The Adventures of Fric and Frac: Adventure 194: Furnace Creek Resort/Death Valley/Post C

Death Valley Marketing.

Our day began before sunrise sitting around the campfire at Douglissimo's campsite sipping coffee. On the east side of the valley, the rosy fingers of dawn were peeling the indigo and morado from between the wrinkles of the mountains. On the west side, the early light had painted the hills in a rosewater wash, highlighting the setting of the pale moon against the pastel blue of morning. It was cool enough for a sweatshirt and doves were hoo-hooing in the background. At approximately 7:10 A.M. the burning globe burst into our vision like an atomic test blast. What fun it was to watch and almost feel the tilting of the earth as the moon set on one side and the sun rose on the other. Shortly thereafter, Judy and I made our way back to Frac for our usual morning breakfast and crib game. The fates shined on me, which tied the score once again, making our game on the morrow worth all of the mineral left in the whole of Death Valley (A prize worth cheating for, I'm sure, so I'll watch the Cager like a desert hunting bird). Around 9 A.M. the sun had been up long enough to warm the air, so we set off on today's voyage of discovery. We warmed up with a three mile hike (A true watch your step hike) up Gold Canyon to the Red Cathedral. Stumpy was feeling fine, and she kept a nice pace both up and down the canyon. The Red Cathedral was a worthy site, although it was more muted brown than red. We then set out for Stove Pipe Wells, a dusty little water hole up the valley about twenty miles. It doesn't have the charm that Furnace Creek has, but it's significant because it's the historical site of the pioneers who chose to burn their wagons (In order to roast their oxen) so they could make a last ditch effort to walk out of the valley. We had a very nice lunch served by a young gal (Almost thirty, I'd guess) named Chelsea. I asked her on her third visit to our table, "What color do you put down on your driver's license to describe your stunning eyes?" She replied, "Hazel", but shyly admitted that the description didn't do them justice. Douglas called her AZURE from that point on. She was very efficient, had a warm spirit, and because it was busy, flitted around the room waiting on customers like the humming birds slurping sugar from the flowers in Judy's (Our backyard) garden in summer. She lived in a town (Beatty, NV) about a forty mile commute away. We didn't get any details as to why or how she got there. My guess is by birth. She wore no ring, but as cute as she was, I doubt she lacked in romantic interest. The lunch at the Stove Pipe Wells Saloon was quite good, exceptional even. Judy enjoyed a Southwestern Tostada Salad, Douglas enjoyed a bowl of Forty-Niner Chili (Which Chelsea recommended). It was a unique and very flavorful blend of meats and sauce-no beans. I had a forest ham sandwich toasted on sourdough. I had expected little more than fair to middling pub grub. It was satisfyingly way beyond that. After lunch, we walked in the Mesquite Sand Dunes, a place where the sand was so fine it could be talcum powder except for the sharpness of its feel. In a place where the geology is rugged, it only makes sense that in its most finely worn state, it would still feel as sharp as a Samurai Sword. To finish our tour, we drove through the Artist's Drive, which is an attraction akin to Old Faithful in Yellowstone for its popularity. The single lane road literally cuts its way through, up, over, down, and around a stand of hills formed in layers of green, yellow, red, blue, and brown. Best seen in the afternoon, we timed our visit almost perfectly. Then we hit the pool where we lounged around in the Sea of Cortez chairs until the sun started to sink behind the mountains. Quite a day, all in all. We'll top it off with a little BBQ Pork Loin (More thin Gruel), garlic rice, and pear salad garnished with Miss Jane's peppy pecans. We'll do the cooking tonight, so the bill will be a little less dramatic than last night. Finally, we'll adjourn to Douglas' campsite to watch the moon rise, again warming by the fire. By then we'll once again realize that life is good, especially today, and after a good night's rest, we'll be off to Lake Havasu City, Nevada (We've enjoyed about as much of California as we can stand) to visit our friends, the Ellsworths.