We were tourists yesterday. It was wonderful. We slept in. We read our books for a little while in the afternoon. We still turned on the generator and computers for about an hour in the morning and handled some email. But, mainly we went sightseeing. We went to the visitor center and pushed our way through the crowd to see the welcome slide show. Then we hit the road. We had to leave Odie home because he's not allowed on the trails.

Here's our campground. Just a huge parking lot, but it means there IS a place to park. All the regular campgrounds were full. This one's called Sunset and it's at Furnace Creek.



Usually, when our GPS says we're at a negative altitude, we figure it is malfunctioning. Not here.



And there's lots of Borax memorobilia here. Remember the TV show called Death Valley Days with host Ronald Reagan? Only vaguely for me .. but Jim reminded me. That was all about the 20 Mule Teams.



The fields of yellow flowers are right next to the road. And they are spectacular. Desert Gold I believe they're called.


This scene deserves 2 shots



Apparently the seeds for these flowers have been patiently collecting for years waiting for the year with enough rainfall to bring them out in this profusion. You can just feel the joy. Get ready .. here we go ..



Then we went on to Salt Creek. Flowing water thru the desert.



But wait! There's more flowers.



This one is supposed to be very rare. You only see it in years like this. It's called the Desert 5 Spot. hmmmm, wonder how it got that name? I also have to tell you that Jim took this shot. But I spotted the flowers!





Then we ended the day at the Sand Dunes near Stovepipe Wells. I had hoped to catch them with that beautiful red sunset color .. but sometimes the sun just sets with no display. It was still beautiful.