Death Valley and Las Vegas

In contrast to Sequoia National Park, Death Valley was a great surprise. We had literally expected a death valley: a wide, empty, dry desert, but it was all but that! Death Valley is as diverse as any other park. It has canyons, sand dunes, salt pans, a salt creek, an oasis, colored mountains, … 

Our first stop in Death Valley was Mosaic Canyon. All side roads in Death Valley are unpaved: a blast for Kevin! We had only a little walk in the canyon, as we didn’t have too much time, but the name was obvious. The next – short – stop was Mesquite Flat Dunes: contrary to the fact that Death Valley is a desert, it only has a few areas with sand dunes. Here we didn’t get to see the lizards and snakes we hoped to see. 

Totally unexpected, we encountered a creek: first desert everywhere and then suddenly there is this little creek with abundant vegetation and some fishes (though we didn’t see any): the life in and around this creek is adapted to the extreme salty conditions. Apparently these are very special fishes, because there was a photographer from some magazine there, waiting all day to get to see one – but he had had no luck so far. The place was swarming with lizards though =) 

This was not the only ‘green spot’ in Death Valley. In the center lies Furnace Creek: an oasis with actual sweet water springs. Death Valley is also a beloved place for bikers: they were all over the place. 

As we were running out of time, we quickly visited Golden Canyon – with an obvious name, Devils Golf Course – hundreds of acres of little salty pillars, Badwater Basin – the lowest point in the USA, Artist Palette – a bunch of colored mountains, and Zabriskie Point – known from the movie. The roads here are ‘one with the landscape’, which means that you sometimes feel like you’re on a rollercoaster. 

Then it was time for Vegas, baby! We had booked a room in Excalibur, one of the extravagant and famous hotel/casinos alongside The Strip (it looks like a knight’s castle). We didn’t really know what to expect of Vegas, but it was craaaazy. Crazy stupid. Las Vegas is filled with entertainment-for-the-masses. Driving past The Strip was quite impressive, with all the fantastic casinos and huge neon signs. It’s totally overwhelming, but it’s quite downhill from there. 

We even tried to find some fun in gambling, but slot machines are soooooo boring! Initially we won about 30 cents. Ann was like ‘you gotta stop when you’re on a high man..’, but Kevin didn’t listen and we ended up losing $8! Crazy stupid =P

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