Death valley road trip

Or a walk on the face of the moon.

I had never been to death valley with my son. since he just graduated college in December we thought we would take o road trip. I had wanted to return to death valley since I hadn't returned since 1956 when I visited last with my parents around 1956 when I was 8. As we reached Lone Pine on hiway 395 we drove first to Manzanar as my son was interested in the of Japanese internment site during World War 2. so, we did that and then drove up towards Whitney portal. Snow had closed the road but a boulder much bigger than my car also blocked the road before the snow got really bad. It was a really amazing view of the valley around Lone Pine and it was pretty cold too.After a lovely meal at a local Mexican Restaurant we drove south of town and traveled east on hiway 136 towards Death Valley National Park. 139 eventually joins 190 which takes you into the national park.I never had taken this route before and in some ways I thought of some scenery being spectacular a little like the grand canyon on this route into the park. However,this route isn't for the faint of heart or people who drive too fast because of blind corners and unexpected long grades of up to 8 percent. I usually prefer to slow down and shift into 2nd gear so I don't have to ride my brakes down hill. Eventually we arrived at Stovepipe Wells where we stayed the night. No phones in the rooms and Internet not working that night and no cell phone service there caused me to call the wife from the hotel office and let her know we'd be out of touch for awhile.

We woke up about 6 am and hiked on the sand dunes nearby. I remembered walking on them with my dad in 1956. It was amazing! Then we went to Titus Canyon up a 3 mile dirt road.we considered going to Nevada and driving the one way dirt and rock road 37 miles long. But when no trucks or 4 wheel drives came through that hour we hiked there we thought better of it. this is the time of year for rock falls and rock slides and even one would make the road impassable.

So, we drove to Furnace Creek which was a culture shock for me as Furnace creek was in 1956 like Stovepipe Wells is today whereas Furnace Creek now reminds me of a miniature Carmel, California. I was unprepared for this change. So, we quickly moved on out into the desert wilderness.

I had always wanted to drive by area 51 as I had always read about it and seen movies about it. For hundreds of miles around area 51 there has been secret stuff going on since world war 2.

My son and I joked about this a lot by saying, "In Nevada nothing is ever what it appears to be."

So we took 190 north to 95 and then headed east. We were very amazed by the stuff we saw along hiway 95 headed east. pahrump appeared to be the closest town to area 51 and saw on my gps that it even has a walmart. A friend of mine wants to move there that is in her 80s, but I can't really imagine that.

we also discovered Spring mountain that has a ski area and lots of snow. This area is a retreat from the summer heat for Las Vegas locals.