17th Day - day 17 ( for English scroll down)

The last time getting up early - at least promised for the next 3 days. There was one more sight in the Death Valley that I wanted to see: Bad water. The lowest point in North America with an altitude of 85.5 meters below sea level. Badwater is the remains of the ancient Lake Manly. On the way there at around 8 am, we encountered a jogger!!! It was 22 km away from the hotel and there was nothing behind it.... he gave us a 'thumbs up' as we stared at him in disbelief. Unbelievable!! Well, when we arrived in the basin, we were greeted by a warning sign: 'Caution extreme heat - running after 10 am is not recommended' Fortunately, it was only 8.30 am. From the parking lot, it took about 10 minutes to walk to the salt lake, which was an extreme exertion in the already scorching heat. We kept pushing ourselves with the thought of the jogger. The surroundings were truly surreal - unique and very impressive. The heat not only immediately affects the body, but also the mind. Apart from the fact that sweat was pouring out of every pore, we also felt nauseous and aggressive, which almost scared us. How does the jogger do it?!?!
We immediately got back in the car, replaced all the water we had just sweated out, turned the air conditioning on full blast, and left. Of course, we passed by the jogger again. I had to stop to make sure he was okay. He thanked us for stopping, assured us that he was fine, and that he would jog to our hotel (22 km) - no shade, burning sun, about 40°C, and getting hotter every minute... inhuman - contrary to all laws of nature, and yet this good-looking middle-aged man continued to jog happily. It wasn't a mirage - honestly!!
We then continued on endless straight roads to Las Vegas. After 2 hours, we arrived at the Bellagio and couldn't help but be amazed at the lobby. We know what to expect, but when we're actually there - it leaves us speechless! We decided to spend the rest of the day at the pool - just like about 1000 other people. Finding a shaded spot was a challenge, but it was only bearable in the water. It was too loud and hot to even think about taking a nap. So after 2 hours, we gave up on that idea and decided to explore the hotel. Truly, truly unbelievable what you get to see there. Spontaneously, we bought tickets for the Blue Man Group show, which was only 1 mile away from the hotel. Yes, we'll just walk - right?! Wrong.... we kept forgetting about the heat and its effect on us. Nausea and grumpiness. And once again, we thought of the jogger, who hopefully had arrived safely at his destination by now. The show was really cool and we returned with an Uber - we eventually learn ;-)

Last time waking up early - at least for the next 3 days - promised. There was just one more sight in the Death Valley I wanted to see: Bad water. The lowest point in North America with an altitude of 85.5 meters below sea level. Bad water is the remains of the former lake Manly. On our way at around 8am we encountered a jogger!!! From our hotel about 22 km and behind there was absolutely nothing… he showed us “thumbs up” as we passed starring in disbelieve at him. Unbelievable!! Oh well- as we reached the basin there was a warning sign: “extreme Heat danger. Walking after 10am not recommended. Good job it was 8.30am. From the parking lot we walked about 10 minutes to the salt lake which was with the current heat an exertion already. We kept on motivating ourselves by thinking of the jogger. The landscape was real surreal, unique very impressive. The heat not only affect our body but also our mind. Beside that sweat comes out of every single pore like a stream it nauseates us and makes us aggressive – it scared us. How does the jogger do that?!?! We immediately went back to the car, replaced the one liter water we just sweated out, switched on the air-conditioning full blast and left. Of course we passed by the jogger again. I had to stop to see he was all right. He thanked us for stopping, reassured us he was fine and that he planned to jog till our hotel – 22km – no shade just burning sun ca. 40° Celsius and with every minute passing by warmer…inhuman, bar any law of nature, and still this very good looking middle-aged man jogged happily. It wasn’t a fat morgana – honestly!!

We proceeded on endless straight roads to Las Vegas. After 2 hours we arrived at the Bellagio and were already overwhelmed at the Lobby. One knows what to expect, but when you see it live it just amazes you. We decided to spend the rest of the day at the swimming pool – which probably 1000 other people did too. It was a challenge to find a shady place but in reality the only place where it was bearable was in the water. It was too loud and hot to have a nap and therefore we gave up after 2 hours and proceeded exploring the hotel. It was really unbelievable what we saw. Spontaneous we bought tickets for the blue man group show which aired just 1 mile from our hotel. A little walk will be easy we thought …. How wrong could we be? We keep on forgetting what the heat does to us. Nausea and grumpy. We had to think of the jogger who, we hoped by now had arrived at his target, the hotel safely. The show was really cool and we returned with a Uber – after all we do learn from our mistakes eventually 😉