Another early morning wake up. I put two loads of laundry through. Our fridge seems to be freezing our food instead of just keeping it cold. Bah. Bought some more milk from the little KOA stash at the front office. Amelia had the table covered in lego again, so cereal was eaten on laps. We got packed up and ready to move along. Jonathan managed to get one of the KOA workers to put air in the tires of the RV for us after a bit of "encouragement". The guy was pretty reluctant and and didn't exactly spring to action to help us out, haha. With tire pressure up to snuff, we departed around 11am with the Hoover Dam and Death Valley in our sights.
Billboard across from our RV park...
"Injured while searching for dead bodies at Lake Mead? Demand Compensation!" yikes.
We stopped at the WalMart close by to do a big shop and get loaded up with supplies. The kids enjoyed the longer stay because, armed with a walkie-talkie, they could play "What the Golf?" on the ipads in the electronics department. If there's a screen to be found, they'll find it! haha.
Drove by what looked like a massive shimmering lake which turned out to be fields and fields of solar panels. Super weird to see so many in one spot.
By 12:45pm we were at the Lake Mead Overlook where we found a parking spot in the tiny lot, and made some grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch while looking over the VERY low lake. The water levels have been getting worse and worse over the years and apparently bodies are being found as the portions of the lake dries up (hence the billboard)! Kids were entertained by the tiny chipmunks scurrying over the rocks just on the opposite side of the barrier wall.
After our lunch (we took a photo of our Grilled Cheese for Leslie and Dieter, Christopher and Daniel), we packed up again and drove over to the Hoover Dam. Went through the checkpoint around 1:30pm. The security guards did a quick search of the RV before allowing us through to the Tillman Memorial Bridge. We parked the RV and walked up the winding steps/walkways to where you could walk across the bridge and have a good view of the Hoover Dam. Our little family was quite tired and we decided that this lovely view of the dam was just fine enough for us to "check Hoover Dam off our list" and we didn't need to pay for the tour and spend extra time, at least on this particular trip. Perhaps another adventure! We looked around on the bridge for about 1/2 hour and headed back to the rig.
Stopped in Las Vegas for diesel - the kids went into the gas station with Jonathan and learned from the lady inside how to make their own nerd-ropes with nerds candy and gummy bears. Good tip.
Drove through Red Rock Canyon where we were instructed to "Watch for Wild Horses and Burros". It was 10 degrees celsius in the shade here. Lots of steep hills and wild and wooly looking landscapes. Jonathan brought out his usual, "Must be a steep hill because I can't get into 2nd gear... hope we're not breaking down" comment. This comes out EVERY steep hill. ;-)
Passed into the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area and saw neat metal sculptures of burrows along the side of the highway. We took BellaVista Road and a right on the CA127North Hwy.
By 4:20pm we were at the California State line crossing! another 25 min or so and we were in Death Valley. Whew!!
This is the Amargosa Opera House just at the edge of Death Valley Junction and State Line Road.
https://www.amargosaoperahouse.org/. Funny little historic spot in the middle of "nowhere".
We rolled up to the Death Valley National Park visitor centre at 5pm just as they were closing. Jonathan ran inside and got the JR Ranger books for the kiddos just in the knick of time. We decided to camp out at the Texas Springs campground in the park Site B85 - there were only a few people parked there. It was a short drive from the Furnace Creek Visitor Centre, made up of a coupe of small loops of sites with a couple little washroom huts.
Kids were giddy and silly and had a run around the campsite for awhile. Then they put on a play called "The Pie" based on the Marie Calendar Banana Cream Pie we bought at Walmart. Apparently our kids don't like banana cream pie, but we sure do... hahahahahahaha. The play was an elaborate cooperative effort between the two kids, performed up on the top overhead bunk (our viewing from below) and involves many stuffies/puppets, voice box changers and music. Very theatrical!!!! We have a video of the entire performance, but it's a bit long to include here, heehee.
After the theatre, the kids did some sharpie tattoo art on daddy's back. Saguaro Cactus and death skull. Nice desert theme. Then we tucked in for the night... excited about what Death Valley would hold for us tomorrow during our exploration!
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