A Week in the Desert

We took a one week vacation the first week of March. We flew into Las Vegas for the weekend and spent the balance of the week at Death Valley National Park. Winter seemed like a good time for a visit to this area because the temperatures are mild.

The Cliffs at Peace Canyon Condominium in Las Vegas

While in Vegas we visited Valley of Fire State Park which is northeast of the city. We drove throughout the park as well as taking a couple of short hikes.

Valley of Fire derives its name from red sandstone formations. Great shifting sand dunes, uplifting and faulting, and extensive erosion have created this beautiful landscape.

We took the Fire Wave Hike, Rainbow Vista Hike and visited Arch Rock, the Petrified Logs, the Beehives and what remains of hikers cabins built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930's.

Of course, no Las Vegas trip is complete without a stop on "The Strip"

 

 

After watching the History Channel's Pawn Stars for so many years, we had to make a stop here. We were pleasantly surprised that at the time we arrived they were not busy. We parked in their lot and walked right in.

None of the TV stars were there, only a cardboard standup of Rick, to greet us. The shop appears larger on television. Gold and Silver Pawn Shop is open 24/7 and pictures are allowed inside and out.

Another History Channel show, Counting Cars, is filmed a few blocks from the Pawn Shop. Danny Koker co-owns Counts Kustoms and is the star of the show. He didn't get the memo we were in town either and wasn't there to greet us.

Danny's personal car collection is located in the shop which is open daily for free viewing. We saw many cool cars but think this GTO is one of his favorites. It certainly was Kurt's. But the Shelby was a close 2nd.

Monday morning we drove straight to Death Valley National Park

 

We arrived before lunch time and were fortunate to check-in early to our one room cabin at Furnace Creek Ranch. It was very comfortable with queen bed, bath, a small table and refrigerator.

Our first stop was at Golden Canyon Trail. A popular two and a half mile round trip trail through a colorful canyon.

This easy hike ended in a box canyon at a deep red rock cathedral.

Overlooking Artist Palette along the Artist Drive Scenic Loop

Badwater Basin is the lowest point in North America
at 282 feet below sea level

The next morning we drove to Beatty, NV, to refuel and pick up supplies. On the way back into the park we stopped at Rhyolite, a 1905 ghost town. We then turned onto the Titus Canyon Road, a 27 mile high-clearance only road. This one way road begins 2 miles east of the Park boundary and proceeds through the Grapevine Mountains. This rough, steep road passes the ghost town of Leadfield and Petroglyphs at Klare Spring. The last five miles drops down into one of Death Valley's most spectacular slot canyons. Don't tell our car rental company but our light weight Jeep Cherokee 4X4 did fine.

We took a living history tour of Scotty's Castle, one of the most popular locations in the Park. This beautiful castle was built in 1922 by Al & Bessie Johnson.

Walter Scott "Scotty", the Johnson's best friend, for whom this grand vacation home was named, is know for his tall and exaggerated stories about how he made his fortune in gold.

An 8-mile drive from Scotty's Castle leads to the rim of
Ubehebe Crater, a 600-foot deep crater caused by a
volcanic steam explosion.

Early evening and sunset are the best times to visit
the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes.

Father Crowley Vista in the Panamint Springs Area
is a landscape of dark lava flows and a viewpoint of
Rainbow Canyon below.

Wildrose Charcoal Kilns
These ten beehive-shaped structures were built in 1876 to provide
fuel to process silver/lead ore.
At 8,000+ feet elevation, they had a fresh dusting of snow.

Aguereberry Point, which overlooks Death Valley, is at the
end of a steep high clearance vehicle road.

The remains of Pete Aguereberry's Eureka Mine are located along
the road to the overlook.

The Mosaic Canyon Hike is a popular walk up a narrow, polished marble-walled canyon. We had to scale some dry waterfalls to reach the top.

"Mosaics" of fragments of rocks cemented together by nature can be seen in canyon walls.

 

 

Harmony Borax Works is an important site in Death Valley's history. There are over 10,000 various mines throughout the area looking for precious metals. This is the real "gold" in Death Valley.

 

 

The Harmony Borax operation became famous through the use of 20 mule teams that moved borax from Death Valley across the Mohave Desert.

Our last stop and view of Death Valley is from Dante's View which
overlooks from more than 5,000 feet above.

A Week at SPI

The last week of October, Virginia's sister, Cathy, and her husband, Jim, came for a visit from Michigan. We spent the week at a condo on South Padre Island. The weather was perfect for their first visit to the Rio Grande Valley.

The view from our sixth floor two bedroom unit.



Mid-week our daughter and grandchildren dropped by for
a couple of days.

Watching a handicapped Green Sea Turtle at
Sea Turtle Rescue Inc.

The Grandkids got a field trip to learn about sea turtles.

Our time together is always great and always too short.

Rio Reforestation at La Casita West

On Saturday, October 18, the Refuge sponsored the 23rd Annual Rio Reforestation event. This is one of the largest public outreach events sponsored by the South Texas Refuge Complex. The purpose of this event is to educate the public about the Refuge and habitat restoration, and give a positive view of the refuge and the work done. This years reforestation was on the La Casita West tract, near Rio Grande City, about 1 1/2 hours west of Santa Ana NWR.

Kurt and Virginia were section leaders. We were each responsible for ten 450 yard long rows to plant. A total of 565 high school, college aged youth along with families helped put almost 16,000 plants into the fertile ground. Over 95% of Lower Rio Grande Valley habitats have been lost due to agriculture.

We arrived in the fog at 7am.

By 8am the fog cleared and the volunteer planters arrived.

Section leaders taught proper planting technique.

After introduction, they continued on their own.

Each crate contained a mix of 21 species of seedlings of trees, brushes, cactus and flowering plants that will one day grow up and become a forest for wildlife habitat. 

A hotdog lunch cooked by the fire crew was provided.

This was a very successful event. Everyone was happy knowing they had helped create a new block of thornscrub habitat that will help many wildlife species including ocelots, hawks, Texas indigo snakes, butterflies and songbirds.

Reclaiming The Marinoff Campground From The Jungle

We arrived at Santa Ana/Marinoff on Wednesday, October 8th. We were the first volunteers to arrive. The Jungle that welcomed us was a big surprise. We spent the next four days clearing brush and cutting and trimming trees. This stirred up many rodents. One friendly field rat was persistent on making our truck his home. But in the end, he lost the battle.


Our campsite before any work.

The road which was almost impassible with a big trailer.

Order Restored

Just in time for the Tram Volunteers arrival.

The staff helped us by hauling away the brush.

Ice Cream, Gin, Beer & Churches

Making our way south, we stopped at Lake Granger/Austin for 10 days and are now outside of Columbus at a Thousand Trails Campground. The weather has been nice so we waxed the trailer and took some excursions.

The Blue Bell Creamery in Brehnam is always
a fun place to stop. The tour is good but the
tasting room is a great place to eat lunch (ice cream).

Texas Cotton Gin Museum in Burton
This Cotton Gin was built exactly 100 years ago and still
is in working order today.
The guided tour was very good and worth the
time. We learned about cotton, picking and how
 Eli Whitney's invention, the Cotton Gin, works.

Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner Texas
We always stop in Shiner whenever we are in the
neighborhood for samples of Shiner Beer.

The Painted Churches of Texas is a well known circle tour in the Czech and German Settlements around Schulenburg, Texas. We spent a half day visiting some more of these interesting and historic buildings.

Sts. Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church was built in 1876 in Dubina ("Oak Grove" in Czech). After the hurricane of 1909, a new church was built on the site in 1912.

Sts. Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church

St. Mary's Catholic Church in High Hill
This is known as the "Queen of the Painted Churches"

Inside of St. Mary's