Hi guys! I know I haven’t blogged in forever, that’s because I have been busy with school and I also got a new job! More on that later 😉
I really wanted to get away from the pressure of school and a place I could go that was affordable during the Thanksgiving holiday. Death Valley National Park was the most reasonable option. This wasn’t a “bucket list” item for California, but when I saw my friend travel there a few months back, I decided to go and check it out!
Death Valley really is an underrated national park and I highly recommend visiting it in your lifetime. It is considered the hottest, driest and lowest national park in the U.S. and covers the California and Nevada borders. The temperature varies and can range from 15 degrees Celsius to 130 degrees Fahrenheit! It was not hot when I went due to it being almost wintertime. The high when I went was 75 degrees and the low was 37 degrees. It is 140 miles long, 3.3 million acres, has many hiking trails, and unbelievable beauty in the rock formations and mineral colors. I stayed only 2 nights, but if you’re an avid hiker, I definitely recommend staying for 3 days.
BTW…all photos were shot on my new iPhone 12 ProMax…I was so excited I got it in time for my trip!
Friday, November 27
I was on the road at 7 a.m. for the almost 4 hour drive to Death Valley. I rented a Nissan Sentra Sedan ($177 for 5 days, I had to get it the day before Thanksgiving because they were closed on that day). Thank goodness for Starbucks!
After stopping at a town called Baker to fill up my gas tank, my first stop in the park was the national park sign off Badwater Road near Shoshone, where I was staying. It’s one of the most historic photos you can take at any national park!
Next I stopped alongside of the road to take a photo of Mormon Point Peak.
Finally, an hour later, I arrived at my first major destination, Badwater Basin, a large salt flat at the lowest elevation in the U.S. at -282 feet below sea level. It was pretty packed and I was lucky to find a parking spot on the side of the road! The basin is a very long stretch of land and has awesome veins, so if you have time to walk the whole thing, awesome!
Next I headed over toward Artist’s Palette, an 8 1/2-mile scenic loop that consists of red, orange, yellow, and blue, pink and green colors on the hills. This was my favorite portion of the park. The colors are from mineral deposits such as iron oxides and chlorite, creating a rainbow effect. You can also check out the video on my Instagram page!
On my way out of Badwater Road, I snapped a photo of the Golden Canyon Trailhead.
Finally, I made my way to the Furnace Creek Visitor Center to purchase my pass to the park ($30, you can also purchase it at many kiosks in the park. Support your national parks!) and to get a photo with the iconic digital thermometer. You can see from the two photos how it changed temperature within a minute. I also bought a magnet and a plush Bighorn Sheep so it can join the likes of the other animals on my bed.
I was starving and thirsty as hell by then, so I made my way back down toward Shoshone where I checked into the Shoshone Inn ($313 for 2 nights, keep in mind it was a holiday weekend). It was a cute little motel near the park and it was the most affordable place I could find for the weekend.
The bed was cozy and there was a cafe across the street and a gas station next door, which made it very convenient! The only part I didn’t like was that the walls are super thin and you can hear everything: the television from the other rooms, people chatting, etc. Also, the town has no cell phone reception and I couldn’t receive a call or call out (then again, I couldn’t in the park either!), but they did have Wi-Fi, which is the only time I could upload photos to social media sites or check email. Other than that, the manger was very hospitable!
I freshened up and made my way to a town called Tecopa, known for its natural hot springs. I didn’t participate in the hot springs because I had done that when I visited Iceland, but I wanted to check out the Death Valley Brewing Company and I am so glad I did. I had a soft root beer, hard root beer, a boysenberry ale and a coffee stout sampler ($6 for all four) that were amazing! The owner, Dan Leesburg, experiments with his own beers and was such a nice guy!
Dan had recommended that I go next door to Steaks and Beer for dinner, which is the absolute must restaurant in the Death Valley area. Everywhere I went, locals raved about this place. The owner, Eric Scott, was once a chef at The Cosmopolitan’s STK restaurant in Las Vegas and boy, does he know how to cook!
I wasn’t in the mood for a steak, but I ordered his pancetta pasta with onion, peppers and a tangy yet sweet marinara sauce with a side salad ($32). I also met some fun and nice locals that I chilled with for a couple hours at the restaurant. It was so much fun!
Afterwards I headed back to the motel to sleep. I had another long day of driving on Saturday.
Saturday, November 28
This was the day where I went to Nevada 3 times, LOL!
I started my morning by searching for a cup of coffee. The cafe across the street from my motel wasn’t open until 9 a.m. and I was in my car about 7:45 a.m. Finally, after inquiring with some locals, I made my way to a casino in Nevada (first stop) called Longstreet Casino in Amargosa Valley, Nevada. Check out the awesome welcome sign with the cow and windmill!
I didn’t have time to wait for a breakfast at the cafe (it was packed), so I got a coffee to go for $2.99 and purchased a Clif Bar at the convenience shop inside the casino. It wasn’t the best breakfast, but hey! As a tourist, I was in a rush and it just had to do.
I made my way back toward Death Valley National Park and stopped at Zabriskie Point, which overlooks the golden colored badlands of the Furnace Creek formation. It was my second favorite part of the trip. You have to climb up a slight hill to get to the top but it’s worth it. I stayed up there for 15 minutes. You can also check out the video on my Instagram page!
Next I headed toward the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, which consist of crescent, linear and star-shaped dunes. I didn’t walk up to the dunes due to me wanting to check out the next site that was far away, but they were a sight to behold!
Next I was off to the Ubehebe Crater, a large volcanic crater 600-feet deep and half a mile long and near the northern end of the park. The crater was formed by a steam and gas explosion when hot magma reached the ground water. The crater is located off Scotty’s Castle Road and I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to view the crater due to the flood damage at Scotty’s Castle in 2015 (the castle won’t reopen until 2022), but alas, the road was open to the crater portion! It was amazing to see and I recommend hiking along the top of the black sand surrounding the crater.
Next I made my way out to the Nevada side of the park (second stop) to a ghost town called Rhyolite, which is ruins of a 1905 gold-mining town, Hollywood movie set and art installations. It was pretty impressive and I definitely recommend stopping to check it out! And no, I did not see any ghosts or felt a haunting. The canyons in the backdrop are also gorgeous.
After visiting the ghost town, I headed back on Highway 95 towards Shoshone. On the way I saw this gigantic dune called Big Dune (so original, I know, LOL!) and I tried to take a good photo of it but it turned out too blurry. If you have a chance to go up close to it, let me know how it is!
Before turning off on Highway 373, at the corner I noticed a fun and unique spot called Area 51 Alien Center, a convenience store, cafe and brothel. Area 51 is actually about 2 hours north from where the center is located.
I didn’t buy anything, but I saw a ton of cute souvenirs such as magnets, postcards, shirts, a fortune teller and even little alien shot bottles. I took a photo with one of them on the bench before I headed back to my car.
After I got back to the motel I freshened up and went back to Tecopa to check out a place the lady at Steaks and Beer had recommended called the China Ranch Date Farm, home of the famous date shake. Yup, I had dessert before dinner. This is an absolute must stop though!
So I take a couple main roads to the date farm and finally I see a sign that says I have 2 more miles to go. Great, I thought! Be prepared because the road gets steep and rugged. I also had to go through a lot of canyons as you can see from below. I was just so excited my little sedan got through it!
When I got to the farm, I was surrounded by date trees, canyons, a car made of steel and greeted to a long line, made up mostly of people who had gone 4-wheeling earlier in the day. It was only $6 for my date shake and it tasted super fresh! I also added walnuts to mine. There are also muffins, cookies, nut breads and a variety of dates for purchase.
On my way back toward town, the moon popped out for the evening over the canyons and I took a quick photo of its beauty.
I headed over to Tecopa Brewing Company next but I decided I didn’t like the varietals they had, so I filled up another tank of gas in the car and headed over to Pahrump, Nevada (last stop) to Artesian Cellars for a wine tasting and a charcuterie plate ($14). The wine tasting consisted of 5 different varietals for only $5, OMG it was so affordable and very tasteful! The Wild West Rose was my favorite because it wasn’t as dry as many Rose’s and had a nice strawberry, sweetness flavor and acidity.
Afterwards, I headed back to my motel and got to bed at 8 p.m. I had to wake up early the next day to head back to Ventura.
Sunday, November 29
I got on the road at 6:45 a.m. so I could beat the Vegas traffic going back toward Los Angeles. I didn’t have a good cup of coffee since Friday, so I thought I’d try Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf back in Baker. When I got there, the sign said it didn’t open up until 10 a.m. Really? So I ended up at a Starbucks in Rancho Cucamonga once I got off the 15, LOL!
Some of the places I didn’t have time to see were Dante’s View, Natural Bridge, Devil’s Golf Course and 20 Mule Team Canyon. I am sure there are more spots I missed, but again, it’s a huge park and I wanted to see some of the main highlights with the time I had.
Below is my last photo and lasting image I took with the moon over the canyons on my way to Pahrump. I hope you all get to see this amazing piece of history and Mother Earth one day! 🙂
