Tag Archives: driving

Friday, May 15

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7:30 and time to rise ‘n shine for our 8:00 breakfast here at the Altnaharra Hotel. Sleep was fine, but I’m still adjusting to the “king size” beds here — they are a tad smaller than ours at home. You’d think kings would be larger in a country with a king. Or not.

Breakfast was nearly gone when I realized I hadn’t done my photo. Why a photo? Well, it helps me remember where we were when I go back and reminisce about a trip. So here, have the remains … and my driver as well. I’ve decided he’s Driver Dan and I’m Whimpering Wife. At least for the next couple of days. I’ll just bet he’ll be happy to be back to trains and planes!

On most of the walls in this place are prints of wildlife, fishermen, highland scenes and the like. But on this one wall …!

We got whatever we needed (cameras, and warm clothes) and went on our way. First we had to retrace our final drive from yesterday, which took over an hour. (Closer to 1 1/2 hours I think.)

Here are shots up to our first destination:

I’ve written before about the passing places. Today there was one spot where some cars were stopped and no one was moving at first. Finally the red cars started to back up. But it took a while. Turned out that the vehicle in front of them was towing a huge camper (or whatever it’s called). When he passed the second red cars they had a little chat. My bet is that Red Car had a few choice words to say about how they were all stuck, but who knows? Maybe he was admiring the gigantic thing in the back. I was just amazed that someone would bring such a thing on a one lane road like this. I’m guessing it’s not advised.

We stopped when we saw this area, which was right before the small village of Durness I think:

Then, when we hit Durness, we went in search of health food. I’d seen a sign for chocolate, after all. So we went to the area (kind of a curious little spot, including this haunted house bit and some craft stores we didn’t visit). We ordered coffees and rocky road bars. Plus, because it would have been rude not to, we chose four pieces of chocolate for later.

Between Durness and Tongue we saw these views. (Yes, Tongue! There is a village called Tongue and I need to look that up sometime to see what that name is about. Perhaps the end of a loch? Dunno!)

This is Loch Eriboll. I only shot this photo because of the curious tunnels I saw. I’ve no clue what those are about. (Not sure you can see them without enlarging the image.)

Here is Tongue:

Then we had some “not rain” as we call it, since we look at the weather and it says it’s not going to rain.

Going through the village (town?) of Thurso we purchased gas and proceeded to miss the right turn we were supposed to take, so we ended up on a lot of little country roads. It was a pretty drive, though, and I don’t think it added much more than a few minutes to our drive.

And finally, we reached today’s main destination: John ‘o Groats, here we are.

Getting out of the car was a challenge: the wind was something else. We donned our warm jackets and rain jackets, as well as our beanies. I don’t believe I’ve ever been in such wind before. Despite that, we headed out.

If you watch the video perhaps turn down the sound: I have no idea how horrendously loud it will be, nor do I know if you will even be able to hear me talk!

Honestly, this walk was intense! But gorgeous, too.

A short time before we got back to the car Dan noted that the rain was moving toward us. We walked a bit more quickly, but we still ended up getting hit by the rain and then hail. In my face. Hail in the face hurts! I was just about to get to the parking lot when wind gusts were so strong I grabbed on to a post to keep from getting blown over! I was quite relieved to get into the car, wet though I was.

A bit later Dan said, “I can smell the sheep,” assuming it was due to the rain. I said, “No. You are smelling my pants!” I was wearing my wool pants, and yep, they smell when they get wet!

So from John o’ Groats our next destination was back to our hotel. These drives take a long time and we were done. Still, we had over 1 1/2 hours to get back. I took a few shots along the way, and had we had more time would have stopped for more, as I saw a number of monuments as we drove along our one lane road. I suspect it was about WWII, but don’t know for sure about them all.

In any case, here are just a few shots, the first from Thurso. (Dan took photos 2 and 3 from his window for me.)

We reached our hotel and made our dinner reservation, which took place shortly after. I had sea bass and Dan had salmon and all was delicious, but I forgot photos until our sticky toffee pudding so you only get dessert tonight.

Tomorrow is, again, moving day. Hmmm. Where will we go? Guess you have to tune in tomorrow to find out!

For now I will take my leave: my eyes are weary and even while it’s only 9:45PM here I doubt I’ll be able to stay awake much longer!

G’night!

Thursday, May 14 — Moving Day

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We woke and headed down to breakfast fairly quickly. And yes, it was down: we are on the first floor (second floor in the US). I am reminded more and more about bringing our packs rather than the roller bags!

Breakfast was much more simple today: granola, yogurt, and berries in a bowl, one half slice of toast (for me, that is), orange juice, and coffee. Still, it’s more than I would have had at home, due to the toast, and of course it’s about four hours earlier than I would ever eat my first meal. I’m convinced that’s why we end up eating again midday. At home I only need two meals since I delay the first. My weight gain will be, I fear, a bit significant unless I get more exercise.

From my chair at breakfast … exciting, I know. Shortly after taking this it started to rain. Go figure. Mostly it was that misty sort of rain, but it can really drench a person!

After that it was shower and packing time. We’ve got the packing down — doesn’t take me any time at all to get that suitcase packed and zipped.

Before heading back on the NC500 we had to fill the tank. Dan commented that it’s nearly as costly as filling our BigMobile. So it goes!

From there we drove off. The first time we pulled over I saw a sign that told me there were some “Geopods” for the Northwest Highlands Rock Route” on our drive today, which could be found when there was a sign with the blue and white design you see in a photo. We stopped, though, for the view.

Another stop was at the Knocken Crag Nature Reserve. I haven’t yet mentioned that the scenery here is simply staggering, so let me say it now. The scenery is simply staggering! There. Done.

The next stop was at the Loch Awe View Point. We do a whole lot of stopping on these kinds of trips, but we don’t stay long — between the wind and the cold and sometimes rain I’m quick to get back in the car.

Yep, another stop. This time at the Ardvreck Castle. I should have taken photos of the info there. One fascinating tidbit was that a supporter of Bonnie Prince Charles thought he’d be safe escaping to this Highland spot but whoever was at the castle at the time traded him, supposedly for oatmeal. He was then hanged. (I have been missing oatmeal, but I don’t think I’ll trade Dan for some: I need him as my driver.) Sorry I don’t have the names at the moment and internet is rather slow so this is currently all you get. Perhaps I’ll update later. And of course that could all be a myth for all I know. We only took quick photos of the castle and the Calda House in the other direction.

Just a few shots from the area of Elphin.

… and then some from the Lochinver area.

We decided to take a detour to a lighthouse. Once again Your Royal Wimpiness did a bit of whimpering as Dan the Driver made his way there. It was a longer drive than either of us expected, and I did fear, at times, that we would fall into the sea. (The other day I instructed Dan that if we were to go over a cliff he wasn’t to swear as one might do in such a case, but he was to yell out, “I love you!” I figured I’d do the same. I’m not sure how keen he was about my instruction.)

On the way … some more hairy coos!

We continued the drive and then made it to the lighthouse. Anyone want to rent it? It was SO SO SO windy. (That’s a lot of wind.) At one point it nearly blew me over. We didn’t make it all the way into the lighthouse (I’m not sure that’s allowed in any case) because I’d had it with the wind.

Then back we went to reconnect with the main drive. As we went I used the passenger assist brake (on my left) and the passenger assist steering wheel (in the cup holder) a number of times. I’m helpful that way.

We’ve seen a few beaches on our drives. Too bad I didn’t bring my bikini.

Oh. Wait. I don’t own any sort of bathing suit at all! Never mind.

We reached the Drumbeg Viewpoint.

We saw a sign for some sort of secret tea garden and figured it was time to stop, relax, and have some “not lunch”. I did puzzle over all the signs I saw for the secret tea room, though. Not much of a secret, if you ask me! Anyway, it was a nice spot where we bought a bit to eat and enjoyed not only the secret tea room but no wind!

The secret tea room had no secret bathroom, so we had to amble back up the road a bit to find the WC. I took a few shots during the walk. And … now goats!

We drove on, eventually crossing a bridge and then pulling over to see a monument, read about the river below where the military did submarine training, and take a photo of the bridge.

With about an hour and a half more to get to our lodging we did a very small amount of photography, and took a five minute snooze. At this point I think we were both weary of driving. I can’t tell you how taxing it is to handle my emergency braking and steering! Plus I have to whimper every now and then. Thankfully the last bit of the drive was much easier for both of us.

For the most part, I think Dan has got this driving on the left side of the road down. We are even at a point where we grumble when someone coming toward us doesn’t know how to use the passing places correctly. We’ve been known to say, “Americans” with disdain when they get it wrong. And yes, we are being goofy. Because that’s what we do. (I’ve often said we should record our conversations because we clearly are a comedy team. Then again, I fear a lot of eye rolling should we do so.)

At a very decent time we arrived at our lodging for the next two nights. We are at the Altnaharra Hotel. This use to be a popular place for fisherman and climbers, if I read the blurb correctly. It’s old and rather charming. We enjoyed a nice dinner here as well, as there is absolutely no place nearby to eat. Dessert was the “Altnaharra Mess” and it was quite something!

We still have to figure out what where our drive will take us tomorrow. It’s impossible, I’m guessing, for us to do the entire NC500 on this trip, but we’ll try to hit a lot of it.

And now … Oidhche mhath! (Good night!)

Wednesday, May 13

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We are home quite late after a long day, but I’m going to do my best to write and post everything tonight. Otherwise I fear I might forget things (if I haven’t already.)

We woke to some of what I call “nothing music” on my phone. Turns out that when I put my sleep watch away it then plays the alarm on my phone. Normally it’s just the haptic thing I feel on my wrist. (One of the reasons I do like to use that watch and haptic is because if I’m sleeping on my side and my left ear is what should hear an alarm I simply won’t hear it — silly almost deaf ear!) We took a bit of time rising, but the noise below us was growing louder: we are right above the breakfast room, it seems!

We dressed and went down and Dan had the Scottish while I have the vegetarian breakfast. I neglected to take a photo of the breakfast room or our thrilling breakfast. You will have to use your imagination. But here — have a menu.

The four men behind me were in heavy garb and we heard their motorcycles later: the NC500 is a popular ride for motorcyclists, as Dan had told me.

After breakfast we went up to prepare for our drive. We will head south a bit today I think. The blogs and articles I’ve read suggest at least a week for the NC500, and some suggest even longer. I’m sure we won’t do the all of it, but we’ll certainly hit a lot of spots. (The actual map for the drive begins and ends in Inverness and we do end there since that’s where we return the car on Saturday, and we did start out from there as well: we just inserted Isle of Skye into the mix.)

The first map I set up for the car was to Gairloch.

We started out by heading down a street here we hadn’t yet been on.

From there it was out of the village, and while I’m not sure I should bother naming all the villages I’ll start by doing so. (I may run out of energy.)

Lochluichart:

Dundonnell (the small plant caught my eye … no clue what it was):

Laide:

Poolewe:

I’ve seen these “Elderly People” signs a number of places. They bug me. But sort of crack me up, too. Sure, I think an elderly woman who is hunched over should follow and hold on to the back of a man who also can’t stand up straight and must walk with a cane. Makes perfect sense.

We arrived in Gairloch, where we wanted to stop for what we now call “non-lunch”. We found this rather interesting coffee shop/bookstore. Lots of things about John Muir. A lot about Bob Marley, too. And a lot of anti-Trump things. We ordered scones (that didn’t really seem scone- like) and coffees. Then we found (finally) an actually NC500 map in the bookstore so we picked that up as well.

And now I’m confused because the next photos also say we are back in Poolewe. Hm. Maybe we did turn around for a bit. Or maybe my brain is befuddled. Or maybe both. You choose.

It started to rain while we were driving by Loch Maree. What a shock. Who knew it would rain in Scotland?!

There were lovely trees as we drove by Kinlochewe.

We stopped in what the iPhone says is Annat due to a mountain with snow on top that was lovely. It’s interesting to see the snow-topped mountains here. I also have seen several signs that say “Private Fishing”. No problem for us as we most definitely don’t fish.

Here are shots from Kenmore:

Arinna (assuming the iPhone is correct, but that’s the case with nearly all these images and who knows for sure?):

And we reached our next goal: Applecross. Yes, I was scared of the road, but it turned out to be mostly okay going to the place. And we say more hair coo! One even came running up to the fence, but I wasn’t yet out of the car so I missed that, as well as the running all of them did at one point. And those beasts are speedy! We also saw deer.

We thought we might get dinner in Applecross but there wasn’t much there and the one restaurant that had indoor seating had no openings at all. So instead we opted to find our way back to Ullapool. Little did I know that that was when the drive would get scary for wimpy me! I will post photos and videos below, but please know they look like a breeze. But on a skinny road with drop offs on the side and the occasional car or van coming toward you on a one lane road is SCARY. Honest! But there were also pretty views at times. So there’s that. Some of this is from the area called Kishorn, and some Sutherland and Ross

Dan indulged me and stopped (ON the road) so I could shoot this rhododendron, but I MUST get more shots of some plants, as some are so covered in flowers you can’t see anything but a big poof of color. Truly amazing. This one, though, was just so tall, so I put my phone out the window and shot looking up.

In Ledgowan we spotted a rainbow. (Later there was a double rainbow but I could easily shoot it.)

After about 1 1/2 hours we reached Ullapool. Whew. One incredibly day with scary drives and all. Dan is my driving hero!

Once we put things into our room we walked down to dinner. Nothing super special, but I told Dan he deserved his beer (and more, but he stuck to just that).

Tomorrow we again move on. We will still be doing the NC500, though. Stay tuned!

Oh … and NO stats for today. For one thing I forgot to even wear my watch but, more significantly, we simply walked very little and it’s not worth posting. So I’m not going to bother writing that I walked a measly 3,246 steps, went 1.37 miles, and climbed 3 flights. Because no one needs to know that.

Right?

G’night!

Sunday, May 10

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We are finally home and it’s been a very long day. A good day, mind you, but so long! It’s now 10:54 and I can’t really write much because we do have to get up at a decent hour tomorrow.

I will just quickly say we did a lot of the northern part of Isle of Skye. We dealt with one whopping pothole that scared me a ton. We dealt with temperatures in the 40°s. We dealt with crazy wild winds. We dealt with rain. That’s a lot of dealing!

If I could post my photos I would. For some reason it takes time for the iPhone photos to appear on my iPad so maybe it will be tomorrow when I get them up here. I’ll wait a few minutes to see.

BUT … well … um … the best/worst story of all. Dan and I went to a fabulous (and very costly) dinner. It was about 45 minutes away from our lodging. (It’s Mother’s Day, after all … so I guess I was celebrating me or some such thing since I made the reservation. Hah!) What with the light sky it wasn’t bad getting home rather late (especially for me since I’m not behind the wheel!). When we arrived at the Redwood House (our lodging) we were busy gathering our things and I grabbed coats and the like. Suddenly Dan asks, “Where’s my bag?” That’s the bag that holds his wallet, passport, phone … you know, all that important stuff.

Uh-oh.

We looked and looked I mean we searched everywhere. Dan swore up and down (not literally swearing but you know what I mean!) Finally Dan used my phone and the FindMy app. But it was so curious. It showed that his phone was in the car. Nope. NOWHERE! I suggested it just hadn’t updated and he must have left it at the restaurant. FORTYFIVE minutes away. Sigh. I told him to try and buzz it. No sound. I finally was annoyed and said I should call the restaurant.

Gee … well … um … I was putting what I was holding into the trunk as I was preparing to give up and call when I realized there was something heavy around my neck.

Yep. Me. I was the culprit. I had picked up his bag and put it around my neck. NO clue why.

He was relieved. I was just annoyed with myself.

But I guess all’s well that ends well.

Except my pride. It ended poorly. Heh!

And darn … photos still haven’t appeared on the iPad so I guess you only get my embarrassing story and nothing else. Rats! I hope I can find a few minutes tomorrow morning to post things. So sorry!

Saturday, May 9 — Moving Day

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We woke at 7:00: we had to be packed and checked out by 10:00 and I don’t like to worry about time. After showering and packing we decided to go out and get coffee and a small bite to eat.

We walked a very short way to The Milk Bar, ordered our coffees and croissants, and had a relaxing time there.

Even so, after returning to our room we had forty minutes to spare. Dan knows me well, though: I get nervous about time!

When we took our bags downstairs Dan attempted to set up an Uber pick up. The app just sat there saying it was locating a driver. I figured I could try while he looked up taxis, so I set about trying to get an Uber as well. It did the same thing it did for him. (And I can’t even recall seeing one Uber here so perhaps it’s just wishful thinking on Uber’s part, suggesting they are in Inverness.) Meanwhile Dan tried to call a taxi but couldn’t get a phone call to go through, so he finally did what we probably should have done in the first place: he contacted our invisible lodging hosts. The woman answered and she was happy to get a taxi set up for us. Fifteen minutes later our driver, Greg (from Poland) joyfully greeted us and gave us a rather exciting ride to Enterprise, all the while talking about our crazy president and the crazy things in Poland as well. He also offered to help us move to Scotland. Heh. He was quite entertaining.

And then we got the car. Time for Dan to learn how to drive on the left side of the road!

Both of us were tense, of course. For me it was that I felt he was too close to my side of the road and there was no shoulder. In addition when there were cars parked on the road I kept feeling as if he would hit them! For him it was worrying about the oncoming traffic and my side. But he did amazingly well. He only turned into the wrong lane once when making a right turn. In my typical, non-confrontational way, I said, “Do you really mean to be in this lane?” Or something like that, anyway. He of course didn’t mean to do that at all, and he also suggested I go ahead and say “Wrong lane!”

In any case, he did a great job.

We went past Loch Ness, which brought back great memories of our Great Glen Way walk. We also passed through Drumnadrochit and saw the Fiddler’s restaurant that we enjoyed so much.


Lunch was nothing special, but we did stop to eat. And I finally remembered to get a photo of the car we have.

We saw very small lambs (or as I first called them, “baby sheep”) a number of times … so darn cute and I hope to get some good photos while we are here.

We eventually reached Eilean Donan Castle. We decided to pay the fee and go look at it. I took iPhone photos where I could, but they didn’t allow it in the upstairs, where the family actually lived in the summers after it was restored in 1932.

From there we continued on our way to our next spot to lodge and from which we will tour. As I mentioned to Dan, we are really hitting different sorts of spots on this trip: so far a big city (London), a smaller one (Inverness) and now … an island.

Hello, Isle of Skye!

When I was finding lodging for this trip I read that Portree was the place to stay. Nothing there was affordable. Then perhaps Broadford. Nope. So I located a place that was outside of Dunvegan near Edinbane, with a drive of 2 miles down a one lane, sort of rough but not too bad road. SO many lambs on this road!

We are lodging at the Redwood House, in a somewhat large room. I think it will be just right. One day we can tour going north and the other south. We are hoping the weather will be somewhat cooperative, but it is Scotland, so who knows?

We got to our room at about 5:30 and dinner here was scheduled for 7:00, so Dan spent time typing (I suspect doing his journal) and I began this blog. We both enjoyed some Walker’s shortbread and I made a cup of tea with milk. (Yes, Carolyn … tea! It’s the UK, after all. 😊)

We walked to dinner and found a nearly empty dining room. The entire time we were there I think maybe there were five tables occupied besides ours. I suspect this place is rather new, and of course being a distance away from things a lot of people won’t drive out for dinner. I do hope it survives. I had sea bass and Dan had chicken and they were both very tasty. Oh, and to start with we had calamari which very well might be the best I’ve ever had.

We walked out on to the lawn and the lambs and parents were still out so I attempted to get some photos. The lambs were quite skittish, though.

Then back to our room. I took a few photos of the place as we went back.

Dan checked the maps as I finished this blog entry. It’s now 9:35 PM and it’s rather light outside still. Dan is considering getting up at some horrendously early hour to do photography. He seems to think I’ll want to skip it. He might be right.

After breakfast tomorrow (he plans on getting back for that IF he really goes out) we head north to see what we can see.

All for now!

It’s hardly worth reporting but:

6563 steps, 2.7 miles, 4 flights climbed (I suspect that while we have a car we won’t be getting as much exercise.)

Thursday, Homeward Bound

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While I slept horribly (my watch nearly reprimands me) yet again, we did not have to wake early. We eventually did rise, and had the breakfast our hotel (Red Roof in Bridgeport — a pretty nice place for the price). Both of us caught up with various things online while we ate, and even after that.

Then it was time to pack the car and make our way home.

We drove briefly into Red Rock Canyon. I was hoping to find the mallow we saw growing all along the highway, but nope, not there. The mountains had a lot of bright yellow flowers, though.

Gas stop was in Tehachapi, where the temperature was twenty degrees lower than Ridgecrest. Yours truly does window washing duty while Dan fills the car. (Too bad I never have the inclination to do that on our house windows!)

I always enjoy the hills by Tehachapi. Today there was a lot of fog and I thought it was lovely. We didn’t stop, though, so no pictures. But the hills were green and the fog made it look a bit magical.

Eventually we stopped in the Central Valley for a bird visit. We didn’t stay long since we still had a bit of a drive, but I snapped a few photos.

And then we were home. Now it’s back to work for me, but my music career is quickly drawing to a close!

Hello (again) Death Valley!

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After our earlier visit to DEVA we thought we might come again because it seemed as if there were signs that we’d find some nice flowers in March or April. Then we started reading reports of the rain the park had had and seen photos that implied perhaps even a February trip might be a good idea. Because of that we made reservations for both late February and March, and waited for more news.

Well, even more rain meant now might be a good idea, so early this morning we headed on our way.

The drive was uneventful — especially for me since I didn’t do the driving. Here are just a few shots (the train bit was in Tehachapi).

While in the Panamint Valley, just prior to heading up the mountain, we saw a car veer off the road on to the playa. That’s a huge, ugly, rotten, illegal thing to do. Dan held on to the horn for a good long time and whoever was driving must have gotten the message. But driving on the playa just ruins it for everyone else. What a dumb thing to do!

As we neared DEVA we saw a lot of the yellow … desert gold was definitely plentiful! There were places that were just blanketed. We also saw evidence of Phacelia … the purple does stand out! Eventually we pulled over and did a bit of investigating. I took a few iPhone shots just for the record. (Tomorrow I’ll get more serious about some macro photography.)


I learned about the name Stovepipe Wells…

Dan drove to a few different spots, just to get ideas of where we might shoot in the next few days. We also visited Salt Creek, where we saw more pupfish than we’d ever seen before! Stay tuned for the video … maybe It’ll appear soon, or maybe we’ll have to wait until I get back home.

More driving and I did pull out the Canon with the macro lens. I hope some of the shots turn out nicely — won’t know until I get home, though.

Eventually we headed to our motel. Places in DEVA were outrageously expensive so we found a Motel 6 in Beatty, Nevada for less that 1/3 of what we’d pay in the valley. It’s a drive, but so be it!

We checked in — the kind woman at the desk moved us to the first floor and we were relieved since the elevator was broken and we have a lot to haul into the room. She had her Fox News running — we are in a different part of the world now. Go figure.

For dinner we went to Smokin’ J’s BBQ. I had a turkey sandwich, Dan had turkey slices with fries (and more), and we ordered a salad to share.

Too. Much. Food.

Who knew? But in any case, it was just fine and it was one of the very few places open. Beatty isn’t exactly a hoppin’ happenin’ sort of place. (Population 880)

Then back to our hotel we went. We have to get up far too early in the morning so I am quickly writing this before a bit of reading and then sleep.

Stay tuned for more adventures. Today was just a “gotta get there” day, after all.

Yes, We Made it Home

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I didn’t write yesterday … there was really no time (as you’ll read later). But we made it home safely.

We rose at 5:30, hoping to get out of the area in time to avoid flooding. Packed and in the car and checking out at 6:20, we were then on the road. It was just barely sprinkling when we began. We were grateful.

But then rain did get heavier. Not killer “we can’t drive in this” heavy, but still, we knew it meant watching out for flooding on the road. Getting to the top of the spot between Death Valley and Panamint Valley there were rock slides. No boulders to speak of, but very large rocks that Dan had to avoid, driving in whichever lane was clearest.

As we headed down to Panimint Valley we could see water at the edges of the road that were headed down. Near the bottom, we saw the start of that flow and it was clear that it would land at the bottom and pool. I hadn’t really understood just how roads got so quickly flooded. Now I do.


Videos don’t really do it justice, but I’ll still post a few …


Dan then had to be careful for the drive for quite some time. Reaching parts of the road that were flooded (shallow, mind you … not something he couldn’t get through), Dan would slow and carefully drive through. As he mentioned later, you don’t know what’s under the water as you can’t see that.

Driving through Trona a whole lot of the road was flooded. That was a bit of a surprise … they must just accept the flooding and not work on guiding water elsewhere.

For this trip we went through Ridgecrest so we could get breakfast. That city, too, was quite flooded already. But we made our way to Starbucks (have I mentioned that these kinds of trips are the only time we enter Starbucks? And never in Europe. Nope. Isn’t gonna happen!)

Next up was getting to Tehachapi, where we’d fill the tank.

Except.

The freeway — if it’s called a freeway up there? — we were to take to there was closed! In our day of phones with maps and guidance systems we could fortunately find another route somewhat easily. Waze and Google maps gave the same directions while Apple maps gave different ones. It was two to one — Waze and Google won. It wasn’t a direct route … we had to go a distance and eventually ended up on the Grapevine. But we made it.

The Grapevine was slow moving, but at least it was moving. (I later read that the day before it was a total mess due to accidents.)

From there it was “easy” (as in Dan knows what to do) and eventually rain diminished. We did take a Buttonwillow bathroom break. And there we saw something … um … words can’t desscribe, really. (Excuse the blur.)

Finally, we even saw blue sky and the green was lovely to see … what I think of as “Spring green” was right there in December!

And we saw a rainbow.

So the rest of the drive was pretty uneventful, but what a LONG day. We arrived home at 4:00, and had a Christmas Eve dinner reservation at 5:00, so we had just enough time to unpack the car and get changed.

And dinner was lovely.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Death Valley, December 22

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It was an early morning day: our alarms (yes, both mine and Dan’s) went off at 4:15 AM. At that point I wasn’t sound asleep in any case so it wasn’t a miserable awakening.

While loading the car a runner went past. That’s one early run! She wisely had lights on both front and back as I learned when we later passed her on the main road.

I sort of dozed on and off as Dan did the long drive in the dark. I do have a tendency to fall asleep in moving vehicles … not only in cars, but in trains and planes as well. It’s a gift. 😉

The final road to our destination was not “sleepable”. It was washboard for a while, and at one point quite narrow. Again, I’m grateful for the driver. I think the drive itself was a bit more than an hour.

We arrived at Aguereberry Point at a very good time. Sunrise was still a bit away, but the colors … well … they were amazing. I didn’t use my good cameras, but the iPhone was just fine.

I’ve been to Aguereberry a few times now, and today’s visit was really rather pleasant. It was chilly, yes, but not like one time when the wind really made it ridiculous and another when it was pretty darn freezing.

Dan continued to photograph. Me, not in the mood, sat in the car part of the time since even with the nicer weather it does get cold, what with the wind and the clouds that were blocking the warmth of the now rising sun. And mostly I was really enjoying the peace and quiet one experiences in this area.

From Aguereberry Dan drove a short bit to a different view, hoping to get some light on the water down below. It’s possible a bit of dozing took place as well.

It appears that the light today might not be a photographer’s dream, and tomorrow Dan has read that it will be rather gray. We’ll see how it goes. I enjoy the area no matter what. (I’m not sure I’d want to be here in a huge storm, though, and while I’m glad to have experienced a dust storm once in my life I could do without that as well.)

More driving and a brief stop at a small cave Dan investigated … it really didn’t go anywhere.

At one curve I noticed a lot of trees below and figured there must be a water source. Going around further we saw a very bright cottonwood which was catching the sun so of course we had to stop. But gee, what are these pink things on the ground? Flowers. In December!

Crossing the street I then saw a spot of orange. Mallow. Another surprise.

Since Dan was continuing with his photography I walked up the street a bit, seeing tons of evidence of the wild burros but no burros in sight. And then more mallow. Plus this marker. Who knows if it’s for real or not? Guess I should look up the name.

More of the trees …

Finally we wound up at Wild Rose Campground. Breakfast time!

After eating we drove up the road a bit, seeing a few building that may or may not still be in use, and then headed over to Skidoo. The drive was long and bumpy and, for yours truly, sometimes scary. I’d done the trip before, but I’d forgotten at the drop offs in some areas. Thankfully Dan knows my fear and is very careful. He also suggests I grab my emergency passenger brake. It works so very well. How do I know? Well … we’ve not gone over a cliff. Yet.

Here is the photo of my emergency passenger brake being put to use:

We didn’t go all the way to the mine, but stopped at what used to be Skidoo, which was a convenient spot for one of us to get a bit of a rest while the other worked on this blog entry. (Waking up at 4:15 and doing ALL the driving while yours truly nods off does mean a nap or two is in order.)

Then back where we came from. This time, though, Dan mentioned that he thought we could probably find Furnace Creek from where we were. Sure enough, I found it, could spot where our lodging was, and where the fancier place up above and to the right was. Can you see them? (The Ranch is a darker rectangle, if that helps.)

More driving in a very windy area as we looked for a lunch spot. We ended up near a nearly wiped out abode (A cabin? An actual house? Dunno!) and driving past that we wound up near a mine that was a bit more sheltered. We first took a quick look into the mine … but no, we don’t go into these things.

Then we set up our chairs and table and worked very hard and diligently on eating. So far I think we should get an A+ (and everyone who knows me knows I don’t even believe in pluses!) when it comes to eating. Hah!

We saw some interesting clouds as well. Dan mentioned that seeing Mare’s Tail ones was often interpreted as “rain in 24 hours”, and we did see those, along with other strange clouds.

We walked back to the ramshackle place and took a few photos. Dan has probably taken photos nearly every time he’s been here, so he wanted to grab more, knowing the place isn’t long for the world.

From there we drove to another building. If the dates are right it was built in in 1951, but who knows if that’s really true. It was in better condition than the first, but of course there’s no way in the world I’d ever want to stay there. Dan got the door opened, so I could shoot a few photos of the inside, but I wasn’t even about to walk into it.

Our drive then took us to another “Oh, I might as well take a photo!” spot for Dan, as the light was good. I worked more on this blog then. When I looked back up that light seemed to be going. One has to work very quickly with photography!

Side note: we often think, “Oh, it’s 1 hour to our next destination,” but get distracted by photo ops. Go figure. (Good thing there aren’t many flowers … we’d get distracted even more then!)

It was decided that we’d head back down to Stovepipe Wells and see what the light was doing when we got there.

Turned out it was doing nothing but fading to gray.

We filled the tank (it’s unbelievable how many miles we drive to get from place to place!), and then sat in the car below the power pole location to see if the sun decided to poke through the clouds.

Eventually we drove up to the end of the gravel road. We saw a strange plant someone had placed on a rock. And then … gee, some flowers on the desert holly! I’d never seen that before. Obviously I had to pull out my macro lens and shoot that, along with another plant with incredibly tiny leaves. I hope something turns out — I’ll only know when I get things into Lightroom.



Then it was halfway down the road to wait to see if that boring light turned into something magical.

The answer was no. Ah well … can’t have great light every single day.

We went back to our room, unloaded all the gear, and headed to the tavern here. We enjoyed some pizza and salad and I neglected to take a photo until it was too late so you’ll have to use your imagination. But yes, it was yummy and yes, I ate too much.

We don’t know what tomorrow will bring: the weather forecast isn’t promising. But only time will tell …

Until then, goodbye!