While driving to the next spot, there was a sign about gravel on the road up ahead and some road work. The road was relatively quiet, but right at the spot where the "gravel" was (it was more like baseball/softball sized rocks) a truck was going the opposite direction at the same time. I was as far over in my lane as I could be so he could go around the pile, but he decided to just run right through it for some reason. His tire threw a rock up that hit our rental car... I heard the thud but wasn't sure where it hit. When we stopped at the Furnace Creek visitor center (the only place we saw a roadrunner in the park, oddly enough) we checked the car and found quite a gash in the paint on the bumper. This was a brand new, 2014 car with no marks on it....
Anyway, we continued on our way, stopping at sand dunes, and of course the Badwater Basin. We stopped a few other places along the route, though nothing super noteworthy. It was a neat area and actually a bit chilly. The cold weather (for the area) worked to our advantage on this part of the trip.
On our way out of the park, we noticed an RV coming the other direction going slowly, I noticed the coyote jogging in front of the RV and told Joe to slow down. We ended up getting a number of photos and the coyote came over next to our car. Hung out by the window and seemed to wait for me to feed it. :( So, that's pretty sad. Apparently some of the local coyotes have learned that they can beg for food from cars. Sadly people don't realize that by feeding them they're actually increasing the likelihood that it will be killed by a car or cause other issues with people that would mean the park staff would have to do something about it. There was another one doing the same thing a few more miles down the road.
Once we left the park we headed towards Baker. It's a small tow on the interstate where we were planning on staying the night. Once we got there, we decided it was a bit too sketchy. The town is just sad. It's really run down and the only thing around and still open was some chains. The motel we would have stayed at had a few good reviews and probably would have been fine, but it just looked extremely run down and depressing. Also, the only place we could have really eaten in town was the Denny's. We stopped there to share a small dinner that was decent and then decided to drive to the Nevada border and stay in a cheap hotel/casino there. It wasn't far out of the way of our planned trip for the next day so that seemed the best route.
The casino town was basically three different casinos and hotels that are all owned by the same company. There's a mall and even a small amusement park attached to one of them. I don't know if the area is dying or if it was just not very busy because of the time of week and year, but a lot of stuff was closed and it was a bit dead looking.
-Miranda
;)
Hanging out in the Mosaic Canyon.
Sand dunes.
Badwater Basin
The first coyote.
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After finding breakfast, we worked our way out of town to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, which is a park right next to Las Vegas. The park is gorgeous. We stopped and did a 2.5 mile hike at the Calico Hills. Nothing super long, but it ended with a nice view of the area and you could see Vegas in the distance.
We had a bit of driving and sight seeing to do, so we continued on our way and headed to Ash Meadows National Refuge. Here we spotted an adult male Northern Harrier, which was fun to watch (it was already getting too far away, so I didn't get any photos). We first stopped at a little board walk where we saw a few birds and a small jack rabbit. No one else was there at all. It was nice but also slightly creepy.
We checked out the "Devil's Hole" which is actually run by the Death Valley National Park. It wasn't much, but it is home to a rare fish that is only found there. Because of that and other conservation efforts, it is a very well protected area, with a caged in viewing area and that's it. Security cameras around and everything. While in the park we stopped at the Crystal Reservoir and did another boardwalk then hopped in the car and worked our way to Death Valley National Park.
We entered the park a bit before sunset. Joe really wanted to get somewhere highish to be able to see the sunset. There was something called Dante's View, so we decided to rush up there to try and get to the lookout before the sun set behind the mountains. We just made it. The view was pretty amazing. I'm glad we happened to come in the park from that direction so we could start out the visit with an overall view of the park.
We left from there and worked our way to Stovepipe Wells where we stayed the night. It was one of our most expensive hotel rooms, especially considering how sparse the room was, however, considering the location, it was worth it. The restaurant had some very good food as well.
-Miranda
;)
Calico Hills. (Click on image to enlarge)
;)
The view of Vegas from our hike. (Click on image to enlarge)
Neat iron work along a boardwalk in Ash Meadows.
A bunny.
;)
Sunset over Death Valley. (Click on image to enlarge)
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Joe was getting antsy again and wanting to travel a bit again, so we decided to head down to southern California to visit Laura in LA and Sarah in Twentynine Palms. We didn't want to deal with driving down to the Cities so we decided to take the direct flight from Duluth to Las Vegas. The airline that does that flight though is pretty annoying. It nickels and dimes you for everything. The only think "free" is your personal carry-on. The larger carry-on you have to pay for, so Joe and I took just one bag and then we each had a personal carry-on. Also, when we did the online check-in, it showed our seats and we were nowhere near each other, oh but you could buy your seat and be able to sit together then!... Wow... They don't give anything out on the flight either. Not even water. It did leave on time though, so that was good.
Once we arrived in Vegas we rented a car, drove down the strip and found a hotel.
-Miranda
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For dinner that night we decided to walk down the road to see if there was another place that might have food farther down. The place we were staying had a pretty small, sketchy looking kitchen and the food was expensive. We did find a place about a mile down. We were told to find a table upstairs. The view was amazing. A 360 view of the sunset, the ocean and the biosphere. Dinner was also great.
The next morning, Mom and Papa watched the sunrise, then we headed out back in to Tulum for breakfast. Mom, Papa and I all had reservations to go to the Tulum Monkey Sanctuary (Joe had already been there with his mom the previous week). The tour was great. Lots of storytelling and views of spider monkeys. Their ultimate goal is to be able to release the monkeys back into the wild, but some won't be able to be released for one reason or another. Those that are at the point of possible release stay in Monkey Island. This is a fenced off area where they can run around. It's fenced to prevent predators from getting in. The monkeys are able to get in and out themselves. It was very interesting. They also had some rescued horses, parakeets and a dog. At the end of the tour, there was a cenote with a hole to jump in. Of the 9 people in the tour, 7 of us jumped. Mom didn't, but Papa and I did.
While we were doing the tour, Joe got the rental car washed. He picked us up once we were done, and we headed off to Playa Del Carmen to return the car. We got there with plenty of time to spare and had no problems with the return. We stayed in a hotel that was nearby the bus station.
That night we split up. Joe and I had a goal of finding an only vegetarian restaurant. After quite a walk, we did find a falafel and lemonade restaurant. The food was good.
The next day we mostly relaxed before hopping on the bus to the airport then catching the plane back home. Fortunately, we missed the insanely cold weather. At least we came back to 20's and even 40's instead of below zero temps.
-Miranda
This is Mimi. She was raised by a human, so she mostly walks upright and doesn't really know how to act like a monkey. She's been learning though.
This poor lady was owned by someone that fed her chocolate when she "acted up" and Coca Cola when she was "being good".... She and another female are so obese that when the people got her they thought they were having twins, but apparently they're still bigger than what they would be if they were pregnant.
One of two baby monkeys that were born on Monkey Island.
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After getting up in the morning, we headed back out on the road. We didn't stop in Bacalar, just passed on through. We arrived back in Tulum and decided to stay at the same hotel we had previously stayed at. We basically relaxed for the rest of the day. We did go check out the Casa Cenote, which was basically a mangrove river. The current was pretty strong, but once you got past the first bend, it got better. There were a lot of herons along the river. Towards the end we even noticed a Green Heron bringing sticks to its mate, where a nest was being built. Very fun.
On Tuesday, we decided to go check out the biosphere and see how bad the road was heading down towards Punta Allen. Right after paying, the road we awful! Potholes everywhere. Jeeps and some other vehicles could zip on by us, but we were worried about doing damage to the dinky rental car, so we took our time. Our hope was to find a path heading to the estuary.
Eventually we decided that doing a boat tour would be the best way to actually see some birds. Nearby where we found we could stop, there was a place to stay that called itself a "campground". Basically you stayed in tents, but in the tents was a full sized bed and a lantern (that was it). We dropped our stuff off there and went on the boat tour.
Our captain was great. He really knew his birds. We got to see a lot of variety and he also took us to the area where manatees hang out. At one point he was zipping along down rivers through mangroves and stopped the boat all of a sudden. He had spotted a crocodile while going by an opening. It was a pretty amazing spot. The tour was expensive, but lasted 3 hours and felt worth it.
-Miranda
I could post so many photos... I'll keep it to a minimum though.
An eating area at the campground that overlooked the beach.
The tent.
An osprey nest with a young one hanging out on it and an adult.
A roseate spoonbill and young.
The crocodile. You can see the body underwater.
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