Hello all!
Good to be with you all again, this time from the great state of Utah! I really do love this state, but it is a little hot. When we first arrived here, the scenery was soo amazing, and I knew immediately that Zion is going to be absolutely amazing!
Ok, let's start with Yosemite-
So, Yosemite is an absolutely beautiful park, but there is one BIG problem- people! Too many people come to this park to make it worth your while. If you want to spend your day dodging the Korean tour buses, the hordes of RVs, and the many huge trucks that people bring up from Fresno. Me and Josh both agreed that this park needs to institute some kind of lottery system to let people into the park.
I think it is kind of ridiculous to call it a national park, when you can't even enjoy being there. We toured Yosemite Valley early in the morning, and by 9 am the roads had started to get bad, with all of the campers and day trippers. Also, we had to fight to get a campsite in the park, only to get the furthest campground from all of the sites, and we had to reserve this site in MARCH!!! So we stressed over getting this campsite, only to get a campsite whose restrooms were not clean, at all! (I will not go into details about this, you don't really want them anyway!) Needless to say that we cut our stay from 4 nights down to 2.....
All that being said, Yosemite is a beautiful park, and it would be worth it to go, but not in summer- go in winter when you can pay $69 a night to stay at the lodge! So that is what I will be doing next time, if there is a next time. I have the pictures forever, so that is how I would like to remember it!
Onto Death Valley-
Death Valley was actually a vast improvement over Yosemite! The colors of the rocks and the heat was actually invigorating- until we got to the bottom of the valley. It was 106 F when we got down to the valley floor, and only went up. The highest it got up to was 111 F and it was 6pm!
And, I know it sounds stupid, but we camped at the Furnace Creek Campground. I have to say that it was not the most comfortable night I have ever had- but it wasn't the worst! It was still 95 at midnight, and it only got down to 85 the whole night.
At the ranger's suggestion, we went to go cool off at the resort pool a couple hundred feet down the road. (Yes there are resorts, with all the amenities, but they cost a lot!) So, we went swimming in Death Valley, and it was so amazing! The pool was fed by a warm spring, and it recycled the water to the golf course- the fact that there was a golf course there made me gag, if you know me well, you know why! (Death to the Grass!)
So, we came back to the campsite after the nice pool dip and subsequent shower, and we tried to go to sleep. We got to sleep somewhat, but then we woke up to go look at the stars. For those of you who don't know, Death Valley is one of the darkest places in the US, and it is a great place to view stars! We got up at 2 am and saw the spectacular Milky Way!
I think it is hard to look at the night sky and not appreciate how beautiful it is, or how complex it is! It is a very sad fact that most people will never see the Milky Way, but with so much light pollution in the world, it is a fact of life for most of us. I really reccomend visiting Death Valley for this oppurtunity- but you can also go to Western NC- I saw the Milky Way from a place called Iron Bridge in Highlands, NC- AMAZING! Josh was the only one to get pictures of this because I need a way better lens to get the quality of pictures that I would want.
Oh and I almost forgot! GERMANS!! EVERYWHERE! These are the real visitors to Death Valley, believe it or not. Everywhere we went we were the only Americans there, all of the rest were German and a small percentage were French and Dutch. But still, a lot of foreign people! And you can tell it at the pool- poor choices in swimwear.......
I just want to take this opportunity to say that Dixie Damrel, you were completely right about the Germans, and that your advice was invaluable! Thanks!!
Ok here are the links for the pics: YOSEMITE
DEATH VALLEY
On a side note, we went to Las Vegas and the Hoover Dam too! Both were so amazing, but I don't think that Vegas is for me- too much excess, ick! The only thing that I am disappointed with is the fact that you have to pay to get into the Hoover Dam visitor's center! That is just outrageous! Something that the US gov't built! $8 dollars is not going to leave my wallet to see displays showing how the dam was built, especially when I can turn on the History Channel or Google it and find out the same info!
Las Vegas was very nice, but as I said before, a lot of excess! A lot of money wasted, and a lot of money made. I didn't do any gambling-just not that into it, but I was confronted with many opportunities to do it- Vegas makes it easy.
But anyway, here is the link to the Vegas and Hoover Dam pics- HERE
Also,
We have decided to go to all the parks we had planned to go to, except for Mesa Verde. So we are going to the Grand Canyon, but we will not be going down in the canyon. We will be driving by and stopping, so I am a little relieved to have that decision made!
Thanks for reading and for giving me your guidance last week!!!
EBS
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