March 20- 22, 2026 Shoshone, California

 98, sunny and a bit windy.

Testing out the camera in my new phone on the moon. We are having an invasion of fan palm inchworms. 

I had a vender booth at the Tecopa Reggae festival. It was 100 degrees, sunny and windy. Not a big crowd, and the people there were mostly in the shade. Had poor sales. But got a free concert and had fun socializing. A few of the performers at the Tecopa Reggae Festival.

There is a tarp over the stage, the wind and dust side view of the stage. John was cooking up a storm. Delicious Jamaican food and burgers and hot dogs. 

Pretty sparce crowd in the heat of the day. James on his head!

I love this shot of the 'crowd'. We had fun socializing in the shade with Laura, Isabelle and Christie. 

Sunset was lovely.

James, Roger, Toni and Judy came for the headliner. Don Carlos, the headliner packed in a crowd. 

Judy's electric car now has shade. The batteries don't do well in high heat. Sunset.

Sunset. Wild looking cloud. 

March 17-18 2026 Death Valley, California

 101 degrees and sunny. Yikes.

Our casita at Furnace Creek Inn. It was hideously hot-over 100, but we had the POOL at the Inn. 

The garden at Furnace Creek Inn. Sunset. 

We had dinner in the dining room. It was packed, so we were lucky to snag a reservation. We went to Salt Creek to view pupfish. They just opened up the new boardwalk. 

 This is how dry the desert is around salt creek. Pupfish.

Judy, Jill and John on the Salt Creek boardwalk. In our cool cabana by the pool. 

A shelter in the garden. Some of the rooms overlooking the garden.

The front of Furnace Creek Inn. The dining room at Furnace Creek Inn. 

We ate dinner the last night on the patio outside the dining room. We only had 2 reservations for 4, so they would not let us push the tables together. It was hot at first, but cooled down into the 80's and was quite pleasant. 

Judy with her birthday cake. The night sky here is amazing. This is from the garden, where the palm trees had some light.  Right after this photo I dropped my phone on the cobblestone walk and the screen broke. Boo.  We had to go to Vegas, where the closest Verizon store is and I got a new phone, traded in the old one for $900.

March 16, 2026 Death Valley, California

 100 degrees and mostly sunny.

We drove down to Death Valley for our annual family Death Valley trip. We have been going this time of year for almost 30 years. The flowers are still blooming, but it has been so hot and dry there are not as many and they are much shorter and smaller blooms. Still pretty. Field of sand verbena.  Desert gold. 

Desert gold. View of flowers, the valley floor and the Panamint mountains. 

Road side view. Desert gold. This is a much smaller display than a couple weeks ago. 

Lots of tourists viewing the flowers. Have to watch where you are driving. 

Lake Manley is still here. It does not look much smaller to me. With this heat wave it should evaporate soon. 

Desert gold and colorful cliffs. Happy hour on the patio at Judy and Jill's casita.

Sunset from Furnace Creek Inn.

The dining room was sold out, we only had a reservations for 4, so three of us had dinner at the bar with a lovely view of sunset. I  like the menu at the bar much better than the dining room. The pond by the casitas at night. 

Not really  a good week to visit Death Valley. The Inn has a beautiful pool we will be using.