Death Valley Days and Dark Nights Itinerary

ITINERARY

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		Day 1 Sunday, May 1, 2005 No Meals Viva Las Vegas! Arrive at Las Vegas McCarron International Airport (LAS) according to your own air schedule, and transfer on your own to our hotel. Join us this evening at the hotel for an informal get-together. Overnight: Monte Carlo Hotel & Casino Day 2 Mon, May 2 B/L/D *Death Valley* After our welcome breakfast, we will depart Las Vegas for Death Valley, stopping at Zabriske Point, one of the Valley’s best
overlooks into wildly eroded badlands. Later, we’ll arrive for lunch at Furnace Creek Ranch our home for the next three nights, offering a casual, relaxed western atmosphere. In addition to guest accommodations, the Ranch features two restaurants, a spring-fed swimming pool, tennis, horseback riding, golf, a general store and saloon. After lunch, we’ll stop at the Death Valley Visitor Center interpretive museum and gift shop with its excellent selection of books. After dinner, you’re invited to join us under dark, dry desert skies for our first evening of stargazing and night sky photography with Dennis. Furnace Creek Ranch (3 nights)


Zabriske Point

Day 3 Mon, May 3 B/L Scotty's Castle / Sand Dunes / Harmony Broax Works / Ubehebe Crater

Death Valley was established as a National Park in 1994, encompassing over 3,000 square miles making it the largest national park in the continental United States. You’re invited to rise early this morning to join Dennis for photos of dawn and the crescent moon and sunrise during some of the best light of the day. After breakfast, we’ll travel north of Furnace Creek to Scotty’s Castle, an impressive mansion built by Chicago millionaire Albert Johnson, but the castle came to be named after the infamous Walter Scott, who claimed to be financing the castle’s construction himself. We’ll
		Scotty's Castle

tour the interior and grounds of this beautiful estate. After lunch we’ll visit 3,000-year-old Ubehebe Crater for a walk along the rim of this 231-meter (770 ft) deep steam-explosion crater. Then, we’ll continue to Harmony Borax Works to wander among the remains of buildings, machinery, and piping from the mining operation that dates back 120 years. Our last stop of the day will be a walk into Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes, to see beautiful rolling dunes composed of grains of quartz and feldspar. Join Dennis this evening for our second stargazing and night sky photography session.

Days 4 Wed, May 4 B
Artist's Drive / Badwater / Devil's Golf Course

Death Valley's natural beauty and color are most evident along Artist's Drive where exotic rock formations of pink, lavender, emerald, brown and purple illuminate the landscape. The Valley's extraordinarily clear air makes colors all the more vivid and alive, and creates a wonderful opportunity for photographers. At 84m (282 ft) below sea level sits Badwater. So named for the high salt content in its few ponds, this area marks the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere. Yet even here, life thrives. Desert holly, which survives on salt water, grows plentifully and in the summer, salt crystallizes on the holly's leaves creating a shimmering, silvery coating. At Devil's Golf Course, an area named because of its harsh topography, you’ll find salt formations shaped like pyramids covered with fine brown dust pointing toward the sky. This famous dry salt floor of the Valley can even be heard creaking on hot days as it expands in the intense heat.
Back at the Ranch, your afternoon is free for swimming, golf, horseback riding, strolling through the date grove, or just plain relaxing. Late this afternoon, you can join Dennis for sunset and dusk photography. Join us tonight for our last night of stargazing and night sky photography.

Day 5 Thu, May 5 B/L/D
Rhyolite Ghost Town / Las Vegas

Join Dennis for a final morning of sunrise photography. After checkout from the Ranch, we’ll travel to Rhyolite, the largest ghost town in the Death Valley, where during its peak in 1905-11, there was a population of nearly 10,000 people. We’ll get to see the Bottle House, the train depot, the remains of a 3-story bank and a jail. We’ll arrive back in Las Vegas in the late afternoon, where your new dusk and nighttime photography skills will help capture the lights of this remarkable city. Join fellow travelers later tonight for our farewell dinner.
Overnight: Monte Carlo Hotel & Casino

Day 6 Fri, May 6 B
Goodbye Las Vegas!
After breakfast you’ll transfer on your own to the airport according to your flight schedule.

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Revised: October 25, 2005.
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