Week-End in Death Valley

Thanks to thanksgiving day, I had a 4 day week-end. So I decided to profit of this big week-end to travel. Arnaud recommend me going to Death Valley with Green Tortoise. It is a cheap travel agency which offers different kinds of bus travel. The Death Valley trip lasted 3 days and 4 nights whose 2 nights in the bus.
We went on Thursday evening, Thanksgiving day. We slept in the bus after a quick introduction of everyone. We were 35 and I am still wondering how we managed to fit 35 laid down people in a bus. In the morning, we arrived in Death Valley at Zabriskie point. After a good breakfast and lunch preparation, we went to a hike through the Golden Canyon. It was amazing. Colors and shapes of mountains were so beautiful. It reminded me the North of Chile. It is so dry.

After an hour hike, we went to the Badwater basin. It is a salt desert. It is the lowest point in North America (86m below sea level). It is very cool, so white and empty.

After an hour in the middle of this salt desert, we went to the camping site where we had to set up for the diner. Every meals were made all together. they were usually quite simple but very good. After diner, we lighted a fire and just talked to learn each others. When we went to bed, I decided to sleep outside. Some had a tent and others slept in the bus. However, I really did not want to sleep in the bus. It was quite cold and windy but luckily I borrowed a very good sleeping bag to my roommate so I slept very well. When I woke up in the morning, I was totally white because of the sand.

On Saturday, we started by a short stop at the Scotty's castle. I really don't know why we went there. After we went to the Ubehebe Crater. It is a huge crater caused by the pressure of steam. We went down in the crater. It was very cool.

After, we went to the Sand dunes. It was amazing. It is like a desert in the middle of the desert. We laid down on the dunes and just took a sun bath. It was so good. It felt like the beach without the sea. After we went back to the camping.

After diner, people started to tell joke. I did not understand all of them but it was quite fun. After, a couple of the group gave a blues dancing lesson. It was not very easy because we had not good music and not so much room around the fire but it was fun. For the second and last night in the Death Valley, I slept again outside. It was so nice. The were much less wind than the day before. Furthermore, nobody else wanted to sleep outside again because of their bad experience of the last night so I was undisturbed.

On Sunday, we went to Mosaic Canyon. It is a narrow canyon. It was very beautiful.we just walked into the canyon and made a stop for lunch.

After we drove a long time to the Hot Springs. It was not exactly what I expected. It was like a swimming pool but the water was hotter. There was also a small pool with very hot water but I did not like it so much. It was so good. Most people had not taken shower since we left San Francisco. We played some games in the water. It was very fun. After the bath, everybody was KO. We had a very good last diner and tidy the bus before we went back to San Francisco. On the way back, the driver had the good idea to make a stop in the middle of nowhere to see some Joshua trees. This is some kind of mix between a tree and a cactus. Of course, is was night, so not easy to see them. However, there were beautiful light effects on the cliffs around with the moon.

After a bustling trip ( I did not notice anything but the driver told us that the bus did not want to start again after a stop at the gas station), we finally arrived at San Francisco on Monday Morning, tired, but pleased with our trip. The return to work was a bit hard but it really worth ed it.

Week-End at Lac Tahoe

On middle of October, Arnaud invited me to a week-end in lac Tahoe in his friend's log cabin. We went on Friday evening after work and arrived at about midnight. The house was big. There were everything we needed, even a Jacuzzi. We were 10 in the house and everyone were very nice.
On Saturday morning, since everyone were not so motivated, we went, Arnaud, Guillaume (Arnaud's french friend) and I, for a bike ride in the forest around the house. It was great except the trail we took was not made for bike and many times we had to carry our bikes.

After this short ride ( a bit tiring though ), we had a lunch and went all together to a hike. We went to small lake, and while some just walked around this lake, we went, Arnaud, Guillaume, Cyril (another Arnaud's french friend) and I to the top of a mount near the lake. After an hour hiking, we arrived at the top and saw this amazing view on the lake Tahoe. We stayed there half an hour to take lots of pictures and then go back to the car (the others had not waited for us).

On the evening, after a good Jacuzzi, we had a great diner with "foie gras" and "saucisson". After some tarot games, we went to the Casino to play cards or go dancing in the club (of course I went dancing).

The day after, Arnaud, Guillaume, and I went to a big bike ride on the Flume trail. It is a famous bike rail with amazing views of the lake. Of course the normal way is to start at the top, go down, and take the shuttle to go back. But "we" preferred take the hard way and started form the bottom of the trail. The rise was very hard for me. I had even been overtaken by a girl who was walking her dog. But when we arrived at the top, the rest of the trail ride was amazing. The trail goes along the cliff with amazing views of the lake Tahoe. After a 4 hour bike ride and a lot of taken pictures, we went back directly to California, a bit tired but very happy of our week-end.