Saturday - We drove to Beatty,
stopping to notice the early bloom just south of Hoover Dam.
Sunday - We stopped for a short,
cold, windy visit in the ghost town of Rhyolite
just down the road from Beatty. Then as we entered The Valley we noticed wind
blowing off the sand dunes.
We also noticed that the alluvial fans were covered in small green plants; soon
to be wildflower blooms.
We drove up the alluvial fan to the
mouth of Titus Canyon and began our first hike - about 5.5 miles round trip.
The road in the canyon has been closed for months due to heavy flash floods,
but the canyon was as beautiful as ever. 
Then
we settled in to our cozy rooms at Stovepipe
Wells.
Monday - We stopped at the
visitor center and then made our way to Badwater, the lowest point in the
western hemisphere; 282 feet below sea level.
A short drive north took us to the
trail head for a cross-country hike to Artist's Palette. 
Artist's
Drive has also been closed for months, so the only access is on foot. We were
the only ones there which made for a quiet, peaceful experience. Part of the
5.2 mile hike was on the remnants of the road. Chuck explored side canyons in
search of GOLD. After lunch we hiked back and made a short visit to the Borax
Museum at Furnace Creek.
Tuesday - We headed north to visit Scotty's
Castle. 
After
a great tour, we drove a short distance to Ubehebe Crater. While Dave P. went
into the belly of the beast and power-walked back up, others took a walk
around the rim.
Later that day, we hiked out to the sand dunes for a somewhat gritty hors d'oeuvre party. The wind was blowing pretty good, but the dunes were as gorgeous as ever.
Wednesday - After a quick stop at Harmony
Borax Works we headed down
the Devil's Golf Course road which had just opened after more than a month of
closure due to flooding. We picked our way across the salt pinnacles in search
of salt flats and pools, but there was still a lot of water there. The
highlight was seeing the normally dry Amargosa River flowing freely. There
were also very fine, thread-like formations of salt and Dave P. even claims to
have spotted a salt shark!
Then we parked at Golden Canyon and hiked a 4 mile
loop through Gower Gulch. Everyone swore that it was
more like 8 miles by the time we finished. The power of the flash flood that
had gone through was incredible, changing the canyons considerably.
On the way back to Stovepipe, we stopped at the Furnace Creek Inn for a quick tour.
Thursday - We left The Valley driving south on the Badwater Road and stopping for some great views and quite a few early flowers in bloom. We saw brown-eyed primrose, sand verbena, gravel-ghost and fields of desert gold.
Friday - After an overnight in Las Vegas, we took the Dam Tour at Hoover Dam before driving home under an Arizona Sunset.
The End