So a few weeks ago I was complaining about the cold and rain – no more!  Here was the temp the day we visited Death Valley and the warning at the Visitor Center.

Even with the extreme heat, we really enjoyed Death Valley.  It is beautiful – there are so many colors in the desert.  These pictures don’t do it justice.

The sands were all colors of beiges and reds with blues and greens thrown in.  The sky was an incredible bright blue and the sun was white hot.

We weren’t able to go to the Racetrack where the rocks mysteriously move in the sand.  It’s about a four hour trip from Furnace Creek where we entered the park plus the NPS recommends that you only enter if you have spare tires (plural!).  And there’s at least a half mile walk to get to the boulders.  That didn’t sound like a trip two women should make in 117 degree weather!  Ditto for Scotty’s Castle.  It had been damaged by flooding and was closed.  Apparently severe weather is pretty common in Death Valley.  The electricity was out at the Visitor Center the day we visited as a result of a thunderstorm the night before.  A few days later we saw tweets from Joshua Tree saying that all electricity was out at Death Valley and they were turning away folks who had hotel reservations.

We did visit Badwater Basin which is the lowest point in North America – 282 feet below sea level.  See that small white sign on the hill behind my car?  That’s sea level.