From Desert to the Snowy Mountains

So one trip to Hoover Dam, the biggest dam in the world (more pictures in the slide show below),



three days of Vegas,



one very ugly happy hour,



and an amazing water fountain show at the Bellagio (one of the many beautiful shows in Vegas) (click here to see the video ! )

and we have closed the Vegas chapter of this journey.

Today, we set out for Mammoth Lakes in California. (yay, my 'home' state !)

The road up there leads us through scorching Death Valley, where you can find the lowest point below sea level in North America. Temperatures can easily rise up to 130 F in the summer (about 50 C - in the shade!).
Luckily, today we will only get temps in the 100's, which is about 41 C in the shade.

Even though this is another piece of desert, the view is unique and spectacular. The colors of the rocks are incredible. Take a look at the first set of pictures of Death Valley National Park in the slide show. There is one place where I have walked in sand dunes and I thought; "this is what walking in the Egyptian Desert must feel like". In the distance, I saw twirls of sand rising in the air.. magical !

It made me wonder how Native Americans and the first settlers even survived in this area. Stories are told in the local museums about water vaporized because of the heat, animal meat all dried up to the bone, and people dying of heat exhaustion. Yuk.

A very steep climb out of Death Valley (From 200 feet below sea level to 4000 feet above SL was pretty tough on our car engine) and we're heading towards the Sierra Nevada, a snowy Mountain Range that became the back drop for many Western Movies. In Lone Pine, we take the scenic movie road where we find the setting for "How the west was won", "Rawhide" and even the "Sound of Music". Coincidentally, today they were also shooting a commercial for the new Lancia Model. Yes, I have pictures !

These funny looking rocks you see in front of the Sierra Nevada are called the Alabama rocks. It's like you're walking on a different planet right there.

After our stop in Lone Pine, we drive our final 90 miles to Mammoth Lakes, the town of Mammoth Mountain. Yes, we've left the desert far behind us now and are enjoying the cool air at 7000 feet.



It's amazing how much we see in one day. This morning we drove through the hottest, driest and lowest point in the US. Tonight, we're standing in front of a mountain top covered in snow, having a cozy sweater on and enjoying the smell of wood.

How I love this country.