Zabriskie Point and Snowy Sierras

We decided to pack up and check out Tuesday morning, as we were unsure if the power would be restored in the town we were in. 

So, we then changed plans, and went to Zabriskie Point for a little walk and some photos, instead of a longer trip to Ubehebe Crater we'd considered.

This was another place with such intriguing scenery.

 

Set up shot, but looks cool.

We said goodbye to Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty and began our drive home. We took the slightly longer way, due west to Lone Pine, because I wanted to see the snowy Sierra Nevada after the walloping it got this year.

It was gorgeous! And, Lone Pine gave us a chance to gas up and get food, whereas the more direct route home is pretty desolate the whole way.

So, a three-day trip, full of interesting sights and memories created.

Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes

We returned to our motel Monday night to a power outage, caused by the high winds knocking out a power pole. So, dinner was weird and we were grateful we'd packed an emergency solar lighting kit. We went to bed early, and therefore woke up early Tuesday.

Stace and I decided to head straight to the sand dunes, minutes away, to catch sunrise. It was beautiful!

 

This is Stace, channeling his inner R2D2, around the same spot from the Star Wars films.

And, we returned later in the day with the family, and Stace had other acting ideas on the dune.

After our sunrise trip, we drove back to Furnace Creek, about 20 minutes away, because we figured they still had power and we'd be able to buy coffee. We got drinks for ourselves and Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty, who were very appreciative.

Death Valley: Natural Bridge

After Badwater Basin, we made a stop at Natural Bridge, a short hike full of more interesting landscapes.

This is Aunt Patty at the bottom of a dry waterfall, carved out after so many years of erosion.

Violet begged to make a rock stack - of course she could! Second photo is hers - pretty creative and artsy, framed by the natural bridge.

 

Uncle Bill joined Cora  (on the right side, two-thirds of the way up) in a precarious climb to view the top of the bridge.

Cora is waving here - you can see the perspective on how big the natural bridge is.

We made one more stop on the way back, a multi-hued nine-mile driving loop called Artists Palette. Unfortunately, sine dusk had fallen, the colors weren't as brilliant as we'd seen in photos, but it was still pretty.

Badwater

 My parents and Uncle Bill and Aunt Patty joined us for our the Rhyolite trip, and we then stopped for lunch in Nevada before heading back to Death Valley highlights. We stopped at the visitors center in Furnace Creek, and then drove to Badwater, the lowest point in the United States at 282 feet below sea level.

Cora and Grandma took a long walk into the salt flats of Badwater Basin, where Grandma got this cool photo of Cora on the salt. 

Vi and I didn't venture as far, but we still found chunks of salt to investigate. 

So strange! One of those interesting phenomena worth checking out at least once!

The rectangle speck two-thirds of the way up the mountain is the sign demarcating Sea Level.

The long, salty walk back to the car.

Rhyolite Ghost Town

When you drag your kid on an unwanted road trip to the desert, you throw her a bone by throwing in a ghost town.

I'd taken this same detour to Rhyolite, a gold mining ghost town in western Nevada, on my prior trip to Death Valley.  I knew Cora would love it. 

And she did!

The town has such an interesting and sad history. This was one of the bank buildings, and it was truly gorgeous when it was new in the early 1900s.

Sometimes exploration isn't pretty.

One of the buildings left behind from the glory days was this house made of glass bottles. Apparently they are very good at insulating, from the desert winter cold and summer heat. When we were there, in early April, it was in the 40s with gale-force winds, making it very cold!

This collection of odds and ends outside the bottle house was very attractive to Cora. She was dying to take something home!

Stace gave her a patdown before we got back in the car to be sure the relics stayed put for other visitors to peruse.

Yosemite: Day 3

On Monday morning, Stace, Violet and I went back to the river for some quiet time and so that Violet could paint. What a lovely time!

Stace is hard to see here, but he's in the grass on the left side of the photo, doing his own pencil sketch of Half Dome.

Vi on the left, I'm on the right. Yes, she's reached my height, maybe a little more! And check out that Half Dome!

Here is Violet's finished watercolor - I'm in love!
 

We packed up and headed out. On our way home, we stopped in Tulare so Stace could get an up-close look at these random WWII planes at a strip on the side of the freeway.

And we also stopped at a local coffee shop for a caffeinated treat. These little tidbits are some of my favorite parts of road trips. 

All told, we had a GREAT time together and I'm so glad we were able to make this trip happen!

English Road Trippin': Stratford

 We loved our day in Stratford upon Avon, the ancient town full of Shakespeare and gorgeous buildings and a river to boot.

We toured Shakespeare's childhood home, making our way through with a busload of schoolchildren on a field trip.

Here's the back of the museum, in the gorgeous garden.

Cora was eager to check out the Royal Shakespeare Company, since she was in a Shakespeare-adjacent show in the spring.

Stratford is just so photogenic! It was great, all over England seeing the bunting and Union Jacks still flying high, in honor of the Queen's Jubilee.

We also enjoyed the Tudor World museum, where Cora was able to lie in an old bed with a straw mattress. This *might* have been influenced by my story of grabbing a quick pic of me lying on Shakespeare's mother's bed, on our first trip to Stratford, in 2001, on a tour of her cottage.

The girls were able to try writing with a quill and ink, one of the numerous interactive features of this jam-packed museum. 

Here's a good example of one of the exhibits, this one focusing on maritime life for sailors in Tudor times.

Later, we had a memorable encounter: we were walking down a quiet side street when a small tour group came toward us. 

Stace said, "John?!?"

John said, "Stace?!?"

Five-thousand-something miles from home, these two co-workers, who live two miles apart, ran into each other on a tiny back street! Unbelievable. 

Stace knew that John was on a British Isles cruise, but had no idea where he'd be going. 

The tour guide invited us to join, but we politely declined. But he gave us a great tip when  he noticed Stace's motoring enthusiast's t-shirt: not far away was Caffeine and Machine, a car-focused restaurant/hotel, with frequent events. Kind of a permanent Cars and Coffee location. 

So after leaving Stratford, we stopped in for a drink!

Later, on our way home, we drove through Castle Coombe, one of England's prettiest villages. It lived up to its hype!

We were grateful our rental car had GPS! Even though some of the suggested routes were...questionable.

And, for posterity, a photo of our lovely Seat. It was roomy and easy to drive, and the mileage! Incredibly, on our long drive we averaged 60 mpg! Even around town, we got over 50 mpg.