I have actually been here before, but only stopped long enough to check out the Borax Museum (Small but V cool) I had no idea the place was so well appointed..
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All at the borax museum |
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We woke early at about 8:30 and went straight to the pool, the ranch staff were having their own 4th of July parade using their full compliment of golf carts (They have a golf course in the middle of the desert.. way too decadent for my tastes!) which looked fun in a quaint way.. The pool was sheer bliss, we had it to ourselves, there were 2 Germans on the loungers catching some sun, but the pool was empty, I've never been in a chlorineless pool before, fabulous.. floating around in the hot water looking at the surrounding mountains.. scarily hedonistic.
We checked out at about 11am and had a quick look around the Borax Museum, whod-a-thunk people would go to such lengths for some soap..
Our next stop was "Badwater" the lowest elevation in America, 282 feet *below* sea level, it's a compacted salt dry lake bed and was reading 120 degrees fahrenheit while we were there.. nasty hot.
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From Badwater we went up to Artists Pallette, a cool rock formation that is stained red/blue/green by various mineral deposits in the rock, we stopped ... took pictures.. got back in the car and headed on down the single lane track we'd entered to view the site.. then our luck changed, we hit a pothole, warped the wheel and flattened the tyre.. nice.. 120 degrees outside, ground too hot to touch, and we've broken the hire car... ho hum.. luckily we remembered seeing a garage a ways back so we just drove on the deflated tyre for 5 miles until we found the place, we were worried that as it was a Sunday and July 4 the place would be on holiday but it was open and the mechanic was friendly, he battered the wheel straight with a hammer and reflated the tyre (Luckily it wasn't holed) and asked for $10 .. we gave him $20 and went on our way.. lucky tourists! :)
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Next port of call was the "Harmony Borax Works" the abandoned ruins of the processing plant that had driven the settlement of Death Valley in the late 19th century, it was so hot outside that we kept the exploring to a minimum and headed off to "Scotty's Castle"
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Scotty's Castle is a folly par excellance... slap bang in the middle of nowhere, there is a mock renaissance castle built in the 1930's by a rich banker from Chicago who had discovered that the dry air in Death Valley suited his health, he was called Mr Johnson, so why is the place called "Scotty's Castle"? it seems he was lured to DV by a prospector called Scotty who was taking money from Johnson on the understanding that he was founding a Gold Mine, actually he was spending the cash on wine women & song but in his letters back to Chicago he was quite the gold miner.. Eventually Mr Johnson came to DV to see what was happening to his money, he found Scotty mineless & cashless, but he also found the climate suited him... he moved to DV shortly afterwards with his wife and started building his residence, Scotty being full of it told all the locals that the castle was his, and so the name stuck, Johnson seems to have been highly amused by Scotty's antics and kept him on as an amusing companion.. RK & I decided after the tour that they were both gay as lords.. but in the 1940s'? .. nah.. "personable companion" it is..
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The tour is conducted by a lady who behaves as if she's in 1939, if you ask about the sprinkler system or airconditioning she claims she can't see them.. a fun tour.
Leaving Scotty's place we went over to Ubehebe Crater, henseforth reffered to as Hebegebe crater, a HUGE hole in the ground caused by molten rock running into underground water & exploding, very impressive.
Heebegeebe
We didn't want to spend the night at Furnace Creek again, so we headed north towards Tonopah the nearest decent sized town, upon arrival however we were shocked to find it in a state of terminal decline, none of the motels were inspiring and as it was still early we'd have nothing to do all evening..
The new plan was to drive the extraterrestrial highway to Rachel Nevada UFO center of the world, then back to Vegas and the Mirage where we know we'll be happy.. we had originally planned to do the UFO thing tomorrow but figured it would be cool to go there in twilight.. so, we lowered the roof on the car and hit the road.. the Extraterrestrial highway should be re-named "Jackrabbit avoidance freeway" the stupid creatues sit on the side of the road, then just as you're about to go past they run out in front of you, I avoided most, but one rabbit & one mouse didn't make it home for dinner yesterday..
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Rachel was in the midst of it's 4th of July celebrations when we arrived.. not as impressive as it sounds, Rachel consists of one or two permanent structures and a slew of caravans trailers.. the locals were letting off fireworks and getting drunk.. we took some photos of the legendary "Lil' A-le-inn" and went inside to peruse the flying saucer pix, the inn itself is a mix of truckstop, diner, tourist trap and focus for worldwide UFO believers, the decor is non-existent, the hygiene is questionable but it feels friendly.. we stayed about 20 mins and headed back to Vegas.
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Arriving at about midnight we re-checked into the Mirage.. if you ever stay here avoid room 24110, the airconditioning is louder than heck.. I was going to live with it, but at $145 for the night I couldn't stand it.. a call to the front desk had us upgraded to a "Tower Deluxe Suite" with a view to die for.. overlooking the strip and above the Mirages Volcano and fire show..
fire!
way cool... it was too late to go food hunting so we ordered room service and watched a movie on hotel TV.. a long day, but a great day!