Grandma's Rocking Chair - 2 -13-14 - Why Death Valley

Grandma's Rocking Chair Question - Why did you go to Death Valley.  I know that it is not a Stamping or Paper Crafting Question but I got a lot of this question this week, so thought I would go with it.

So why did my husband and I decide to go to Death Valley this week. Other than it is one of the most beautiful Parks I have ever worked in or visited it is also the spot I met Don in.  So it has some really good memories in it.  We only spent 2 days in the Park this time.  I worked there when it was still a National Monument.  They took over some of the Bureau of Land Management Land in 1994 I believe and Congress then made it a National Park.  Some of the Area they took over was also some of the areas I patrolled when I worked for the BLM after I left Death Valley.

When I worked in Death Valley I had the best job there was.  I was a Law Enforcement Ranger in Wildrose.  Wildrose is in the Mountains about 6,500 feet so had it a bit better than the floor of Death Valley.  There were three houses there but most of the time it was just me and a bunch of coyotes.  Here is a few photos of my house now.

They are rehabbing the house, looks like a new roof and when I peaked in the windows it was pretty bad, gutted and some of the walls torn up so maybe they are re doing them also. These houses were built by the CCC which stands for the Civilian Conservation Corps.  I loved my house other than it was powered by a generator and I sometime, well a lot of the times, it would stop and I would have to go over and fix it.  If it quit in the middle of the night I would let it go until the next morning, sometimes the silence was nice.  I had a band of coyotes that lived behind the house and they would serenade at night.  My nearest neighbor was 35 miles away at Emigrant Ranger Station, if someone was living there if not add about 20 miles to Stovepipe Wells.  Nearest grocery store was Ridgecrest CA and it took you over 2 hours to get there when the Wildrose road was open if not you might as well go 4 hours to Las Vegas.  I have to tell you I was much younger when I lived there and getting off work and heading to Ridgecrest for dinner, movie and grocery shopping did not intimidate me.  I really learned how to shop and be very organized since if you forgot an ingredient you couldn't just hop over to the store to get it.  My girls couldn't believe that I had no TV.  I had a Stereo but with the generator it kind of hurt those vinyl albums since it was not always stable, could get AM at night from the Navajo Nation. If you lived there you learned to like yourself.  I always had something to do and   and never sat around wish for something to do.  I had late night visitor a lot, mainly tourist who got lost or ran out of gas.  Since on a lot of the maps it looked like Wildrose was a small town they thought there was a gas station at least not here.  I would radio (no Phone) for a tow truck and tell them it would cost them about $300 for them to get there gas.  I said I would be going to Stovepipe the next day if they would like to wait and I would bring them 5 gallons, most didn't want to wait so for $300 they got 5 gallons worth of gas.  I convince a lot of folks to get AAA who would come out for nothing then if you were a member.

Some of the places I loved in Death Valley

The Charcoal Kilns was in my area and I was in charge of them.  They were built to make charcoal for the mills.  You can still smell the burned wood, I checked at least two of them the smell was still there.  You walk in and stand at a wall and turn your head and whisper and a person on the other side can hear you.  I love them.

I also Love Mosaic Canyon.  Which was in my District but not my patrol area, though I did make a few trip up the canyon when I had to mainly after a rain since it would be prone to flooding.

It is called Mosaic Canyon because of the geological Mosaic that you see.  I didn't get any really good pictures of that with this camera but it still is a great canyon and long as you watch out for the rain up in the mountains and get out in time.

One of the most beautiful spots I like is Artist Palette. This is an area where you see a ton of color.  I know it is the desert and there are only browns, well no the desert is beautiful and so full of color.The photos I took do not do it justice, after a rain the colors just pop, you just want to reach out and touch them.

The Blues, the greens, the reds, the oranges just take your breath away.

Death Valley is so beautiful.  It reminded me that everything in the desert is there for a reason and has a purpose.  So why did we go to Death Valley? To celebrate our 25th Anniversary, to remember the good times and to see all the beauty again.

 I really hope you enjoyed this not stamping and crafting journey and you never know when you will see a card inspired by this trip.

Happy Stamping

Mary