One of our favorite places in the world, and our wedding locale, is Carmel-by-the-Sea, a quaint seaside town south of Monterey. It’s a beautiful and fun place to spend a long weekend, which is just what Kelly and I did to celebrate Loïc’s 1st birthday. Bandit, of course, came as the exclusive guest. Carmel-by-the-Sea is […]
Category: California
Death Valley Day Five: Rhyolite Ghost Town & the Sand Dunes
On day five, we got up a little later in the morning and drove out to the Nevada area to explore Rhyolite, a ghost town in the Bullfrog Hills, about 120 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Before we hit the ghost town, we stopped at Beatty, Nevada, about 4 miles away, for groceries. Beatty is […]
Death Valley Day Four Part II: Borax Museum, Harmony Borax Works, & Pupfish
After exploring the Furnace Creek Inn, Ranch and Visitor Center, we made our way over to the Borax Museum, a small, slightly cramped, museum decorated with wall-to-wall antiques and historical items about the Harmony Borax Works (later called the Pacific Borax Company). Entrance to the Borax Museum is free with a $2.50 printed guide available […]
Death Valley Day Four Part I: Furnace Creek Inn & Ranch, Golf Course, and Death Valley National Park Visitor Center
We got up late that morning; all of us were incredibly tired from our hike the previous day! We planned to spend the first half of this day exploring Furnace Creek Inn and Ranch, as well as the National Park Visitor Center. Don and Donna, ready to go! Furnace Creek Inn has always been one […]
Lowest Point in North America at 282 Feet Below Sea Level – Badwater, Death Valley National Park, California
We woke up early that morning and prepared for our hike to the lowest elevation point in North America at 282 feet below sea level, Badwater Basin! Dad and Andy had studied the maps and did as much research as humanly possible to figure out where this exact spot was. As you will read below, […]
Death Valley Day Two: Fall Canyon Hike & Stovepipe Wells
We woke up early the next morning to prepare for our hike. My father had proposed two possible hiking routes for us. One was what he deemed “technical,” which, after further questioning, we learned meant “lowering Mom into a dry fall.” Apparently my parents had done this hike previously and the completion of it necessitated […]
Death Valley Day One: Las Vegas and Driving to Death Valley National Park
Andy and I left very late/early (depending on how you look at it) on Wednesday the 11th/Thursday the 12th. My father, who is an avid Death Valley hiker (see below), instructed us to fly into Las Vegas (through Seattle), as the drive to Death Valley National Park was only about a two hour drive from […]