Death Valley trip -- Monterey, CA to Ridgecrest, CA

Ok, another 3-day weekend so we gotta go somewhere. It's the MLK, Jr. holiday weekend and since it's January...well that means we're going to a warmer place. We've passed Death Valley a number of times on the way out to Las Vegas, but we've never really taken a day to really go up to check it out.

While I went to class from 8-10am, Kerstin packed everything that we were going to need for our trip. (She did a good job too!) She packed our big tent and lots of food & warm clothes/sleeping bags/etc. We finally got on the road (after buying food and some other stuff) around noon.

Since we got a somewhat late start on our road trip, we ran into nightfall before our ultimate destination. Kerstin and I have put up a tent in Luxembourg in the dark...and we never want to have to do that again. So we stopped in Ridgecrest, CA for the night here. Fortunately the Econo-Lodge gave us the AAA discount and has free DSL so that we could stay here cheaper and post pictures to the Internet. Tomorrow we're going to head out and see what there's to do in Death Valley aside from camping.

MORTIMER'S!!!! CA defaults to local officials on whether or not they allow gambling or not. This has to be a landmark place or something due to its classy sign.	Lunchtime!!!	It rains here in the winter, notice how stuff starts turning green.
Heading east, 10-20 miles east of Paso Robles, CA.	Kerstin's father's name is Kurt. We found his roadsign. Someday we might be stopping by with some tools. OK, probably not.	After heading east out of Bakersfield on CA 178, you go through some small foothills and then are greeted by a wall. Literally.
But, the Kern River cuts a canyon through the mountains and CA 178 runs right up it for 10-15 miles. Not pictured is a sign that welcomes you into the canyon by saying that ~250 people have died on this stretch of road since 1970. It narrows and becomes very twisty after entering the canyon. The Kern River is very scenic...but watch out for faster traffic from behind.	We're in the Sequioa National Forest, but there are no trees here. You figure it out...	Full moon at sunset over Lake Isabella.
Another Lake Isabella shot.	And another! Being in the mountains at sunset is pretty cool...	In 36,000 miles, this car has seen more of the the world than most.
The light was just right to show off my car, sorry.	Note the lovely rims. Mounted on those cheapo rims are my awesome snow tires. Sorry folks, they're only good to 200 km/h. And check out the moonglint on the water!

Happy New Year

12-31-2005 Flagstaff, Arizona - Las Vegas, Nevada

On our journey two little cuddly Furbys have been accombanying us for a few days. We rescued them from the cruel hand of a mean fast food giant. They are happy now that they get to see more of the world than the inside of a boring kids meal bag.	The Hoover dam at Colorado River forms the reservoir Lake Meade and hosts a hydro-electric power plant to produce the large amounts of electricity the glittering citys of Neveada need for their millions of light bulbs.	The dam has just a narrow road with two lanes so the traffic is going mad.
We don't get out of the car to visit the dam walking. The parking situation is chaotic although there are over twenty parking lots.	The river and the dam form the border between the Mountain Standard Time in Arizona...	... and the Pacific Standard Time in Nevada. We win an hour!
Far away we can see Lake Meade.	We enter Las Vegas for the second time this year, but this time we're coming from the other side, from the west and in the light.	The clouds look very dramatic and as we get to ur shady hotel, it's starting to rain.

We don't spend New Year's Eve as fabulous as in Barcelona a year ago. The buffett is bad, but cheap. Later we drive to downtown and walk around there for a while. We spend the time until midnight playing dice in the casino of our hotel. Half an hour later we're in bed.

12-1-2006 Las Vegas, Nevada - Monterey, Kalifornien
So we can drive a long way on the next day to arrive in Monterey late at night.

12-30-2005 Grand Canyon

My pictures of the Grand Canyon


Jon also took photos like a madman. Thanks to my bad cold We couldn't do much more than the usual tourist programme. No hike down to the canyon ground for us this time.