Day 12: Hot, hotter, Death Valley
Las Vegas we will miss you! We’ll definitely come back, but preferably not in summer and not in the middle of a roadtrip.. It was going to be a long drive today. We would be spending about 8 hours in the car..
We thought we were leaving the heat in Las Vegas, but that was wishful thinking.. We drove through Death Valley National Park. We experienced the highest temperature we ever felt, 47°C. We went as far in the park as Bad Water, the lowest point of the USA, 86m below sea level. We turned back and set course to Mammoth Lakes.
On the mountain roads we saw a lot of signs saying “Falling rocks” and they weren’t there for nothing! Around a bend we suddenly encountered a large rock on our lane! Luckily the car wasn’t damaged! We continued our ride and upon arriving in Mammoth Lakes we checked in at Shilo Inn Mammoth Lakes.
Day 13: A trip back in time
We hadn’t planned much for today. After a breakfast with Belgian waffles we drove to Bodie State Park. Bodie was a mining town in the late 1800’s but is a ghost town now.
On the way back to Mammoth Lakes we stopped at Mono Lake. The water of this lake is very acid and is full of minerals. The lakeside was black, due to the many insects.
Around 2pm we arrived back at the hotel. We wanted to visit some hot springs, but the concierge told us it wasn’t a good idea since the roads to get there were very dangerous. We followed his advice and want to the mountain lakes instead. We visited Lake Mamie, Lake Mary and Twin Lake.
In the evening we played some board games and drank a real Belgian beer, Stella.
