Death Valley

From Las Vegas, we initially went to the Amargosa Valley, which we wanted to use as an early starting point into Death Valley.

We spent the night in a remote and somewhat rundown gambling hotel, which resembled a caricature of itself with its Western decor and the freak show of gambling addicts hanging around the slot machines day and night.

From there, just before sunrise, we drove through Death Valley Junction into the national park, where we stopped at all the key viewpoints before the heat peaked: Dante's View, Zabriskie Point, Badwater, Devil's Golf Course, Artist Palette, Harmony Borax Works, etc. We exited the valley from the north via Beatty Junction towards Inyokern, where we spent the next night in what felt like nowhere.

It was breathtaking and truly another world. Marike had been here many years ago with her parents and remembered the national park as one of the most impressive natural scenery, and that image was fully confirmed again. In some areas, it reminded us of the Atacama Desert, but with a different twist brought about by wind, sun, and high temperatures.