The Oasis in the Desert - A Guest Post by Sandy & Arne

On Friday, we left Sequoia National Park and headed toward Death Valley across the Mohave Desert. It was an unnerving drive of hairpin turns, steep grades, narrow roads, and shear cliffs. Along the way hardly anything was growing .except tumbleweed, but still beautiful with some wild flowers and lots of colourful rock. After we descended into the first part of the Valley, we had a huge uphill climb with a steep grade from less than sea level to over 5500 feet. It was just too steep for the trailer to make it up with all of us, so Shawn dropped us off at a rest stop and while we sat and relaxed in the shade, he went back to get the trailer.

After six hours of travelling through the desert, we arrived at an oasis called Furnace Creek with palm trees, flowers, a green golf course, and everything lush and growing. Although the temperature was still over 100 degrees, we all dived into the spring-fed pool which is 82 degrees year round and cooled off. It was a beautiful resort, but even more appreciated after such a long drive through the desert.

The next day, we were out exploring.
We walked on the salt flats at Badwater Basin which is 280 feet below sea level and took a drive through Artist’s Palette where we marvelled at all the beautiful colours on the rocks. There were turquoise, pinks, vanilla ice cream, and taupe and they made us want to change all the colours of our house when we get home!

Yesterday, after a short and much more successful drive, we arrived at Circus Circus in Las Vegas. After a surf and turf buffet dinner, we watched the pirate show at Treasure Island. Today we enjoyed the pool, the midway, some circus acts, and then set out to Excalibur to watch the Tournament of Kings. Tomorrow night, we go to Cirque Du Soleil to see KA and I think we may just stay in Las Vegas forever and never go home!

Sandy & Arne