Day 10, Vegas still…

Okay, so this visit was getting a little long and boring. I had some loose ends to tie-up with the van, so I decided to drag the kids with me and let them do laundry. I’m so nice I can hardly stand it. Another quick trip to Boulder City and back to Vegas complete with healthy van, fed brood, and clean skivvies. Life is good!

The weather was still unusually cool with a nice breeze blowing the heat out, so we decided to check out the pool, which was way too chilly for my liking. The sun was behind the clouds and it was very nice and relaxing to sit in the lounge chair and soak up some rays. It was the perfect temperature – not too hot and not chilly one bit.

That evening we decided it would be a great time to check out Death Valley. We left town at about 6:00 p.m. or so. A few miles out of town we passed a highway sign with a mule on it. What, they have wild mules out in the desert?? I dunno because we didn’t see any, but that’s what was on the sign, honest. Or does that sign mean 'Warning - Wild-ass desert, next 10 miles'? I still dunno.

As we headed across the desert to get to Death Valley we noticed that there were very dark clouds on the horizon. How funny would it be to get out to Death Valley and have it rain?

So we got out to Beatty, right at the edge of Death Valley, and it was pitch black dark. No moonlight, no nothing. We turned off on the little road that goes into the park and immediately the road started to deteriorate. Not exactly a good sign. Then we passed an abandoned car. Not exactly a good sign. Beatty, Nevada, sits at 3,000 feet above sea level. The lowest point in Death Valley is somewhere around 272 feet below sea level. Needless to say, we started going downhill at a rather marked rate, and the brakes started to heat up. Not exactly a good sign.

At this point we were totally freaking each other out with ghost stories and stories of rabid vampire coyotes jumping through the windshield and people dying of thirst out in the park – stuff like that. Then a moth came into our headlights and Tia screamed like she'd seen a vampire coyote. Made us all laugh til we couldn’t breathe. We continued on with the creepy stories, and we jumped every time a bush stirred in the wind. Not exactly candidates for bravery badges.

Then the road became even worse. It took all of about 20 seconds to turn tail and head back home. On the highway.

But still… How many people can say they’ve been to Death Valley in June? When it was 80 degrees? At night? And it rained?? and they were attacked by rabid vampire coyote-moths and lived?!?! ;o)