An Unforgettable Journey...: Day 3 - Driving in Death Valley

I woke up bright and early at 5 am to do some laundry. We are not seasoned travelers, like Steve, and we clearly pack and wear too many clothes! With laundry done, we got a slow start to the day. The thought of driving almost 800 miles in a day was not very enticing. Our first stop was to have lunch at a little diner in Ridgecrest, CA. It is a small town in the middle of nowhere but they seemed to have all the necessities - Walmart, Carl's Junior, Gas (at $4.17 a gallon).

"We're starving and happy about it"

Searching for more snacks

We loaded up and traveled to Furnace Creek in Death Valley. It was a destitute place at 117 degrees. There was a single gas station charging $5.46 a gallon. Thankfully we did not have to get gas! The kids tried to come up with road games but "I Spy" did not last very long. It went something like this:
"I spy something brown",
"a rock",
"be more specific"

We stopped at the visitor center and the boys did a 1 mile run (to say they could) while us girls browsed the display.

"I'm covering my eyes because Ariel said you shouldn't get out of the car without sunglasses!"

From there, we drove up to Dante's View. Furnace Creek was at sea level and Dante's View is overlooking Death Valley at 5000 feet. It was an amazing view but the drive was "not worth it". Everyone else thought differently.

Panorama of the valley below

Our final drive for the day was to Las Vegas, Nevada. We drove up and down the strip at a snail's pace trying to take in all the activity. It was a totally different experience than what we saw all day.