yeah, more of what he said:: So today I went to Death Valley. I’m currently on my first trip ever to Las Vegas, also first time to a real desert, and of course first time to Death Valley. I’m staying with some friends for the weekend, although I am here for work next week. I grew up with one of the friends I’m staying with in Homer, Alaska. Another childhood friend is living the #vanlife these days, and she decided to drive down from Utah and meet us as well. We did a 6+ mile hike in Death Valley. The valley is wild. Death is an appropriate name not just for the heat. Nearly nothing lives, it is a barren landscape full of geological interest. The air is alive (well, more like dead) with various chemicals from the rocks. Borax and other caustic chemical salts crystallize on the sand. The sand itself is a fine powder made of gypsum and other minerals. At points the ground is almost spongy from how fine the particulates are. These chemicals like Borax are thrown through the air by the high, dry winds that whip through the various mountain valleys that we hiked through. Even though it is only March, the sun was high and the air was dry. I’m sitting in bed in Las Vegas now, and my throat is still sore and dry, as if the chemicals in the dry air burned off the top layer of skin on my mucous membranes. The valley truly deserves the moniker~death~, as it is a land hostile to life in almost every way. Even so, there were the occasional purple and yellow flower, red ant, or brown lizards to be seen darting around the red and green and white rocks. --ar 5:3