February 24-25, 2025 Death Valley, California

 83 and sunny.

 We went to Badwater to pick up the Judy's. Last year there was so much water in the valley that the lake was to the end of this boardwalk. Badwater is the lowest point in North America, -282 feet below sea level. Salt formations near Badwater.

I walked out about 1 1/2 miles till I saw them coming in. Note two dots on the horizon. Another weird looking formation of the salt on the valley floor. 

We had never seen this formation. It is cotton ball borax in the salt on the floor of death valley. My sister Judy at Badwater. Judy D beat us back. They walked 170 miles to arrive here. 

The door to the casita at Furnace Creek Inn  they will stay in for the next two nights. Nice reward after walking 170 miles. It comes with a golf cart since they don't let cars park in here. John and I are staying in our RV in the campground.  The pool at the Inn. I snuck out here while the Judy's showered and got ready for dinner.

Evening light on the palm trees at the Inn. Judy, Judy and Donna in the golf cart. I joined them and we went up to the dining room.

 John and I dressed up for dinner.  John, Sue, Judy, Judy and Donna at dinner. 

Looking out the gate to Furnace Creek Ranch to the campground. It was 89 degrees, so we spent the afternoon at the pool today. 

Furnace Creek Inn gardens. 

Furnace Creek Gardens. The pond by the casitas at Furnace Creek Inn.

Sunset from the casita. Judy P drove us up to dinner in the golf cart again tonight.

After dinner photo. Judy, John, Sue, Judy and Donna. 

February 22-23, 2025 Death Valley National Park, California

 79 and sunny.

We went to the Dark Sky Festival Exploration Fair, a bunch of booths on the patio behind the visitors center. A prototype of the Eels robot that is being developed to explore the subsurface ocean of Saturn's moon Enceladus. A guy demonstrating roasting a marshmallow with a solar disc, and a prototype of the helicopter that went to mars with the Perseverance rover. We also looked at the sun through a telescope and could see sunspots. 

The explanation of the Eels.  We drove the southern part of the valley to back pack in and meet up with the Judy's. This is the salt pan on the floor of Death Valley. 

A view of the Confidence hills on our backpack.  Judy D's tent and Judy and John enjoying a beer in the shade. 

Judy P in her tent. John slept on a tarp and I in this tent. I was in and out of the tent much of the night trying to photograph the core of the milky way. 

Dinner prep. Judy and Judy made dehydrated dinners on their stoves. John and I had burritos we carried in. Sunset from dinner. 

Rocket trails from the Space X  rocket launch in Southern California. 

Rocket trail with Venus. My attempt at photographing stars and light painting my tent. Need less painting next time. Death Valley is a Dark Sky Park. The stars are AMAZING. 

These two shots should be the core of the milky way, but the moon came up at the same time, and washed out the core. 

The same view in the morning. When we got back we went to a couple more lectures at the Dark Sky Festival. Wind and frost driven activity in another dry place-Mars. Mars's atmosphere is mostly 

CO2, so when it freezes it makes dry ice. The second on was Killer Dust from unexpected Places. It compared dust from Mars, the moon and earth. Very interesting. 

The view just above the campground of Furnace Creek in nestled in these hills. The Judy's will spend the last two nights of their backpack at the Inn. We will be n our RV. It was a sunset plus tonight. 

February 20-21, 2025 Furnace Creek, Death Valley, California

 High of 81 and sunny. Windy in the am, nice in the afternoon and evening. 

Buy your fuel before you come down to Death Valley. Wow. Me with the thermometer at the visitors center. It got up to 81 by the end of the day. 

We walked around Furnace Creek Ranch. We visited my baskets on sale in their high end gift shop.

My baskets in the high end gift shop. The fountain in the square at the ranch. The sign next to it says elevation 190 feet below sea level. 

John coming out of the 'town hall- hotel registration area. The 1849 restaurant is a buffet, kind of like the cheap casinos in Vegas. I am not liking the remodel of Furnace Creek Ranch. 

The Borax museum is open again. Displays behind the Borax museum.

Sunset over the campground.  We just happened to be here for the Death Valley Dark Sky Festival 2025. We went to an excellent talk on  astrophotography and I stayed for the how to session. I learned that I am not sure I have the equipment and it is pretty complicated.  We also went to  keynote  Ocean Worlds Past and Present: the Search for life in our cosmic backyard, which was another excellent talk.  

This is the prototype of a new robot to send to other planets to take photos and collect specimen. We are viewing it at night here, so the red light. It is called the eel. Very cool. I took this photo of the stars with my phone. The stars are incredibly bright here. Will try later with a tripod.