3-31-09 Rhyolite Ghost Town

3-31-09 Rhyolite Ghost Town, originally uploaded by roswellsgirl.

We decided to spend the day exploring Death Valley. After a yummy breakfast burrito, we explored Rhyolite, a funky little Ghost Town near Beaty, NV. Erik and I have vague memories of being here before but can’t quite remember why we were there, but didn’t go into Death Valley. My guess is that it was during the summer and Death Valley would have been too hot. Erik, loves old mines and rocks and stuff. So we climbed up a hill and explored, (from behind the protective fences) some old mine shafts. As always, I found some wildflowers along the way. We then headed back into Death Valley. Pictures really don’t do it justice. It is so vast, stark and breathtaking. We went to Badwater Basin, the lowest point in the Americas at 238 ft below sea level. We then headed for Baker, CA. We saw some really huge sand dunes along the way. When we got to Baker, we recognized Mad Greek’s Café from Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. It is really funny to see this Greek restaurant out in the middle of the desert. I’m not much into Greek food, but it seemed the thing to do. We then headed to Barstow, along the way we were blessed with an amazing desert sunset.