Dear Rachel,
Hello, how are you!? Our pen pal relationship has kind of
dwindled, so I figured this would be a good opportunity to revive it. Aidan and
I are on our road trip working our way west. We have just about a week left
until we make our way back to Colorado for your graduation and then to Glacier!
Today we spent most of the day driving. We began just
outside of Grand Canyon after sleeping for 10 hours straight after our hike to
the bottom. We made oatmeal for breakfast (I may be starting to get tired of
that meal), filled up our milk jugs with water, and then headed out! The
driving today has been some of the least interesting so far on this trip; flat
and straight with nothing but desert in every direction. We stopped at the
Hoover Dam on our way to Nevada. That is a lot of cement… After hiking in the
Grand Canyon down to the beautiful Colorado River, it was a little sad to see
it stopped up and altered for our purposes. Aidan has a “free the rivers” shirt
with a dam marked as graffiti, so I took a picture of him wearing it in front
of the dam.
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| Free the rivers! |
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| The spillway |
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| Obvious water lines on the rock |
It is crazy to me that so much exists in this area of the
country where there is so little water available. It gives me a greater
appreciation for conserving our natural resources so that we will be able to
use them and survive in the future.
Our next stop was Las Vegas. We didn’t drive down the strip,
but even from a distance that place looks crazy. We stopped at Panera for lunch
(I thought you would appreciate that) and then went to the grocery store to
restock on vegetables and other necessary food items, like a pint of Ben and
Jerry’s ice cream that needed to be eaten immediately… Outside the grocery
store, we quickly tried to get all of the cold items and ice in the cooler
before the sun melted everything. The celery just barely wouldn’t fit, so I told
Aidan to bite off the ends of it and he did! Right there in the parking lot,
all of it at once! In practically one bite, with the whole bundle of celery in
his mouth. It was pretty funny. I’m not sure he always gets the difference
between my serious and sarcastic advice.
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| Las Vegas in the distance |
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| DELISH! |
After my fill of Las Vegas (and hazelnut chocolate ice cream),
we continued west to Death Valley National Park. As we got closer, the drive
did become more interesting. This place is desolate and aptly named. Aidan read
me some quote on the way there that described Death Valley as “hell without the
inconveniences of getting there.” After driving through it and walking around
for 2 minutes, I think I would agree. Unfortunately we arrived a few minutes
after the visitor center at Furnace Creek had closed. However, we did see the thermometer
that at 5:09pm read 111°F ! Oh my goodness this place is hot! This triple digit
temperature phenomenon is a new one to me and so I found myself exclaiming my
disbelief frequently, to which Aidan laughed and told me to calm down.
Apparently he does not grasp the significance of this moment, nor my inability
to tolerate temperatures above 75°F. We left Furnace Creek and drove to Badwater
(I’m not convinced this was a favorable switch), where we saw the salt flats
left over from the ocean that evaporated many moons ago. More importantly, this
is the lowest point in the United States (and the Western Hemisphere)! Which is
important because in 3 days we will (hopefully) be standing on Mount Whitney!
(The highest point in the lower 48.) Fingers crossed we can gain 14,776’ in
elevation without too many problems.
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| Maps! |
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| Death Valley National Park! |
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| Wohoo!! |
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FYI. Found in the bathrooms at the visitor center.
I hit the target! |
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| I might die... |
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| Badwater Basin! |
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| Lowest point in the Western Hemisphere! |
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| Sea level is wayyyy up there! |
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| Desolate. |
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| Aidan licked the salt |
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| The salt crust in the basin |
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| Ouch. |
From Badwater we drove to Emigrant to camp for the night,
where we hoped it would be a little cooler. We made a delicious dinner of
stir-fried peppers and onions and quinoa and then set up “camp.” Since it was
so hot and clear, we decided to try to sleep out under the stars. It is a
little (a lot) windy so hopefully we don’t get blown away!
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| Dinner! |
That’s it for today! I miss you and hope you are doing well.
See you soon!
Your friend,
Emily
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