February 10, 2019 Death Valley, California

We took a restoration tour of Scottie's Castle today in Death Valley. It was damaged in a flood in 2015 and has been closed ever since while they restore it. They are only doing these small tours once a week now. The flood damaged just about everything but the castle including all the utilities so the inside of the castle was no longer climate a controlled museum so they had to remove everything in it.

Right after we got there a storm blew in. High winds and grapple (soft hail or snow!) We had to hang out in the porch till it passed. The castle was the vacation home for the Albert Johnson's. Built in 1920's'. 

This is the group going into the power house. They generated their own electricity with water from the spring up the canyon. 

Leaving the powerhouse with the castle in the background. This photo is taken over the pool. It was never finished. The flood filled the pool up with mud, they removed most of it.  

The power house from the outside. The tower behind and to the left  is a carillon that played music with bells and chimes. We went through the courtyard to go into the Great Hall. 

We were only allowed in the great hall until the renovation is complete. In the front of the hall, which is the back of this photo was a waterfall. It was used to help cool the house in the summer. There were thousands of little details all over. All the doors had different hardware. Here are three of the doors and a tile from around the waterfall. A fancy gate. The windows in the great hall were either done this way on purpose or it was how they repaired broken windows.  It was a wonderful tour.  

It cleared up a bit as we left. Still very windy, you can see the sand blowing around over the sand dunes. Light at the end of the day was beautiful. 

Sun shining under the clouds over the Panamint mountains. Afternoon light on the mountains to the east.  

John laid down on the street to take a photo. More nice afternoon light. 

Sunset was lovely.