Thanksgiving Trip - Day 2

We woke up pretty early, actually, because of the three hour time difference. After I went over to the airport to pick up our rental car, we started on the road to Death Valley. We had no traffic and enjoyed the smooth, straight road (US-95) until we came to the turnoff for the park. Then we started to see a little more traffic. After we had been driving for about 2.5 hours, we entered the Park on the California side. The whole family was amazed at the interesting - and colorful - rock formations. It took awhile, but we finally arrived at the Furnace Creek Visitors Center. The kids did another Junior Ranger book and got another pin... We then ventured out on one of the recommended drives - down to Badwater and the beautiful salt flats. We walked out on an ocean of white and looked up at rocks towering above us - we were around 300 feet below Sea Level. We visited the Devil's Golf Course and hiked up to the Natural Bridge. Nicky and the kids were spooked by a monster that jumped out at them (he-he-he)! The highlight of this part of the trip was the Artist's Pallette - Mollie called it the "Sherbert Mountain." Before I came here, I would never have dreamed that it could have been so inspiring a place. We left the lowest part of the valley with a real appreciation for the beauty of the desert. We had a nice (late) chili lunch after that. At the end of the day, we stopped by the huge field of sand-dunes and drove through a ghost town. The sun sets here very early (1630 because of the mountains), so we drove home in the dark. We then drove down to the Vegas Strip to meet our cousins Mary and Leo. They had a time-share that they graciously allowed us to use with them. Dinner was at Margaritaville (at the Flamingo) - we went to bed late (tired!!!).