Camping in Death Valley

This weekend i went camping with some of my favorite peeps to BLM- Bureau of Land Management just a hop outside of Death Valley, CA. Arrival somewhere in the neighborhood of 11:30 pm Friday night.. Long drive although naturally my inability to stay awake on long trips I slept most of it. Driver: Grandpa Boots aka Whit. One of the coolest men I know. So I wake up in a little town called Darwin- will insert pics into a different blog at a later date.. no seriously i will. Anyways Darwin population about 50.. yeah not much to look at but home to others... grr don't think i could live out there. Too small town. Finally reach our destination. Quaint little oasis with a fun little gold fish pond (pond is actually a tourist attraction-- will find out later. So it's late, we're tired, but we still have to set up camp. The boys aren't much help but they are fun... Oh I forgot.. Campers: Whit( survivor man in the flesh) Armando(our favorite chamaco) Amy( survivor woman) me( eager little camper) and the boys..err dogs to those of you who don't know them personally Sam, Max and Aussie. So here we are. Ready to go.
Setting up camp. Conditions: Wind gust of about 30-40, Temp 40 degrees, Altitude: mountain level ish So we manage to get the fire going, set up for the night and then turn in.
Restless first night. Whit has to sleep with the boys in the cab of his truck.
Amy and I are braving the concrete slab with a nice tent overhead as we curl down deep into our sleeping bags and poor mr. armando lying on a cot with a tarp whipping overhead.
Good morning Saturday... Ah breakfast camping style... lots of meat and eggs and butter. I can get used to this. Oh here's the bit about the infamous goldfish.. they seem to draw a crowd( this particular Saturday morning in the midst of our relaxing breakfast--- a caravan of 15 jeeps) because well think of it.. they are living out in death valley not the most temperature balanced place in the california.. extreme heat and at times extreme cold. So just on a personal note. i was able to only keep a guppy(Sawyer) alive for 6 wks until he died... but somehow these goldfish have survived for years up here and are continuing to breed. again pics will come later...
Meanwhile it's saturday and we go off on a hike to a local waterfall. Quite nice. Grandpa boots stays back with the dogs while Amy, Armando and I press on. It was a rewarding little hike with a nice treat at the end. Oh and a random duck enjoying a swim at the base of the waterfall.
Back to Whit and now for the fun educational portion of our trip( this was actually a treat learning about the area and the Zinc mines and visiting the various locations where miners lived and worked... way fun. So we drive around more( kind of want a 4WD now.. maybe in the future. ) and then back to camp to start cooking up our dinner. Dinner under the beautiful vastness of dark starlit sky... Fire burning to keep us warm and a candlelight meal camping style. God is Good. I'm just amazed at how throughout this trip I was in awe of God and the creativity of his mind in creating such beauty for even us to enjoy (though ultimately it is his to enjoy and glorifies him infinitely..) Whit would constantly ask us about the rock formations and how the men who worked there could build or have the knowledge to mine in the area.. and the answer is always God.. God created this world the way he wanted and graciously allowed us the ability to create on it...
to be continued... must eat and pray with the guys.