death valley//an arrival
flew into l.v, stayed the night and then woke early and headed west. through mountains (funeral mountain range! everything in this valley has great names.. coffin peak, owls mountain, badwater..) and into the desert proper, stopping the car almost every ten minutes to get out and run around yelling because it is so stunning. it's hot as hell. we walked a short walk on the badwater salt plains and it felt like miles it was so hot and glaring and i thought i'd pass out, but it was too beautiful to let that happen. And then a drive through a pass called artist's drive (because of all the different colours of the mountains; peach, mauve, green, brown, grey, blue..) and then we looped round and did that drive again and gathered some rocks and photos. i wish I could identify the wild flowers and plants we've seen. i know the desert sunflowers. and the little 5 spot ones i've forgotten the name of. i saw one cactus as we drive past.. I need to find more. i want to know what these beautiful pale green bushes are that practically glow against all the dust and rocks.