Birthday bash at the bottom of the world

Happy Birthday to You
You live in a zoo
You look like a monkey
And you smell like one too.

😉

Guess who’s birthday it is today? Annnnneeeeeeeeee, my love! Ann turns a ripe old age of the finest whiskey today, so what better place to celebrate than in a valley where hints of mortality surround. The Furnace Creek Ranch is a pretty ritzy place for our modest lifestyle, but you only turn 53 once, so we checked in for three nights to celebrate and to explore the valley.

Ann’s only wish was to drink good wine from actual stem glasses, and given that we have almost no additional space to carry anything on the bikes, this became her present. Unfortunately no glassware was to be had (aside from stealing it from the kitchen), but I did find these lovely onyx goblets for sale, along with some descent California wines. I think she was happy.

The next day we headed off to Badwater, the actual lowest point in Death Valley. Like all the rest of the area, it is a strange and outlandish place. The area is a salt encrusted basin at 282 feet below sea level. When the torrential rains come, as they very occasionally do, all the water eventually ends up here. The water table itself is not too far down, so the water lifts salts from the land and deposits it as vast salt beds as the water recedes. The effect is stark and otherworldly.

After Badwater we drove back to where we had passed the sand dunes the day before. These are honest to goodness, Lawrence of Arabia/Tatooine style desert dunes right here in Death Valley. We walked for miles (OK, Ann walked for miles, I walked for a kilometres 😉 ), exploring this unexpected find.

After exploring the dunes we headed back to the Ranch to carry on the birthday girl’s celebration with a fine dinner, and then more wine on our deck. Our last day was spent relaxing, searching for what to do next, and then exploring the immediate area on foot. We found an old date palm grove that had seen better days, and revelled in the good beer, pizza and funny X-mas mood of this oasis in the desert.

Tomorrow we head for (gulp) Las Vegas. I was really hoping to avoid it, but weather is still cold (lows around 0C) and it has the cheapest places around. So I shall gird my loins and enter into yet another valley of death.