Hello, my bucket list, friends! I recently returned from a wonderful vacation to Death Valley National Park. It was my first time going there, and I highly recommend going if you get the chance.
Death Valley Day one – My mom and I started our vacation with an eight hour drive. On the way there, we stopped in this small town called Trona. They had a really good gas station store with good prices. That is where I got my first souvenirs of this vacation. When we arrived in the park, we made a stop at the sand dunes. The dunes were like being in an endless sandbox with hills. It was an interesting place to explore. After exploring the sand dunes, we went to the visitor center. The visitor center is on the smaller size, but it has a good selection of items for sale as well as some informative displays. After the sand dunes and the visitor center we got to our hotel. We stayed at the ranch in Death Valley. I loved staying there. They have a lot of things to do at the ranch. They have a cute general store, a huge pool , and an outdoor museum, just to name a few. The first night that we were there, I walked to the general store, and I got some postcards. It was a great first day of vacation.
Death Valley day two – Our first adventure of day two was going to Golden Canyon. This is a very beautiful hike, and the canyon is something I think everyone should see if they get the chance. This place is similar to what someone may picture a different planet would look like. This is a great spot for pictures. After that, we went to a spot known as artists Palette. This is also a great place to take pictures. The view here is beautiful. Another place we went to on this day was Harmony Borax works. We learned a lot about the borax industry here, but my favorite part was walking on the crunchy salt. Our last big adventure of this day was going to see Ubehebe crater. It was so windy it was hard to stand up straight, but the crater was truly amazing to see. We didn’t stay long due to the wind but I’m glad we went to see it.
Death Valley day three – Our first adventure of this day was going to visit Bad Water basin. Bad Water Basin is known for having the lowest elevation in North America. The basin has changed due storms, and there is now a lake that is not usually there. This is an interesting place to visit, especially right now, and I’m glad I got to see it. On this day we also went on a tour where we went to see some places that our car could not drive to. One of the things that I saw on the tour that stood out to me was a big tear shaped hole in a rock formation. I got some good pictures of that. After the tour, we explored the outdoor museum at our hotel. I also got ice cream at the ice cream shop at our hotel, and it was amazing. This was the first night that we went swimming in the large pool at the hotel. It was another great day of vacation.
Death Valley day four – This was our last full day of vacation before we went back home. We went to another viewpoint and of course it was beautiful. Another person that was at the same spot took some pictures of my mom and I, and they look great! After that we went to the visitor center again. I got a pressed penny and a bookmark. We had lunch at our hotel and it was really good. later that day we went out again but this time I brought a friend with me my Squishmallow raven named Ronald. Ronald has his own instagram page. ( ronaldtheraven ) I took Ronald with us so that he could get some pictures for his instagram page. We went to some of the places that we had already visited, and Ronald loved taking pictures, and of course, the pictures turned out great. That night we went swimming again. It was the perfect way to wrap up our vacation.
Thanks for reading about this adventure! Love – Christina Epperly
