Silver Summit: More Details & Highlights from Los Gatos to Las Vegas

Blogging in real time proved more difficult than I thought, (lack of regular access to internet and a proper computer). So, now that I am home from a month of travel I'll fill in the details from my last post.

John and Chris Sands

John and I said goodbye to Chris and Lynn and departed Los Gatos, California on Sunday, April 3rd. Thanks to both of them for their hospitality, it wasn't easy to leave California! Our route took us south then west through the San Joaquin River Valley. What a spectacular sight to see, over 150 miles of food growing in fields for as far as the eye can see and aquifers running to supply both the agriculture and the cities of California. I wish I had taken more pictures, but we were almost out of the area by the time it struck me that we had been driving for over two hours, and the magnitude food production that I was seeing around me.

Wind farm on the outskirts of the San Joaquin River Valley

At the close of the first day we stopped in the Mojave Desert town of Barstow, California. It was well after dark and we could barely muster the energy to leave our motel for a meal. But, following an iPhone query to Trip Advisor we opted for a stick to our ribs meal of chili relleno and enchiladas with rice and refried beans. If you are ever in Barstow, California, (truck drivers take note), you will find good food at Jimenez Mexican Restaurant. That, and a bit of Route 66 at night is about all we saw in Barstow. It was just one of several spontaneous bleary eyed stops we made on our way toward Washington DC to deliver a 1995 Buick Century to sister Jean. When morning broke we were once again off across the desert headed for Death Valley.

Road through the Mojave on the way to Death Valley

The desert was in bloom, so the long hours of driving were often interrupted by stops to enjoy the flowers and cactus and take pictures. It struck me how vast and inhospitable this part of the country is to humans, but somehow we have found a way to bring power and water, build towns and live here. It has a beauty and solitude I had never seen.

We had an ambitious plans for our drive on April 4th to travel from Barstow through Death Valley, see the Hoover Dam and stop for the night at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. But, seduced by the beauty of the desert and Death Valley we stopped short for some R&R and gambling. More on that later.

It's difficult to not continually use words like immense, vast, endless, enormous, huge, but when speaking of the Mojave Desert/ Death Valley, the Grand Canyon, the high desert of Oklahoma and many of the places we drove through, those words are all appropriate. We live in a country that is beautiful, vast and diverse with astounding beauty. Death Valley was a surprisingly beautiful place. It is the site of the lowest point in the United States, Badwater is a basin located there ( -282 ft below sea level) . It also has one of the most astounding views of geological beauty from Zabriskie Point and a drive down a the Artists Way left me feeling awed and filled with the wonder at God's creation. We could not resist stopping for a spontaneous listen to an interpretive program done by a National Park Service Ranger. Turns out most of the land in the Death Valley Environs was owed by a mining company known for "20 mule team borax"... After extracting most of the Borax they decided to let the land be used by the Park Service, with the exception of a couple of resort hotels and a shopping area from which they continue to earn revenue.

Me on the salt flats of Death Valley near the lowest point in the US

Salt on the flats

Driving near "the Artist's Palate on the Artist's Drive"

Along the Artist's Drive

A NPS Park Ranger tells us about the history and geology of Death Valley

John at Zabriskie Point

Looking from Zabriskie Point toward "the Matterhorn" of Death Valley

Some of the diversity of terrain seen in Death Valley

Back on the road late in the afternoon I called my friend Jonathon Sands, not the John I was driving with but his nephew. I said to Jon, "guess where I am....., just 50 miles west of Las Vegas". He replied, "Guess where I am?". "I don't know, Las Vegas", I said... turns out Jon was there with his friends to watch the NCAA Basketball Final and root for Butler. So, instead of a quick drive through Vegas we joined Jon and his friends at the Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino for the evening. My first time in Las Vegas!!!

A brief summary, wow what a scene. It was a great game, but Butler lost. Our room was spectacular, the Bourbon was good. I won $180 in roulette but gave it back to them at the craps table..I guess there is a reason they call it craps? The food was great and the fountain at the Bellagio was spectacular. Lot's of beautiful people were there along with everyone else. We stayed up late and had fun before we headed off in the morning for the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon.