Monday, October 12, 2009

Death Valley and Laughlin

October 12

We left bright and early this morning for Laughlin and arrived around 1. RVer’s can stay for free in the back parking lot of the Tropicanna Express Hotel/Casino. After walking around a few casinos and taking Chica for a walk we went in and had a wonderful Italian meal. Then Dean won almost $200 on the penny machine. What a lucky guy. Tomorrow we should be home in Prescott and our wonderful RV trip will be over. It has been great!!!!

The following I composed while we were in Death Valley since we did not have any internet connection:

October 10-11
We drove to Furnace Creek in Death Valley. What a difference in landscape than we have seen all summer. You can see for mile and miles. The colors on the mountains are beautiful. I know all you non-desert people may think we are nuts, but Dean and I are really enjoying this. And we are really warm. When we got to Furnace Creek it was 94.
We decided to camp at the Furnace Creek campground. We toured the visitor’s center, Harmony Borax Works, Artist Palette (colorful rocks in mountain) and Badwater Basin (lowest elevation in the US 282 ft below sea level). Last night we had a campfire and it was so pleasant to sit outside in shorts and no jackets. And we took the down comforter off the bed finally and slept great!





















October 9

Went from Walker Lake to Death Valley and first stop was Scotty’s Castle. We both found Scotty’s Castle very interesting and enjoyable. After walking around the grounds, looking at the stables with a lot of old cars, we took a tour of the castle. Millionaires Albert and Bessie Johnson built the castle and their colorful sidekick, who got them interested in the area, was Death Valley Scotty. The Johnson’s spent 2 million in 1929-31 on this castle.




The girl at the right was our tour guide.


The interior of the castle was gorgeous with the finest furniture, woodwork, tile, and metalwork. I especially enjoyed the music room and the huge organ, which the tour guide played for us.


After the castle, we camped at Manzanita Springs campground. It is 1800 ft above sea level so it was cool at night but warm during the day.