January 1, 2005 - Palm Springs, CA

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  And our prayer is that it's just that.  Not that 2004 was so unhappy, but there at the end we did have some medical challenges ourselves as well as Barb's sister and some dear friends.

We left off saying we were going to the Jelly Belly factory and that's just what we did, but before we go there, we want to show you our latest grandchild and only (currently) grandson, Huck.

How's that for teeth, eh?  Looks like a happy kid, and we're looking forward to meeting him.  He lives in St. Louis and our current plans call for us to be there in May.

Huck's oldest sister, Robin, got just as tired at the zoo and so they both took a nap when they got home.  My oldest brother was 16 years older than me, and Robin is 15 years older than Huck.  Hope they enjoy each other as much as I enjoyed my brother.  OK.  Now we're at the Jelly Belly factory with Rick, Lynn, and Alexandria (aka Lexi).  And no, nothing on the tree was edible.

These guys know how to promote their product that's for sure.  Not sure we'd be comfortable living in that motorhome, however.

Well, when you tell the kids to go over there and stand by the Beetles, I guess you've got to be more specific or you'll get some "creative" shots, sigh.....  They were more "traditional" standing by their Governor though.  Alexandria is a kick to be with.  She's like a sponge the way she soaks up her experiences.  Rarely is she upset with her circumstances.  Almost always happily just observing and sometimes mimicking what she sees.  Lynn and Rick have taught her some rudimentary American sign language words, and that seems to make everybody's life easier.  Unless, of course, she uses it to tell us she'd like her bottle and then it gets frustrating for her because, of course, we don't know (or didn't) the sign for "bottle."

You may already know that President Reagan was a big fan of the Jelly Belly candies, and that sure didn't hurt the company.  All these portraits are made entirely of the little beans.

Ever the dutiful father, Rick looks thrilled with his new hat.  But it's worth the effort.  With a sample in each hand rattling away, Alexandria is a happy tourist.

She knew they were edible, but didn't put up a fuss when she couldn't get the boxes opened.  She just chewed on them.  And of course, Barb was with us and found some flowers.....with a bee doing it's thing besides!

The factory is well landscaped and fun to wander around in.  And when Lexi (as her parents call her) decided to crawl, there was no stopping her.  Good thing her parents are as young as they are!

Constantly exploring and enjoying her surroundings from any angle.  She and Barb got along great and spent a lot of time laughing at each other.  For no apparent reason that I could tell.

After the sad goodbyes, we were off to Death Valley.  It's a two-day trip for us from Lake Minden (north of Sacramento); we spent the night in Barstow.  It was raining the day we left (just like when we left WA) and it rained all the way into Barstow.  But as we left Barstow we left the rain behind at last.  And we discovered plenty of "rest stops" along the way, once we got off the freeway.  Mountains in every direction.

Sometimes in the desert the road looks like it's just a strip of asphalt laid over the ground where they pushed the bushes aside, but here it looks like they actually had to do some cut 'n fill.  Great road most the way too.  The Timbisha Shoshone are a Native American group that have some kind of claim on part of the park.

No, that's not snow over there.  We guessed (correctly, we later learned) that it was salt.  And here's water at the bottom of Death Valley!  Who'd have thunk it, eh?  Not us, that's for sure.  Our expectations sure were off base for this entire visit.  Of course, it was December, not July.

Never did find out the significance of "Mormon Point", but there it is.  If you know anything about it, e-mail us, OK?  Next stop was at the lowest place in the U.S., Badwater Basin.  Advertised at 282 feet below sea level.  The reason we say "advertised" is because the basin is sinking all the time, and our GPS said we were actually about 100 feet lower than that, but we were told that GPS systems don't measure depth accurately.  The rangers told us the latest measure puts it at 284 feet below sea level.  But of course, if global warming is a "real" thing and the ice caps keep melting, it'll be lower than that pretty quick.  Nothing in this old world we live on is static I guess.

The "sea level" sign is up there on the hillside.  Way up there (see that white dash).

Having read all that, we then learned that some 163 miles of paved road was being repaired and unavailable due to a rainstorm in August that washed it out!  Go figger.

We'll testify to the fact that in December 2004 no heat records were broken.  Almost every day was a jacket day.  Occasionally we were down to T-shirts, but usually not.  This boardwalk was built to protect the little lake (pond?  puddle?) that lives here.

Well, that's the lake/pond/puddle with the reflection of the railing around the parking lot and hill across the highway.  The snails that live in it are small for a reason.  A big snail would stick out of the water!  Out of respect for the environment I didn't taste the water to see how salty it was, but you can bet I was looking for a way to do that without violating the request of the park.

And there she goes.......hiking across the barren salt flats of Death Valley.  But she came back, thankfully.  We made a mental note to come back here without the motorhome and do some more poking around this interesting area.