campground.
This was the first time our dog, Bear, ever saw snow. She was great with it! She romped in it a little and then decided that the RV cab was where she wanted to be.
This is the Cap’n and Bear as they walk back to the RV after having enough snow for a while.
As we drove through Joshua Tree National Park today, we passed the Cholla Cactus Garden. The park is not all about Joshua Trees, but has many varieties of vegetation. Click for bigger.
Also, we would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!
We’re now underway for our winter vacation. First stop is Twentynine Palms, on the high California desert near Joshua Tree National Park. Tomorrow, we will be touring the park before heading off to Arizona.
This picture is of the wind farm near Palm Springs, just off of interstate 10. Yes, that is snow, yes this is near Palm Springs, and yes, there is no global warming.
