Hoover dam and Death Valley

We woke up early and headed to our next destination, Death Valley, via the Hoover Dam. After Yesterday’s workout the kids were very quiet today, until about noon. The weather has warmed up some. It is 75 and it isn’t even noon yet. I see some beautiful hot pink cactus about to bloom along the roadside. I will get a picture as soon as we stop. There are small trees that look like a tall Yucca Plant; I will check that out too. We are taking a beltway around Las Vegas and stopping in for some supplies and more fuel before taking what seems to be a long road to know where before we enter the national park. We are trying to avoid the city proper, not our type of town, but it is hard to find civilization in these parts. Our first stop was Kings Pool at point of Rocks Springs in
Ash Meadows National wildlife refuge. It is a natural spring in the middle of the desert refuge. The water is clear to the bottom with very vibrant shades of blue and green. Next was Devils Hole which is a water filled cavern cut into a rocky hillside , the deepest divers have been is 500 feet, they are not sure how deep it is, they say the water comes from hundreds of miles away, from the Colorado. Now onto Death Valley. The temperatures have changed drastically. I would not want to come here in the summer.
The Mountains are huge and the landscapes are so diverse. The road through the park running north to south is 140 miles long, but you are never without something spectacular to look at. Saturday morn we hikes down into ubehebe Crater, it was
Great going down but coming back up was quite a feat. Other things of interest were the
Salt flats, and the lowest point in the United States (282 Feet below sea level). We are now heading out of the park and to southern California. I am hoping for some cooler weather. On our way to California we ran into a huge Relay race for we guess some charity, but it seemed to go on forever. Luckily we were on the opposite side of the road
So there wasn’t much delay. Iam not sure where we will end up between now and Monday. Once we reach some internet access we will find a church for tomorrow
And do some sightseeing. We plan to camp at or close to Disneyland tomorrow night so we can get up and go right there Monday morning. The kids still have no idea we are going there. Love from sunny California…….