Sue and I made a three day road trip to Death Valley earlier this month. Fortunately for us there was a cool front in the area and daytime highs never exceeded 80 degrees. We stayed at the Inn at Death Valley, $525 per night. The grounds and facility were very nice but the place was lifeless and lacked any sort of energy. I'd say occupancy was about 25%. My $69 ribeye our first night there was something you'd expect from a Denny's. The next two nights we ate at The Saloon in Furnace Creek which was much better - and less expensive.
We drove to Death Valley from the west via Ridgecrest (58 to 14 to 179 to 190). We hit all the usual tourist spots; Badwater, Zabriske Point, etc. We left heading east (190 to 127 to I-15). On our way out we drove through Amargosa. The hotel is still in operation and the rooms are not cheap! We came across a graveyard on our travels, many of them not even having named headstones. Made us wonder how many of the people buried there were murdered back in the old days. Being a California boy I've never had much respect for San Bernadino County, but let me tell you driving through the northeastern corner is every bit as spectacular as Death Valley.
Word of warning to EV drivers. There are just four chargers in all of Death Valley and they're not superchargers. Even when driving a gasser you can feel pangs of range anxiety. The charger at the Inn had a Tesla parked there all three days, never moving. I can't imagine that's proper etiquette. I'm not throwing stones at the EV crowd, I'm just giving you a heads up.
Anyway, it was a good trip. A few pics for your enjoyment.
Scott
Edit: As an aside I am signed up for the Death Valley Century on November 18th. I am a highly experienced long distance cyclist but after visiting there I decided not to ride it. It's simply too far out in the middle of nowhere. Although that kind of riding is what I do best, doing it at age 70 is probably not a good idea. Have any sort of physical malfunction and, even if airlifted, it would be hours before you got to a hospital.
We drove to Death Valley from the west via Ridgecrest (58 to 14 to 179 to 190). We hit all the usual tourist spots; Badwater, Zabriske Point, etc. We left heading east (190 to 127 to I-15). On our way out we drove through Amargosa. The hotel is still in operation and the rooms are not cheap! We came across a graveyard on our travels, many of them not even having named headstones. Made us wonder how many of the people buried there were murdered back in the old days. Being a California boy I've never had much respect for San Bernadino County, but let me tell you driving through the northeastern corner is every bit as spectacular as Death Valley.
Word of warning to EV drivers. There are just four chargers in all of Death Valley and they're not superchargers. Even when driving a gasser you can feel pangs of range anxiety. The charger at the Inn had a Tesla parked there all three days, never moving. I can't imagine that's proper etiquette. I'm not throwing stones at the EV crowd, I'm just giving you a heads up.
Anyway, it was a good trip. A few pics for your enjoyment.
Scott
Edit: As an aside I am signed up for the Death Valley Century on November 18th. I am a highly experienced long distance cyclist but after visiting there I decided not to ride it. It's simply too far out in the middle of nowhere. Although that kind of riding is what I do best, doing it at age 70 is probably not a good idea. Have any sort of physical malfunction and, even if airlifted, it would be hours before you got to a hospital.
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