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Death Valley is a very interesting place. I have been there twice, once when I was in 6th grade. I caught pneumonia while we were out there, but I still had a great time. We camped over at Stovepipe Wells which at that time was very near the big sand dunes. The second time was during Spring break of 1996. We camped at the Furnace Creek campground which is below sea level. When I thought of Death Valley, I thought of barren desolation. Quite the contrary. It was very pretty in a haunting sort of way. Desolate, yet there were areas where a lot plants could be found and therefore wildlife, though we didn't see any outside of the ravens in the campsites. We traveled to Badwater which is the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere. It was interesting to note that at Badwater, the only living things that 
I could see were other humans. Not too much lives out on those salt flats. It still amazes me, that Death Valley seems to be a tourist mecca for the European set in the summer time. I've heard that the attraction is to experience 50 degrees Celsius, which would translate out to about 122 degrees Fahrenheit. No thank you. It is a nice place to visit in the spring, and I have heard it's also great in the fall and winter. Another thing that seems out of place there is Scotty's Castle. Here is this big huge house up in Grapevine Canyon, basically in the middle of nowhere. I guess if you had millions, like Walter Scott's friend Albert M. Johnson did, you could build anywhere you wanted. The clean dry air helped the chronically ill Johnson which is one of the main reasons he chose to live part of the year up in Grapevine Canyon. If you look closely, you can see up on the hill top, the grave of "Death Valley Scotty" overlooking his beloved Scotty's Castle. Up by his grave is a marker which has a likeness of Scott and a quote attributed to him that reads: "I got four things to live by: Don't say nothing that will hurt anybody. Don't give advice - nobody will take it anyway. Don't complain. Don't explain." At the castle the rangers wear clothes from the 30's and give living history tours. 
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This page was last updated on October 14, 2000
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