Onward to Death Valley and Beatty, Nevada

On Monday, October 26 we decided to go to Death Valley. My husband tends to get a serious case of Wanderlust every other month. Other than a quick 4 day camping trip into the Olympic Peninsula in September, we hadn't traveled anywhere since July 15 when we returned home from our 3 plus month road trip. We hadn't even planned anything and this was driving him crazy. Now I say this with tongue in cheek and a bit of sarcasm. We really do know how lucky we are that we get to travel, but he seems to be ready to check off something from the bucket list at a rapid pace. I guess you never know how much time you have, so here we go again, on the road. We left for Death Valley National Park on Friday, October 30 after booking a few rooms along the way and 3 nights at Furnace Creek Ranch in Death Valley. A trip to the library before we left and we had a book on hiking in Death Valley, which was our prime objective. We left most of the camping gear behind, except a few things related to food. We had dinner guests Tuesday night, made dinner for in-laws on Thursday, so I am fairly certain I must have forgotten several things.

Our first day on the road took us to Klamath Falls. It rained and stormed most of the way but the fall colors were beautiful, especially across the mountains east of Eugene. We stayed next to a fun brew pub where we were able to get a good bite to eat and a nice double IPA made in house.

Up early and on to Reno. We stayed away from downtown by mistake which was unfortunate as we like the riverwalk there but still had a relatively nice quiet stay there with no gambling. We were amused by the Anime Convention which was attended mostly by teens and young 20 somethings all in great costumes. Not sure if the costumes were for the convention or for Halloween.

The mountains of Yosemite in the background

Up really early after getting an extra hour of sleep as we set the clocks back and headed toward Beatty, Nevada, an entry point for Death Valley on the Nevada side. We were pleasantly surprised for the welcoming atmosphere and lovely setting of this small town. The population is about 700 and we hit the last day of Beatty Days, the biggest weekend of the year here. We headed to the park to get some lunch and listened to the locals talk of all the town gossip. We really weren't trying but couldn't help it. We had ribs and chicken, greens and yams and ice cream. Yummy! So the town folks were talking of the Kardasians coming to Beatty for supposed future legal proceedings for Lamar Odom vs the brothel he was found unconscious in after a supposed drug overdose. One of town folks commented on how amazing it was that a visit to a brothel and drugs could help the marriage of Odom and Khloe Kardashian. Go figure. They said the Kardashians will be surprised to find out what Beatty really is, a really small town in the middle of no where. Oh brother, not expecting this kind of talk, especially not knowing anything about the subject matter. Jack and I looked at each other, wondering if this conversation could really be happening. We just wanted lunch. Then they talked about their good friend who had been a madam at another local brothel who had to quit because the old man who ran it died. More on this later. We did get some ideas from the Chamber of Commerce lady about things to do in the area. She told us about the wild burros who wander through town and in this park but were spooked by all the people this weekend.

Jack wanted to see the Seahawks game and we couldn't get into our room yet so we found the only place in town showing the game, the Sourdough Saloon. What an interesting adventure.

 We were welcomed there by a big smile from Jenna, who was running the place and had worked 42 hours in the last 3 days! Big boom of Beatty Days. We sat down and a man at the bar started talking to us, knowing we were visitors in town. It turned out he was the owner and he asked us what we were going to do around those parts. Once he found out we wanted to hike in Death Valley, he called Jenna over who proceeded to find us a National Park map and told us all of her favorite hikes. How nice is that? This was definitely the local hangout but also frequented by visitors from all over the 

 world.




 They have dollar bills all over the walls and ceilings, mostly US dollars but all sorts of foreign bills as well that people write their names on and staple to the walls or ceilings.




 Rick, the owner started telling stories about visitors from Europe returning to find their dollar they left and all the car people that come in when test driving the new and fancy BMW's and other cars in Death Valley. There is car paraphernalia amidst the money. Geologists, students and all sorts of travelers visit and apparently on weekends the locals come in to talk with all the visitors so the visitors will buy them drinks! We found everyone to be very friendly and welcoming. We decided to come back for pizza later tonight as it looked terrific.

We finally were able to get into our room, took a walk through town, relaxed a bit and then headed back to the Sourdough Saloon for pizza. Jenna was still there. She came and talked to us again. She originally was from Tennessee but had worked in Yellowstone, Death Valley and Alaska, in the National Parks food service. She had hiked all over and loved the parks and wilderness. Eventually she told us that recently she had been a madam in a brothel (not a working girl!) and it turns out she was the friend of the woman in the park. We just sat there, probably with dropped jaws, while she talked about the decline of the brothels due to the internet and how the working girls really don't profit much from their work. They need to get tested every week and get a new license every three months. We may have legalalized marijuana in Washington, but I have to say this was still rather shocking to us. Oh my goodness, the things you learn when you talk to the locals in a small town.