HOT, HOT!

Today was an interesting day for a couple of reasons.  Like we said yesterday we came from Yosemite and today we went through Death Valley.  Lots of elevation difference.

This lake was at 9,956 feet and the temperature was in the high 50's-low 60's.

Here at sea level it was 100 when we stopped.

A few miles further on at Furnace Creek and 190 feet below sea level you can see what it was.  Quite a change in less than 24 hours.

We were not really sure what way we were going to travel to Sedona from Bishop.  But Death Valley was really right on the way and I wanted to show Dianna where I had ridden motorcycles a few years ago.  So we detoured through the park knowing it would be hot.  It was as you can see and it continued to be hot the entire day.  We arrived in Henderson Nevada about 3:30 and it was right around 95 here.  So we decided to stop and get a room for the night.  We were pleasantly surprised at how nice a room Hampton Suits has for very reasonable prices. 

 We are enjoying a relaxing evening in a very comfortable room.  That is not to say our rooms before this have not been nice or comfortable.  We have had very nice accommodations and we are very grateful for that.

We were discussion just yesterday that the remainder of our trip will be mostly in arid climates.  I remember as a kid when our family would go from Chiloquin to Idaho every year I really did not enjoy the ride from Bend on.  It is a very arid and bleak landscape.  But as I have grown older I have come to appreciate that God created that along with the areas we thing are beautiful.  If we will only take time and look we can see many things in the desert that are beautiful.

These are some flowers that were growing along the road as we were descending into Death Valley.  And there were others right by these.  Even the rocks if you take time to just appreciate them have beauty.  The earth is full of His glory.  All we have to do is stop and appreciate it.

We can even appreciate some man made things if we want.  This Opera house is at a junction out in the middle of absolutely nowhere and is kind of cute.  Now mind you the other buildings around it leave something to be desired but this one was fun!

So back to the beginning of our day.  Bishop California is a neat little town out in the middle of nowhere and is a great place to spend the night.  One of the highlights of this berg is a really great bakery. 

Well, I should say Bakkery!  They are an amazing place that supposedly bakes 25,000 different things each day.  I know, I know.  I am just repeating what I read there.  They have a plethora of eats, each one guaranteed to make you determine not to eat for two days afterwards.  We came away with a loaf of bread and two really cool macaroons.   Yes, we have eaten the macaroons already!

So tomorrow morning we plan to finish our drive to Sedona Arizona.  It should take us about three hours.  There is a fire in the Oak Creek Canyon just to the north of town but I think we will be ok.  We have been there several times  before and are looking forward to spending some more time.  We have been enjoying the new car a lot.  Today for the first time we were actually able to drive on a freeway for quite a length of time and it was averaging over 40 mpg!  Every time we fill up it has always been between 32-37 mpg and that has been on some hard driving with lots of curves, stops and other things.  So we are very pleased.  Lady Di is great!

Till tomorrow remember.  The whole earth is full of Gods Glory

Doug and Dianna