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Orlando Bingles’ Western Adventure: Day 16

by Bingle on Jun.13, 2008, under Richard Bingle Family

We slept in until 8 (one of our latest wake-up calls of the trip besides the days we were on the houseboat) and then loaded up the van for the last time of the trip.

We drove back (up and) down into Death Valley and first stopped at Salt Creek to see the pupfish. There is a nice boardwalk along the creek which can be used to try to get a glimpse of the tiny pupfish. Unfortunately, there is also some sort of large insect that kept dive bombing us and some other smaller insect biting us, so Amber and I quickly decided we had seen enough and retreated to the van.

Pastel Rocks And Shirts

After that, we visited Artist’s Palette for some pictures before stopping at the Natural Bridge trailhead for a .5 mile hike to the bridge (an additional .5 miles to the end of the canyon). Hiking in Death Valley was just as tiring, much hotter (there was little shade and the bottles of cold water we took with us on our hike were luke warm in minutes), and not as scenic as hiking in Yosemite, but we enjoyed it none the less.

How Low Can You Go

Finally, we visited Badwater Flats, at 282 feet below sea level it is the lowest point in the United States. We walked a little ways out onto the flats but it was pretty hot out and there really isn’t much change in the scenery as you hike (since it is flat), so after a little bit, we headed back to the van and started towards Las Vegas.

We took the south entrance out of the park (a narrow twisting road out in the middle of nowhere for dozens of miles) and eventually to Las Vegas. As we had a few hours before we needed to get to the airport, we had our final In-N-Out Burger meal at the same In-N-Out we had visited on day one and then stopped at the Belagio for 3 more fountain shows (each different) before returning the van and taking the shuttle to the airport to catch the red-eye back to Orlando.

Worn Out

The overnight flight was as uncomfortable as overnight flights always are and we had the added bonus of an occasionally crying baby in the row in front of us (although it could have been worse). By the time we arrived back at the house, I was ready to crash and quickly fell into our waterbed for a four hour nap.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable trip that I hope the girls will all have fond memories up for the rest of their lives. We did a lot of (I think) fun things that we had never done before and got to spend some quality time together. I wonder where we’ll go next year?


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