In celebration of One for the Money Two for the Road’s first anniversary, we want to share some shots from some of our favorite national park posts over the last year. We cannot tell you how much we appreciate each of you for following us on the blog site and on Facebook. You are the reason we post our adventures! Enjoy the recap…
From our very first post: Santa Elena Canyon, Big Bend National ParkZion National ParkInspiration Point, Bryce Canyon National ParkBear Lake with Hallett Peak reflection, Rocky Mountain National ParkGrand Canyon National Park – North Rim at Imperial PointThe Three Gossips, Arches National ParkBlack Canyon of the Gunnison National ParkCanyonlands National ParkDeath Valley National ParkCarlsbad Caverns National ParkBison grazing at Wind Cave National Park
Badlands National ParkMonument Valley Tribal Park (Navajo Nation)Gifford Barn, Capitol Reef National ParkThe Tepees, Petrified Forest National ParkGreat Sand Dunes National ParkLower Falls, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Yellowstone National ParkGrand Teton National Park
Thank you for joining us over the past year. We hope that you will keep coming back for more fun adventures, tips, and tricks. Oh, and there are sixty-one “national parks” now, and we’ve only covered eighteen of them so far! We will be covering more national parks, national monuments, national historic sites, state parks, awesome camping sites, and some great cities during year two. We’re also going to give you some helpful tips on RVing and road tripping. You won’t want to miss a post, so sign up, buckle up, and let’s go. Until the next trip…
Travel safe, travel smart, and we will see you down the road (or at a national park!)
Mike and Kellye
As always, we strive to be as accurate with our information as possible. If we made a mistake, it was unintentional. (Hey, we’re only human!) We aren’t paid for our recommendations, and we only recommend our own tried and true vendors and venues. Our suggestions are for places that we’ve heard good things about but haven’t visited personally, and our opinions are our own.
When to go? Winter, early spring, late fall are the best times to visit. Visitors should be extremely cautious in the summer months when temperatures rise dramatically.
Devil’s Golf Course – these “rocks” are actually salt crystals. The Panamint Mountains made a nice backdrop for this shot.
Getting There
Our trip is going to start in Las Vegas, Nevada, which has a major airport and is only 123 miles from Death Valley. Ice down a cooler full of water, grab your favorite road snacks, and let’s go to Death Valley!
⇒From Las Vegas, take I-15 south to Highway 160 west to Pahrump, Nevada.
Travel tip: make a restroom stop and top off your gas tank in Pahrump.
⇒From Pahrump, continue northwest on Highway 160 to Bell Vista Avenue. Take Bell Vista (which changes to Bell Vista Road) west across the California state line to Death Valley Junction and Highway 190. Continue into the park on Highway 190. Drive time between Las Vegas and Death Valley: 2 hours.
Travel tip: Look for wild burros and horses along Highway 190.
Destination: Death Valley National Park
Arguably, Death Valley holds the record for the hottest temperature ever recorded on earth – 134º F in July of 1913. Badwater Basin is the lowest point in North America, sitting at 282 feet below sea level. With an average of 1.5 inches of rain per year, Death Valley also holds the honor of being the driest place in North America. We are used to hot, dry weather where we live, but the 111º F (before noon) temperature when we visited Death Valley felt like a different type of oppressive heat that seemed heavier to us for some reason. With that said, we caution you to be conscious of the weather and prepare for harsh conditions when visiting this park, especially in the late spring, summer, and early fall. Also, make sure your car is in tip-top condition before starting a road trip through Death Valley.
This is a spring in the salt flats at Badwater Basin, but the water is too salty to drink.
Death Valley is hot, dry, and its spring water is too salty for humans or animals to drink. So why would anyone want to go there? Well, see below…
Breathtaking BeautyVibrant Colors at Artist’s PaletteMagnificent Mountain Vistas
When thinking of a desert, one usually thinks of sand dunes and scrubby cactus. At least that is what we envision when we imagine desert scenery. Death Valley is different from other deserts because of its diversity. The park features 11,000 foot mountains, wildflower super blooms after rare rains, as well as sand dunes. Badlands, salt flats, and dry lake beds where rocks race across the parched ground on their own, can also be seen here. With so much to offer, it’s easy to see the many facets of this unique landscape. And speaking of lake beds, all of Death Valley was once a lake. A trip here is definitely worth the time, and it’s not just about the scenery. This park also features oases, historic ghost towns, abandoned mines, and even a castle!
Badlands of Zabriskie PointSalt Flats of Badwater BasinMulti-faceted Beauty
Did you know that borax was once mined in Death Valley? The mine was called Harmony Borax Works, and they hauled the borax 165 miles to Mojave, California, using huge wagons pulled by teams of twenty mules. One of the wagons can still be seen at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center. The trip from Death Valley to Mojave took ten days and had to have been grueling. Today at Death Valley, there is a park road through scenic Twenty Mule Team Canyon. While the wagons probably didn’t travel this exact area, it is a wonder how they managed to get their animals and wagons through the rugged terrain of what is now Death Valley National Park.
In Twenty Mule Team CanyonView of the terrain and park road through Twenty Mule Team Canyon
Thank you for joining us on our trip to Death Valley National Park! We hope that we have given you some insight and inspiration for planning your own trip to see this wondrous place. That is our goal in sharing our information, after all. We will leave you with one last look at beautiful, otherworldly Zabriskie Point.
Until the next trip…
Travel safe, travel smart, and we will see you down the road.
Mike and Kellye
As always, we strive to be as accurate with our information as possible. If we made a mistake, it was unintentional. (Hey, we’re only human!) We aren’t paid for our recommendations, and we only recommend our own tried and true vendors and venues. Our suggestions are for places that we’ve heard good things about but haven’t visited personally, and our opinions are our own.
Arguably, Death Valley holds the record for the hottest temperature ever recorded on earth – 134º F in July of 1913. Badwater Basin is the lowest point in North America, sitting at 282 feet below sea level. With an average of 1.5 inches of rain per year, Death Valley also holds the honor of being the driest place in North America. We are used to hot, dry weather where we live, but the 111º F (before noon) temperature when we visited Death Valley felt like a different type of oppressive heat that seemed heavier to us for some reason. With that said, we caution you to be conscious of the weather and prepare for harsh conditions when visiting this park, especially in the late spring, summer, and early fall. Also, make sure your car is in tip-top condition before starting a road trip through Death Valley.
