Luxury in The Desert Heat

Armed with our trusty “hand-held air conditioner” we drove through the desert to Palm Springs.  We couldn’t believe how many vehicles we saw at the side of the road either with blown tires or overheating.  Our trusty van carried on.  Heading west, one leaves Las Vegas on Highway 15.  We got to a place called Barstow where we got gas and questioned the lady at the gas station about the direction our GPS was taking us.  The road looked abandoned but she said not to worry - after about 1/2 hour of nothing (which is almost unheard of in The States) there would be life and the drive would be rather pleasant.  And she was right.  We drove through desert - one almost wonders why people live where they do - but if you look hard enough, you can see beauty almost anywhere. 

Our trusty air conditioner...

Highway 10 - Heading into Palm Springs

The weather report.  HOT!

At any rate, I had always been curious about this Palm Springs.  Our trusty BCAA website had a deal for $107/night at the Renaissance Hotel in Indian Wells - a suburb of Palm Springs - including a buffet breakfast.  It was so cheap because no one in their right mind wants to go there because it is so hot - 114 degrees hot.  It was stifling.  But... the hotel was lovely and the pool great - even had a waterfall.  The breakfast was divine too.  They had a juicing station where I discovered Watermelon and Pineapple juice is second to none (note to self though... don’t drink two glasses before heading out on the road!).

The juice station - Watermelon/Pineapple Juice - Yummy!

We honestly didn’t explore the area because we really loved the hotel.  Plus, we needed a break from driving in the heat.  So, we holed up here for two nights and rested and swam.  Total luxury.  Little did I know but that was going to be the last place that we stayed multiple nights.  Onwards...

Las Vegas via... Death Valley

We were on the road at 5.  Our van doesn’t have any air conditioning so it made a lot of sense to tackle the 4.5 hour drive super early.  And, with all the hype about Death Valley, we didn’t know what to expect.  We were told that there are lots of patrols on the road so we took the risk.

It paid off. At first, it was kind of eerie but as the sun came up it looked pretty cool.  It was hot when we started the drive in Lone Pine and it’s amazing how much hotter it got as we got lower down into the valley.  I think I looked at the clock at 6 a.m. and couldn’t believe the heat.

Like the moon...

Sunrise in Death Valley

-231 feet.  Hot as Heck!

-190 feet - Furnace Creek

The good old Van didn't let us down!

Once out of the Valley, the drive into Vegas was pretty flat, dusty and boring.  We were starving when we got there.  We had our GPS programmed for the Original Pancake House - a favourite.  As we made our way down there, we drove by a JW Marriott Hotel so when at the restaurant, we checked the rate on the Internet and it was favourable.  As we were hot and tired, we checked in there.  It was in Northwest Las Vegas about 10 miles off The Strip.  Man, was it an awesome place! The pool was nice and it wasn’t crowded at all. We didn’t want to leave but we felt that it would be a good idea to actually stay on The Strip.

The Pool at The Marriott complete with Waterfall

How's this for a $7 burger?  Claimjumper is our new favourite burger place!

Feeling high class...

In Vegas, we had to go check out the world famous “Gold and Silver Pawn Shop” where they film the show “Pawn Stars”.  We checked it out - nobody famous was there and they sure aren’t giving anything away! Then we checked into The Monte Carlo - a room looking over The Strip on the 31st floor!  It was OK but we kicked ourselves for leaving The Marriott.  This pool was raved about but it was so, so crowded and the chairs were lined up 6 deep so once you found a seat, if you actually did, you were looking at the back of some fat guys head.  Yuk!  I didn’t even want to go into the water.  We spent a few hours going to an arcade and walking around but it was hot - we’re talking 104 + degrees.  We decided that we are no longer Strip Vegas folks.  We did a bit of gambling but let’s just say we are rich in love and not money!

Adam and his "buddies"

The Strip

The next morning, after an awesome breakfast at a place called the Omelet House (gotta love Trip Advisor), we headed West.  We stopped at an Outlet Mall right on the border of Nevada and California and just bought a few small things but it wasn’t a great mall.  By this time, it was noon and ripping hot but we were committed so we carried on...

Yummy...

Twins...

Mammoth Lakes and down Highway 395...

We found a shower at the Mammoth Lake RV Park - just at the entry of town.  I had always been curious to check Mammoth Lakes out because many years ago, I worked on a job for Intrawest marketing some exclusive properties.  This place is quite similar to Whistler.  It is advertised as a 4 seasons resort.  Summer has loads of mountain bikers, fishers and hikers.  We happened to pull into town the day before a beer and blues festival was going to start up - Bluesapalooza.  It sounded fun but not really kid appropriate.  They had some name acts performing and it was tempting.

It’s high up - around 8800 feet - and one could tell.  It was hard to catch a breath.  In addition, it was extremely warm.  We had a number of people say that the heat was unusual for them and we expected it to warm up substantially in the evening but that didn’t happen.  Thank goodness for the air conditioner David rigged up - helped greatly.

Love the little air conditioner sticking out of the window!

Biking and hanging out at Mammoth Village.

The first day we arrived we just nosed around - feeling the effects of our epic hike - and the kids cooled off in the necessary pool.  The next day, we planned to check out a National Monument they had there called the Devil’s Postpile which is basically some cool rock formation formed millions of years ago.  As they don’t want cars going into the monument area, they bus you in.  It’s about a 15 mile bus ride.  The bus is caught at the base of the ski mountain where they have a large mountain bike park - similar, again, to Whistler.  But... I just wasn’t feeling well.  Turns out, I was feeling effects of the altitude.  So, back to the van to rest.

Finally, on the third day, we got to check the Postpile out.  It was interesting and we decided to do a small hike - about 4 miles round trip - to Rainbow Falls.  The kids weren’t too impressed with that idea but we’re here to explore.  We were treated to quite the lightning and thunder show that evening.

Devil's Postpile

Rainbow Falls

A junction of the Pacific Crest Trail.

It was time to leave.  We carried on down Highway 395 (along with most everyone else who had been at Mammoth Lakes) because it was now a Sunday.  This highway was called “historic” on the internet and I expected a nice slow moving 2 lane highway but it was just the opposite.  It was a fast highway, not overly busy, with beautiful scenery.

Breakfast at the side of Highway 395

Our next stop was to be a small town called Lone Pine.  Enroute we stopped at a place called “Manzanar” which was a Japanese internment camp in World War II.  It was very interesting.  At one point, 10,000 people lived here.  It didn't look like it but at one point, this particular location was a fertile valley but the water was re-routed to Los Angeles - a pity.  They used to grow apples here.  At any rate, it was bloody hot.  We listened to the ranger speak and then we did the driving tour.  Both kids got something out of this one.

Manzanar Cemetery

Once at Lone Pine, which is the turn off point for Death Valley, we stopped for the night at a nice RV Park called Boulder Creek.

HOT!

5 a.m. - Leaving for Death Valley.  Gulp!

Our plan for the next day was to get up super early and drive through Death Valley enroute for Las Vegas.  I didn’t sleep very well that night...

August 1, 2012 - The Half Dome - Yosemite...

Well, in a word, Brutal.

David was true to his word.  Around 4 am we were on the road to the trail head parking lot.  We got there a little too early because it was still too dark to start moving.  It was too early to eat so when it was light enough, we set off - about 6 a.m.

For the first part, the trail was fairly easy - in fact, it was even paved.  We kept sipping water at regular intervals.  It was hot but nothing like we were about to experience.  We didn’t do a great job of researching all the ins and outs of this trail because we ended up taking a wrong turn.  A wrong turn that added another 2 miles to an already long trail.  Luckily we met up with some folks who turned us in the right direction.

The scenery along the trail is beautiful but the altitude is high so one can feel the lungs working overtime.

While we are still "fresh"

Trying to be like "Ansel Adams"

By just before noon, we reached the “sub dome” which is where the trail becomes a so-called flight of rock stairs up to the cables.  These cables are basically vertical and are about 150 feet straight up.  The rock stairs up to these cables were challenging and people kept saying that they were easier than the cables.  Hmmmm, not so sure about that.

I could easily say that Sylvie didn’t want to go up the cables so I “had” to stay with her.  It is true that she didn’t want to go up and I could have left her - after all, where was she going to go at 11,000 feet?  But, really, physically and mentally, I was spent.  I knew I had to go down 7 miles and it was probably around 100 degrees so I sat the cables out.

David and Adam (who had to be talked into it) tackled them and they did us proud!  Bragging rights to them.  I’ll let you be the judge looking at these pictures at just how jaw droppingly beautiful it was up there.

The "dreaded" cables

Adam and David at the top of The Half Dome

The "Diving Board".  Scary!

Panorama from atop The Half Dome

See what I mean when I say "vertical"?

The Half Dome

Sylvie and I waiting for "our heroes"

By the time we headed down the mountain, back down the rock stairs, we were darn close to running out of water.  Once we reached “Nevada Falls”, a pivotal point of the hike (where we went wrong previously), we took a different route down - shorter but with a lot of stairs.  At this junction, we took our last sips of water and knew we had to go about 1.5 miles before we would see any water.  Going down the stairs, we were like horses going home - pushing past people to get to that water.   We were parched.  The dryness plus the heat were getting to us.  But... we made it and after 11 hours, we were back to the parking lot.  I don’t think we’ve ever been so tired in all our lives.  We started at 6 and were finished at 5.  All in, we did just over 20 miles.  And, it was HARD!  As I said earlier, brutal, yes, but rewarding.  This can come off the bucket list for David.

The campgrounds in the National Parks are rustic to say the least and don’t have showers.  So, we drove to our campground - about an hour from the trail head.  On the way, we stopped at a picnic site, had dinner and washed off what dirt we could.  We collapsed at the campsite - didn’t even get out of the van - and had a fitful sleep.

Cleaning the dirt off

Up early the next morning, we drove off in search of a shower...