April 1-2: Death Valley Natl Park, Sequoia National Forest, and driving west towards Hwy 1

Death Valley was HOT and it still amazes me how short of a drive one can make and experience such a change in climate and terrain. To my surprise, we survived the drive without air conditioning :) Upon arrival we drove up to Dante's Peak and got out to overlook the lowest point in America- close to 300 feet below sea level. They named it Devil's Golf Course and it was once was a lake that dried up and left salt deposits on the surface. When we headed down from the peak we picked up Icees at the General Store and saw the themometer at 98 degrees in the shade! We decided that we would look for a place outside the park to camp for the night and took the scenic drive out of the park seeing huge sand dunes and watching the sun set behind the mountains.

We arrived in Sequoia National Forest after a close call on running out of gas, but all was good and we were able to camp right on the shore of Lake Isabella!! When we woke up the sky was the craziest color hot pink- by the time I grabbed my Ipod for a pic it had subsided, but was still beautiful.

We got in the car and drove through the mountains to get to the Pacific and I added this part of California to places that I must live in during my lifetime.

It is insane how happy this picture below makes me feel... As we were driving along we saw these elk running through the hills. We followed them for a while and then got out of the car to watch them. They were so happy and playful. You will probably have to zoom in to see them running along the lower ridge line. There are three of them :))))