Melissa's Blog

LOWER ANTELOPE CANYON TO LEE VINING, CALIFORNIA

At the Antelope Entrance Ladder

It was so windy on Sunday that I actually considered skipping Antelope Canyon – which is something I was really looking forward to.  In the end, we decided to go (Tom even came with me!).

So here we are – this is what happened in Antelope Canyon:  We climbed down the ladder into the canyon, and the red sand just RAINED down on us!  I took a couple of pictures & put my camera away so it wouldn’t get buried in sand.  We decided we would just walk through the canyon (as Tom hadn’t been there before), and that way I would save my camera gear from the sand storm!

We hadn’t walked too far when we reached an area where the winds must have changed because there was much less sand to deal with.  Out came the camera and I was able to photograph the rest of our time in the canyon. 

Antelope shapes and Colors

At The Zion Park Sign

There was so much sand in my hair after Antelope that I needed to shampoo 3 times!!  It was positively gross.  But, that’s the great thing about soap and water – it cures a lot of ills.  Dinner at a local Mexican restaurant put the finishing touches on our day.

Monday took us to Zion National Park – somewhere we didn’t even have on our schedule-but we’re retired so we decided we could do whatever we wanted to do!  We stayed on the East side of the park in a funky little 10 space RV park.  At the time, we thought it was about as bad as an RV park could get… (Note the picture of Mount Carmel RV Park & Campground.)

Mt. Carmel RV Park & Campground

Zion was wonderful – but what National Park isn’t?  We saw the sights, took some pictures and managed to complete a 5 mile hike to the Double Arch Grotto.

Double Arch Grotto

And FYI:  Tom decided that our new trailer was just too heavy to be pulling up and down the mountains, so we traded it in on this smaller model below…

Our New Camper

At The Death Valley NP Sign

On Wednesday we made our way to Death Valley National Park.  It was only 93 degrees when we arrived in the valley – quite the shock to our systems!  We were only here for a few hours when the winds came up – that is they came up even more than they were during our drive from Zion to Death Valley!  There was so much dust in the air; one could barely see the shapes of the mountains surrounding the valley.  Talk about nasty – I much prefer snow to dust!  Remember the RV Park in Mount Carmel that we thought was so bad – hah!  That one can’t hold a candle to the national park campground in Death Valley!  It is a big gravel parking lot – note the picture.  It has bathrooms – that’s it!  Because of the wind, we had to have the camper totally closed up – remember its 93 degrees.  It probably cooled down to about 70 around midnight! 

Stovepipe Wells Campground

Desert Dunes

On Thursday, the dust storm stopped and we could see the mountains again - which is a good thing.  Early in the morning I took pictures on the sand dunes – Tom came with me and while I pushed the shutter button, he followed an industrious bug around the dunes!  After the dunes, we returned to the camper for some breakfast, and than headed up into the mountains for a hike.  The fact that we started out at see level and drove to about 5 or 6,000 feet in approximately 30 miles was really amazing.  Everything totally changed in that short distance.  It was 45 degrees at our mountain destination.  And while it wasn’t 93 degrees in the valley on Thursday – 0nly 77 degrees – that’s quite a difference! 

Death Valley Moonrise

Thursday evening we drove this cute little scenic drive called “Artists Drive”.  It was a tight little road through these beautiful & colorful hills.  By a stroke of good luck, we came upon the moon rise at just the right time!  (See the photo above.)

Sea Level

Tom's Handiwork

On Friday morning after catching the sunrise over Zabriski Point, we packed up and headed for Bishop, California.  It was a day to clean out the dust and sand and do some laundry.  Darn, I hate doing that house keeping stuff while I’m traveling!  (Even more than when I’m at home!)

Mono Lake Curve

Saturday and Sunday were spent in Lee Vining, California.  When the pass is open (which is wasn’t), one can access Yosemite NP from here.  We spent our time at Mono Lake and Bodie Ghost Town.  Mono Lake is this incredible “salt” lake with these forms rising up from the lake called Tufa.  Bodie has been designated a state historic park and is now maintained in a state of arrested decay.  Apparently, in its heyday, Bodie boasted a population of about 10,000 people!  Following is a quote taken from the guide to the park.

“Killings occurred with monotonous regularity, sometimes becoming almost daily events.  The fire bell, which tolled the ages of the deceased when they were buried, rang often and long.  Robberies, stage holdups and street fights provided variety, and the town’s 65 saloons offered many opportunities for relaxation after hard days of work in the mines.  The Reverend F. M. Warrington saw it in 1881 as “a sea of sin, lashed by the tempests of lust and passion.”

Bodie Methodist Chursh

Bodie Bank Vault

It is now Tuesday morning, and we are settled in at a nice little RV park in Chico, California.  We came here to visit some friends I met at a photo workshop in April, 2011.  More on Chico and what’s coming up later…

Melissa