Into the Valley.....

(CLICK ON PICTURES TO ENLARGE)

7:11 am - PDST - Tuesday - 69º F, humdity 35%, wind 7 mph out of the south southeast-----very, very windy most of yesterday, and all night long.....very hot yesterday....over 90º F.....not sure if we are going to stay another day in Death Valley.....forecast orginally was for 80º F today, but has changed to 88º F with high winds.....not a formula for a lot of outdoor fun.  I was able to connect to the Furnace Creek Guest WiFi across the street using my 'Hawking Dish'.....costs $4.95/hour so I've got to get this done quickly.

We were up and at them early Monday in anticipation of leaving before 9 am and driving 66 miles into Death Valley, specifically to Furnace Creek where there are a number of campgrounds.  There was very little traffic as we merged our 62' on to SR-127 north towards Death Valley Junction where we would turn left on SR-190 and begin the 30 mile plunge into sub sea level elevations.

In all it took just over 80 minutes of driving to reach Furnace Creek which sits just over 100' below sea level.  We parked directly across from Furnace Creek Ranch to figure out in which of the four campgrounds we wished to spend the next 3 days.  We settled on the one we were parked directly across from.....Sunset Campground.  This is basically a large dirt lot with sites marked off with white chalk.....most are back in sites, but there are two rows of pull throughs that are about 70' long, and we ended up on the very back row (M) in site 10 facing west northwest.....not the best angle for our solar panels, but passable.  

As we began to set up we noticed the wind picking up, which is not an altogether bad thing when it is going to be quite warm.  Unfortunately, that wind kept increasing in velocity all afternoon until it was consistently in the 30's with gusts into the 40's.  That wouldn't have been so bad, but the wind was coming basically from our rear which meant we were not getting much breeze inside to keep it cool, so we ultimately turned on the big propane generator and ran the rear A/C all afternoon.

We did drive over to the Inn at Furnace Creek to see if we could get dinner reservations, but the earliest time they had available was 8:15 pm, which is later than we like to eat by a long shot, so we decided to return about 6 pm and just order a bottle wine an a couple of apps in the bar area.

Our first visit to The Inn at Furnace Creek 

The Inn at Furnace Creek from a distance

.....after our short visit to the Inn we returned our campsite then walked across the street to get our entrance pass.....all National Parks have an entry fee to obtain an entrance pass.....with our Senior Pass that fee is waived, an the campground fees are discounted 50%.....so, we saved the $25 entrance fee and only paid $7/day for our campsite.....a $46 dollar savings.

We spent the afternoon reading, and napping.....much too windy and hot to do anything outside, and as planned, headed over to the Inn at 6 pm for our wine and apps......this restaurant is quite expensive....$48 for a small filet mignon....$18 for shrimp cocktail which gives you four shrimp.....you get the picture, I'm sure.....

....there was some sort of vintage car rally staying overnight at the Inn, and these were their cars out in the parking lot.

We had a lovely time enjoying the view and the sunset before heading back home for the evening where, once again due to the heat and high winds turned on the big generator and the A/C which ran until 10 pm when we went to bed....still trying to decide if we will stay another day.....

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