Fast Times at Douglas High

We’re back in Gardnerville for most of the winter (although we do have a couple of side trips planned during that time), and my baby sister (she’s the youngest of 11) texted and asked if we wanted to go to the Douglas High School football game Friday night.  Douglas was playing their arch rival, Carson High School.  But more importantly, her daughter (my niece) would be performing at half-time with the Douglas Marching Band for the last time at home (this was Douglas’ last home game of the season).  Of course we said, “YES!” 

It’s been over six years since we’ve been to a high school football game.  When John lived with us he attended El Segundo High School and was on their football team.  That meant we went to every home game.  We had so much fun and it was a sad day when he graduated and was no longer on the football team.

DISCLAIMER:  Photos taken with my phone camera!

So off we go to the Friday Night Lights high school frenzy at Douglas High.  62 years or older?  You get in freeeeeeeee … yeah baby!!  My sister saved us seats which was a good thing because the stands (on the Douglas side) were packed to overflowing.

The Marching Band at Douglas High School isn’t just “any old band.”  This marching band has won first place in over nine competitions.  We watched them at half time, and really, they were amazing.  They did a great Elvis tribute.

It was almost like déjà vu to our own high school years (and that was a very, very, very long time ago) being at the game.  When was the last time you watched high school cheerleaders perform?  Well, it’s been an awfully long time for us, too (as I mentioned six years) and I had forgotten how much more “simple” all their moves are in comparison to even junior college.  Here’s a picture of the cheerleaders.  They had the JV and Varsity cheerleaders performing together for the first half.  The JV had white bows in their hair and the Varsity had orange bows.

Here’s a photo of the football teams on the field.  The Douglas High Tigers are in grey and orange and Carson is in white.  In the middle of this photo is the Tiger mascot and on the right are a few of the cheerleaders before it got so cold they had to put their sweats on … and it did get cold.

Here I am with my niece, Heather.  She plays the clarinet.  She’s such a sweet girl and very musically talented.  Sharon, that’s the red scarf you made for me last Christmas J.

We left at the end of the third quarter with the game tied 13-13.  We were cold and the dogs had been left behind in the motorhome on their own recognizance.  Time was slowly slipping by for their next potty break.  We learned the next day that sadly, in overtime, the Tigers lost to their crosstown rivals 19-13.  I guess not every Tiger story has a happy ending.

 

Psalms 150:3-6 // Praise Him with trumpet sound; praise Him with harp and lyre.  Praise Him with timbrel and dancing; praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe. Praise Him with loud cymbals; praise Him with resounding cymbals.  Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.  Praise the LORD!

This one gave me the hee-bee-jee-bees!

Well, not really, but I struggled to say the actual name of the crater correctly and the name reminded me of the old slang expression “hee-bee-jee-bee” so that’s what I was initially calling this crater located eight miles from Scotty’s Castle.  The day was still young so after we left Scotty’s Castle we headed to Ubhebe Crater (or the Hee-Bee-Jee-Bee Crater as I call it).

This crater is vivid evidence of one of the geologic forces that shape Death Valley. Unlike most geological forces the Ubehebe (pronounced you-bee-hee-bee) Crater is about 2,000 years old. Rising magma—hot molten rock—turns ground water to steam. Intense steam pressure builds until the superheated combination of steam and rock explodes, creating a crater like this one. The explosion spewed shattered rock over a six-square-mile area, in some places to depths of 150 feet. Ubehebe is the largest of many explosion craters in the area at a half mile across and about 500 feet deep.  I took this photo without using the zoom on the camera to give you an overall impression of the crater.

 

I zoomed in a little more with this photo.

This is a close-up of the far wall of the crater.

There was a “professional” photographer at the crater so we imposed upon him to take our photo.

Just to give you more of what the landscape looks like, this series of photos were taken on our drive back to Stovepipe Wells after visiting both Scotty's Castle and Ubehebe Crater.  I mentioned this before in a previous blog, but I'll say it again.  One of the things I really was in awe of in Death Valley was just the overall landscape that was so diverse and colorful.

 

That ends our Death Valley adventures.  We saw everything we wanted to see.  There were a few places we couldn't get to since a number of roads were closed from a monsoon a few weeks earlier.  These heavy rains cause flash floods that heavily damage some of the unpaved roads.  It all worked out okay because that gave us a couple of days left over to relax by the pool.

 

Psalms 97:5-6 // The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.  The heavens declare His righteousness, and all the peoples have seen His glory.

 

The Master Paints … on Rock!

Next on Highway 190 East was a one-way loop called “Artist Drive”.  The colors were so remarkable. Our God is an amazing Creator and Painter!  The wind and water carved terrain gives you glimpses of green with lots of vanilla and chocolate—more of that sweet sundae expression!

 

Here are more photos taken during our scenic tour on Artist Drive.

 

 

Continuing south on Day 1, in our next blog you’ll see and hear about the wild and crazy Badwater Basin … the lowest spot in the Continental United States!

 

Psalms 90:2 // Before the mountains were born or You gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

It’s a Golden Opportunity!

After the Harmony Borax Works, we made a quick stop at Furnace Creek.  At this point, we are 190 feet below sea level!

We watched a movie at the visitor’s center and it was really worthwhile.  We found out that there actually is an Indian tribe—the Timbisha Shoshone—that was allotted tribal acreage in 2000 so that they could live within their ancestral homeland. The Shoshone prefer to call Death Valley Timbisha.  You have to admit, it does sound nicer than Death Valley.

We also learned about different areas of the park we knew we wouldn’t be driving to.  One is called “Racetrack”.  Unfortunately, to get there you take a long drive (about 27 miles) on an upaved, washboard road.  On the park map, this road has a statement, "Tires must be able to withstand sharp rocks."  I don't know about you, but that didn't sound all that inviting to us.  The thought of getting a flat tire in the middle of Death Valley just doesn't ring my bell.  Having said all that, it is truly an amazing natural phenomenon. These large rocks travel on their own over the landscape.  They know they travel because they leave their travel tracks behind them!  They have no idea how the large rocks travel, but they think they might have an answer.  I found a YouTube video that gives an explanation for this weird marvel.  Click on this link to see and learn more:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1hoiHvOeGc

Check out this photo from the Internet because it really is amazing.

Onto Golden Canyon which is easily accessible off Highway 190.  If we didn’t have dogs, we would have walked the whole 2.5 mile round trip hike through this striking canyon.  But we did have the dogs and needed to stay aware of how much time they spent in the car.  We were so thankful because we hit perfect weather and were always able to get parking that kept the inside of the car at a moderate temperature.  Having said that, we decided to walk at least a short distance into the canyon.  Here are pictures of both Gary and me in Golden Canyon.

The rock formations in this canyon were mind boggling.  Turn-after-turn the canyon revealed new, delightful scenery including azure blue skies with just a hint of puffy white clouds.

 

Gary said this mountain looked like an ice cream sundae!  You can barely see the strawberry, there’s a glimpse of the lime, but you certainly can see the vanilla and chocolate!

Next stop on our first day’s journey?  Artist Drive … a colorful canyon created by the Master Creator Himself!

Revelation 5:8-10 // When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.  And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth."

Dunes and Gold!

As I mentioned in the last blog, our first stop was at Mesquite Dunes located on Highway 190 East, very close to our campground.  There are four or five dune areas in Death Valley, but none as accessible as this one which is right off the road.  You can walk all over the dunes if you want to.  Don't let these photos fool you.  Some of these dunes were very tall; the pictures just don't show it very well.

 

 

Back into the car, our next stop heading south on 190 East was Harmony Borax Works.

 

 

Borax was called the “White Gold of the Desert” and it ranks as the valley’s most profitable mineral.  Harmony Borax Works was the valley’s first borax operations and it operated from 1883 to 1888.  San Franciscan businessman William T. Coleman built the plant in 1882 to refine the “cotton ball” borax found on the nearby salt flats. The high cost of transportation made it necessary to refine the borax on location rather than to transport both the borax and the waste 165 miles across the desert to the railroad.

These photos look out from the refining location to the salt flats. 

Borates—salt minerals—were deposited in ancient lake beds that uplifted and eroded into the yellow Furnace Creek Badlands. Water dissolved the borates and carried them to the valley floor where they crystalized as borax.  Who used borax?  Blacksmiths, dairy farmers, housewives, meat packers, and even morticians.

Here’s Gary reading about the refining operation.

 

Here I am in front of the refining operation.

For more than a century, the 20 Mule Team has been a symbol of the borax industry—on product labels, in history books, and on television. The status is well-earned as mule teams helped solve the most difficult task that faced Death Valley borax operators—getting the product to market. The mule teams pulled loads up to 36 tons including 1200 gallons of drinking water. The rear wagon wheels were seven feet high and the entire unit with mules was more than 100 feet long.

 

The financial problems of Coleman and discoveries of borax in other parts of California forced the closure of Harmony Borax Works in 1888, after only five years of operation.

Do you remember when Borax was so popular?  I wondered where it went so I did some Internet research.   You can actually still purchase 20 Mule Team Borax!  It is not only still available in laundry and/or soap detergents, but it is still used in a variety of processes.  If you're really interested, you can click on this Wikipedia link to learn more about Borax:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borax

Next adventure?  We go from White Gold to a Golden Opportunity … it awaits you!

Psalms 139:17-18 // How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.