Travel Tuesdays: Death Valley

At the beginning of 2023, the family had big plans for a Hawaiian vacation over the summer. We had been saving, we had tons of hotel and airline points to cash in to reduce costs even further. However, my health took a very intense and funk downward turn in the beginning of 2023 as well. I had to take medical leave and ultimately leave my job as I juggled all kinds of appointments and tests and just in general tried to get myself healthy. So our Hawaiian Adventure became a driving trip through several National Parks we wanted to see as a family as well as a minor Napa Valley excursion. The rationale being that we'd be able to flex the trip in many ways more easily if my health worsened.

We have enjoyed many a road trip as a family. Driving around the Western United States in particular is filled with many unique and expansive vistas even when you're in a barren desert. And we have found that a good true crime podcast is the perfect background noise for us as we trek throughout the country. Plus we have a lot of fun figuring out where we want to eat in the various cities and towns and unique locales we map out on our journey.

Our first big stop of this Summer 2023 Alternative Vacation was Death Valley National Park. This one is pretty hard to get to unless you're hanging out in Las Vegas. The Sierra Nevadas make a direct western approach a seasonal venture, at best. But it is well worth the trip, however you manage it.

Death Valley was far more extensive and immense than I expected it to be. It sprawls throughout a steep and barren valley floor. Paths take you close to and into the craggy rocks of the peaks that flank the park. There are salty flats and sandy dunes and colorful crumbly rock piles. Rough and scraggly vegetation spikes out of whatever crevice it can cling to and still get whatever scant moisture makes it into the park. As you exit the park on the western side, you ascend to something that feels more like Alpine vegetation after the extremes of the valley floor.

But my favorite feature was the Artists Palette formation, pictured above. Colorful mineral bands bend and twist and tumble around each other in one particular rocky scrabble of the park. It absolutely looks like some giant's palette of earth tones and colorful pops of unexpected pinks and greens and yellows squirted here and there as they work on some unseen canvas.

Perhaps during our next Vegas Adventure, we'll take a road trip back out to Death Valley and do a bit more exploring. The park is so big that it's very hard to see everything in one trip, let alone one day.