Death Valley National Park

Hooray!!  Internet access.  It's slow because it isn't a 3G connection (for all you people who understand what that means), but the fact that we have it at all is a nice surprise.  We had cell phone coverage for parts of the trip where we previously have had none.  I guess progress has come to Death Valley.

We drove north on CA-14 through Tehachapi, California.  I always love going through Tehachapi because of the wind farm that can be seen from the highway.  This image is from a previous trip, and it shows only about 5% of the number of windmills there.  This was obviously a stormy day, but today was bright and sunny (although cold):

The little "toothpicks" at the top of the ridge on the right are all windmills.  They have them all sizes.  These are the smaller ones. 

The scenery was spectacular all day.  We were at a high elevation until we headed down into Death Valley, and it was cold.  There was a dusting of snow on all of the peaks.  Also, on the sides of the hills shaded from the sun, some snow existed at the lower elevations.

I don't know the name of this peak, but it was on the driver's side of the car.  (Mike shot this image out of the driver's side window.)  And then, of course, there is the spectacular Sierra Nevada mountain rainge, which is impossible to capture in just one frame.



But my favorite image of the day is this one of the Funeral Mountains as you come over the top of the Panamint Range and down into Death Valley.  It is rugged, colorful, and so beautiful--at least to my eyes.

We're glad to be somewhere where the sun is shining, and it is relatively warm.  It was in the high sixties today, and we're supposed to reach 70 tomorrow.  So we're going to spend the rest of the evening relaxing and watching the BCS National Championship football game (GO OREGON!!).  Maybe later, we'll try to get George out for a walk.


(Sorry about my backpack in the way.)  Tomorrow we'll head over to the visitor center to pay for our entrance fee, and we'll probably do some hiking.  We'll have internet access while we're here in the Furnace Creek area of Death Valley; but our plan is to move over to the Stovepipe Wells area, where there is none.  I'll just have to type fast.