Sunday, January 31, 2010

Lowest Point on Earth - Badwater, Death Valley




There is a white sign on the side of the mountain that says, "SEA LEVEL."
Can you find it?

View from Tahoe to Death Valley

Scotty's Castle


Manzanar Relocation Camp, Death Valley CA






Many of the imprisoned were American citizens.

Guard towers to keep the occupants inside the camp.

Snow Boxers in Tahoe

Here's our Dezzy (fawn) and Pee Wee (reverse brendel) romping in the snow.

Zephyr Cove




Lorne was impressed at how hot dog scat would sink because it would melt the snow. Here is a photo of where we stayed in Tahoe and the yellow snow one of our puppies left behind.

Winchester House, San Jose



Sarah Winchester believed that as long as she had construction building on her home, the dead spirits that were killed by the Winchester Riffle would not be able to haunt her. For over 30 years, 265 days a year, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, there was construction being done on her home.

James Grant Campground, San Jose

Christmas Break

Christmas was wonderful.

My husband took us (my 10 year old daughter, Lucy, our two boxers, and me) for a trailer adventure to San Jose, Lake Tahoe, Death Valley, and back home.

In San Jose, we visited the Winchester House. This was my daughter's favorite part of our trip.

We stayed at Joseph Grant, Santa Clara County Park, which was absolutely beautiful. Google Maps gave us short-cut direction options (Quimby Road) which should never be driven by any vehicle larger than an Echo or a Bug. Parts of this winding, mountain road was barely big enough to fit our truck/trailer. And, had a vehicle been coming in the opposite direction there would have been a collision, for sure. Thank God for the power of prayer!!!

In Tahoe, we stayed at Zephyr Cove. It was the first time our boxers had seen snow. We were prepared and purchased snow jackets for them. They seemed to like. My husband was amused when they would make yellow snow or when their hot scat would cause it to melt in the snow.

I enjoyed Death Valley. We visited Manzanar Japanese Relocation Camp. It was a humbling experience. I have been to Kushimoto, Japan and I have many Japanese friends, so this part of American history made me feel ashamed. Americans must learn from this and never, ever, ever make that kind of mistake again. Especially now, when tension's are high and there is much anti-Muslim sentiment provoked by the independent actions of a few terrorists. Okay, I'll get down off my soap-box.

In Death Valley, we also visited Scotty's Castle--a place that I'd never heard of before, but a place that I would recommend visiting.

We (my husband, actually) drove over 1600 miles total because I refused to drive our Chev 2500 diesel pulling our 27 foot trailer--if you've seen me drive, you'd understand why. Over all, our trip took us over 8500 feet above sea level in Tahoe, then down -282 feet below sea level at Badwater in Death Valley.

Our next trailer adventure is to Borrego Springs for President's Day. We are excited about this because our twenty-one year old son, John, will be flying in from Minneapolis, MN to join us.

Updating My Blog

I truly admier those bloggers who post everyday, weekly or evenmonthly for that matter.

I have every intention to put all of my thoughts down, but I must not be as commited as others. In my mind, I feel I have lots to say; but when I sit here to type, things I was once excited to share don't flow to the keyboard the way I would like them to.

I will try harder.

Joanna