Friday, March 13, 2009

Traveling

Yea! We went somewhere other than Vegas! We went the other way, to Death Valley. I admit you must like rock if you are going to like Death Valley. Guess I like rock. Especially when it is in fantastic shapes and colors. Took a bunch of pictures but the colors were all washed out. Don't know what I did wrong; maybe a filter or something is in my future. (NO, getting up for the sunrise light is probably not in my future. LOL)

Many centuries ago there was a lake at the bottom of the valley; now there is still a bit of water. It's called Badwater because it is salty. Here is the obligatory photo of the sign telling you where I was.



I only took the one photo of the sign; there was another couple there who were just crazy about it. They had what looked like a VERY expensive camera with a lens that was about eight inches long (20cm) with a glare shade and all that. They used this wonderful camera to take turns taking photos of each other with the sign. They spent five minutes taking photos there; first of her then him. It's not like they were Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie either - they were about 50 & quite ordinary. They weren't even speaking with an accent. Whatever turns them on, I guess.

What I really liked was the sign showing where sea level would be.



To really enjoy the sign, you need perspective. That's my truck at the bottom of the cliff; the sign is circled in red.



We took a lunch and the dog and made a day of it. It is only about an hour's drive to get there. You don't see all that many cars though (and NO trucks). Bought our annual pass that lets us into all the national parks - $80 and well worth it since there are lots of parks here in the west. Left the park about 15:00. Stopped in Shoshone, CA to buy a CA Lotto ticket and got home by 16:30. All in all, a great day.

Be careful out there; it's dangerous!

2 comments:

Lee said...

I think the centre of Australia is below sea level but not as dramatically as that.

One school of thought is that if we let the sea into the centre, the climate on the rest of the island would be much more temperate.

Croft said...

Great post Don. It reminded me to put Death Valley on my list of places to see.

Sunrise is not in the books for me either except for maybe a bathroom run, but the hour before sunset also gives better color and contrast to photos. Here is a link to an article on it: http://www.digicamhelp.com/learn/shoot-pro/golden.php