2016 – Shilpa's

He, She or Human?

Thirty 3rd graders on a field trip to Coyote Hills Regional Park, I was expecting hiking, tiredness with lots of giggles and laughter. Instead I came back in awe of the Ohlone Indians who understood, respected and explained the essence of womanhood so beautifully. A simple lesson learnt during the field trip gave birth to this blogpost. I look forward to your comments.

Let us go back into an era when urbanization was not a word, an era when we wandered and hunted for food, an era when we made our own houses, weaved our own baskets and lived harmoniously with The Earth. In this primitive era, the natives led a simple life governed by the simplistically complicated notion of the women being the Life Givers and men being the Life Takers. Yes, the men went hunting, not because the women were incapable but because their naive native minds could not understand how a woman that gives birth can take a life. So the task of taking lives, or hunting became a man’s job. It was their belief that nature has made us as we are to keep the balance. Fast forward to the modern 2016, we have lost the meaning of feminism. Feminism in the modern world questions the very essence of womanhood.

What is womanhood?
What makes us a woman? Is it our physical bodies that the media is so fixated upon? No of course not. We are more than the big breasts and curvy figures that characterize the beauty of womanhood by the world. We nurture and that is our identity. A woman brings order to chaos, a woman grounds the irrational and the woman anchors the astray. Modern feminism, says men and women are equal. Bar a few anatomical differences, women are identical to men and need identical treatment. In our fight for equality, we agree to become men. We give birth and yet we work hard to learn how to take life, in doing so , we tire ourselves and lose the very essence of our being.

Do we need to label ourselves?
If we believe in the simple fact that every human being, irrespective of gender, race, caste, color, creed, sexual orientation, preferences are all equal, then do we really need to label ourselves? Shouldn’t we all make a conscious effort and become Humanist? If we can do that, then the need to be a feminist goes away, right?

Feminism eludes the common woman.
2016 will go down in history as the year of learning and surprises. November 8th, 2016 the stage was set, the proverbial glass ceiling was about to be broken. We were so close and yet so far. What happened? How did 44% of the women vote for a demagogue who judged, ridiculed and mocked woman of every shape and color? How did this happen in an era where women are leaning in on each other for support and getting stronger? It happened because only the elite are leaning in. The average Jill has no one to lean on. She is the cleaner, the cook, the average day care teacher, the bus driver who gets paid hourly and does not see the might powerful woman helping her. How does one build a feminist movement that appeals to the underpaid and unappreciated?

Accepting the differences will help bridge the gap.
Modern feminism talks about reversing gender roles and ignoring the simple fact that men and women are made differently. We cry for different reasons, we laugh at different reasons, we eat differently, we analyze differently and we love differently. They why are we the women forcing every woman on this planet to believe that yes, there is no difference and if there are differences, it is only because we were raised to think so. Really? Nothing can be more illogical. When a dad refuses to change a diaper, we scorn. When a woman refuses to learn to cook so she can feed herself, we say it’s okay. She is allowed not to cook. Isn’t being able to feed oneself a more primal need than wanting to change a diaper? The sooner we accept that men and women are different, we have different styles that compliment each other, the need to scream “war” goes away.

A woman is her own worst enemy.
Most successful women will tell you stories about that one woman at work who created roadblocks for her. It was her male boss who helped her step over the roadblocks and onto the road to success. Yes, we are more judgmental of our own kind. If every successful woman in the corporate workforce willingly agrees to hold the hand of the “average Jill” and bring her at par, inequality would disappear. We need to stop screaming and actually start to lean in on each other. And I am not talking about leaning in on your own kind, but lean in on those who are not your peers. Lean in to those who don’t have a ladder.

I find myself to be a part of the group that is annoyed at the noise of feminism. Feminism is about promoting the dreams, aspirations and well being of a woman. Modern feminism today is an ideology of the elite, and I am struggling to identify with it. Do I want equality? YES! I DO.. I want equality for my daughter and the million of daughters in this world. I want equality because every human deserves the same opportunity. Do I think it is possible? Yes, it is but it’s an elephantine task. It’s going to need rewriting the history textbooks so they include the Suffragette movement, It is going to need rewriting the science textbooks, so they include Mary Anderson alongside Tesla.

Rewriting history is never a good idea, a better way albeit expensive, would be to abolish the old textbooks and give the kids new books. New books that echo the modern world and its philosophies.

New books that teach kids how to respect the “Human” being and not the woman or man.

The Recess is Over – The Blog Lives

Those who know me, know that I like to reflect and reflect a lot. I strongly believe that we are a product of our own experiences and life gives us plenty of experiences. Life as perfect as it is, is very imperfect too. The imperfections are critical for change. When the imperfections go away, life will become stagnant, until then it is imperative that we enjoy life’s fallibility and learn from it. You don’t need an extra ordinary moment to learn. Our daily interaction with fellow humans, nature and ourselves is a learning experience every moment of the day.

45 years is a long time to be on this planet. I have always enjoyed adding a year to my age for it is a privilege denied to many. Today I am thankful that I woke up to see the love and blessings surrounding me. The past years have been rather interesting. They have tested my patience, my thinking and more importantly my belief in myself. I was one of those who lead a simple daily blessed life. No curve balls, no nothing.. life chugs along just fine, until one final year, life looks at you and says, “Ok, you have had too much good, it is time to throw in some bumps.” Try as hard as I did, I was beginning to lose until one final day, when the human core in me wakes up and says ‘Enough! Bring it on” and just like that, you turn on the will power switch and life backs off and I realized I am me and I am ok.

45 years old and sane on planet Earth. That is an achievement in itself 🙂

My top 5 lessons of 45 years on this planet:

1. Be Unfuckwithable: This is very important. You just have to be one, there is no other option.

2. Belive in Pronoia: It is true. There is power in belief. Believe and the universe will work with you.

3. Travel: In this daily mundane life, we (including me) almost always forget we the humans were designed to be wanderers. And here we are living a stagnant life behind a computer screen. Some of you might have read about my trip to Alaska what most of you don’t know is that this trip was a necessity to start breathing again. When life beats you down, the only way to get up is do something that you have never done before and Alaska was just that. A frontier unlike any other and staying true to it’s promise Alaska allowed me to breathe again. Travel because you want to see the wonderful natural creations, travel so you can be the pirate of your favorite childhood story book, travel so life does not escape you.

4. Relationships need more than love to survive: Love hurts, it’s true. Relationships need constant nurturing. Mother-child, husband-wife, brother-sister and any other relationship needs continuous nurturing. Relationships, ebb and flow through the ocean of life, creating their troughs and crests. The crest may be tall and high and yet we look at the trough and forget the crest. We need to train our brain to focus on the crests and ignore the troughs. The flow of life will minimize the trough.

5. YOU can make a difference: As alone as we are, we have the power to make a difference. I never thought I did, until recently. Our simple acts of kindness can become big acts of fortitude for another.

This blog has been my sanity for many occasions. To stay sane, I had promised myself that I will bring the blog back on my birthday, so here it is. The blog lives.

Life I believe is full of Imperfections. It is these little daily imperfections that culminate at the end of a day to make a perfectly beautiful life. That’s how my world is. It’s filled with shades of bright vibrant reds to melancholy yet calming blues.

How is your world?

Boys vs. Girls

I have both and they are poles apart. Besides their genetic DNA being the same,there is nothing common between the two. She loves fruit, He does not. He loves milk, She does not. He loves cheese, she does not. She loves yogurt, he does not. He loves sports, she loves reading and the list goes on.

Boys will be boys is ingrained in our adult heads. When the boys can’t sit or stay steady, we always tell them, try to focus, have patience, try it slowly, one step at a time and you will get it OR we simply laugh it off and say, it’s a typical boy style. Failing grades, lack of social skills, naughty behavior, it all gets justified under the phrase “boys will be boys.” If lack of focus is the typical boy style, then how does it not transfer to adult hood? What happens to these hyper boys when they become men. Why is it that the hyper boys who were lagging behind in schools suddenly start dominating the working world to a point that gender inequality becomes a hot political issue.

Makes me wonder is there such thing as “girls will be girls?” Yes, there is and sadly its scarier than the boy counterpart. I looked at my own self and how I “deal” with the differences. Unknowingly, like many parents, I too have been making a serious parenting error. After I read the New York Times article by Dr. Heidi Grant Halvorson, I was angry at myself for making such a blatant error in parenting. Through our parenting difference, we let the boys know its okay, just focus and you will do better next time. However for our self controlled girls who can follow directions and listen attentively in class, we compliment them on their good behavior and in turn they start associating focus, discipline, perfection with “being good.” This playing it safe and follow the rules translates into highly capable women playing it safe at careers too. We think about consequences of events that have not even occurred and find a safe strategy so that if the worst happens we can “deal” with it. The problem is not boy or girl personality differences, the problem is how we approach those differences.

The grit that boys develop under the freedom of “boys will be boys” umbrella allows them the freedom to speak up for themselves and thus the phrase “it’s a male dominated environment.” The problem is not who is smarter. Research has proven that smart girls and smart boys are not different. The difference is in how they react to a problem. Boys just take it head on in their “boys will be boys” style, girls on the other hand try to find the safe path and thus often feel more frustrated because intellectually they know it’s not the best solution.

What happens to those boys and girls who are exceptions to the rule? Smart girls who dare to be different and would rather shoot a basketball than flaunt a skirt, sometimes have it the worst. Their intellect demands perfection and yet their boyishness creates the need to push the limits. The combination is a less than perfect result which can be very frustrating for the perfect smart girl. But just like the typical boy, the girls here develop grit and learn to fight. It is these girls and later career woman that dare to speak up in a conference room full of men. Smart Boys who tend to follow the rules and play it safe have a hard time too for they get categorized as nerdy and boring. They lack the social interaction and can succumb to the peer pressures of the need of academic excellence as their safe heaven.

Fast forward to teenage and this becomes a bigger problem. A typical “Boys will be boys” umbrella expands to include failing grades and detentions. This umbrella though has failing grades is not judged as harshly, because they are boys and now they are discovering their manhood. The typical “Girls vs. Girls” umbrella expands to include inferiority complexes and an a sense of pseudo narcism. This umbrella is judged harshly. Questions such as what happened to her, why is she developing this sense of self comparison, why is she following and more start creeping into a typical parent conversation.

Both the umbrellas are equally challenging and the solutions are not easy for either. At this point, the parents need to step in with nerves of steel and an unshakeable faith in the child and their upbringing. You cannot convince a boy that the secret to success is good grades and similarly you cannot convince a girl to not pay attention to her physical appearance. The “need” for females to be beautiful maybe superficial but It’s an unsaid expectation of the world. Let us just accept it and stop fighting it. Accepting this need will open doors of communication. Instead of fighting the skirts and crop tops, let them wear it. A few days in the school being dainty will bring in the realization “beauty can be tiresome too.” 13 year old boys consider “shaving” as the all act of manliness. You can try explaining the scientific reason of not starting early, but that “need to shave” to prove a point will only get stronger – so let them shave. They do it for a few times and wish they had listened better.
Personally for me, the parenting curve has been a very steep one. There was a time when I saw my style as a complete failure. To help bring myself back on the right track, I decided to look into the past. Yes, past that is often forgotten can sometimes have amazing insights.

I realized that the attitudes of the teens are nothing more than the tantrums of a toddler.

It’s important to recognize that all the teenage attitude is just a blown up form of toddler tantrums. When they were 3 years old and threw a tantrum in Target. We did not get angry, we patiently talked to them and helped them calm down. Fast forward 10 years, tantrums become attitudes and as parents we have no patience and expect them to behave like adults. They are not adults, they are 13 years old. They still need our help, they still need the rules and they are going to try and push hard to break them, just like the 3 year old who cries hardest hoping mommy and daddy will get tired of the crying and buy the new toy, but mommy and daddy were patient then. They need to be patient now too. The smart phone is like the pacifier, don’t snatch it away. Be patient and they will eventually learn to put it away.

As parents we need to start talking to each other more. We shy away thinking our kids will be judged. Why didn’t we feel so when our babies were toddlers? Why was it okay to share their tantrums then and not now? Remember the parent club that helped you get past the turbo two’s without losing sanity, reconnect with the group. You might be surprised to see how desperate every parent is to talk to another.

Genetics defines our physical appearance and nothing more. Behavior traits are our own. As parents we need to realize that every trait can be improved upon with patience and love.

Hold on to the parenting rope. The tug of war will continue but if as parents unite to understand their needs and differences, chances are we will be able to draw on this tug of war.

Love Your Girl Friends.

Born as yourself, you became a daughter, a sister, a girlfriend, a wife and a mother. You are no longer yourself. You are now a woman. Woman, you are always evolving. You think you are lost, because the evolution keeps changing you. True, you are. There are days, when you miss yourself. Days when you don’t know what your favorite food or color is, because you as pure as the first winter snow have absorbed and taken it all in. They say, evolution is the way of life. Nothing can stop it and yet you want it to stop so you can discover yourself again. But why? Why do you want to discover yourself again? Why not discover this new evolved being? Evolution is not bad, for it gives you a chance to improve again and yet again. You are not stagnant. You are alive for you change every day. You bend, twist and conform to the mold and yet you are supple enough to spring out of the mold when you no longer deemed it fit.

Woman, you love unconditionally. You tore to come into this world. The world applauds you for you are the cradle of civilization. Without you there would be no world and yet, the same world ridicules your decision to feed and not climb the ladder of ambition. You continue to love, ask no questions and love more. You love the parents who held your hand and taught you to stand tall, you love your sister for she is your confidante, you love your brother for he protects you always and you love your friends for they share your tears and smiles alike. You then found a man and you felt complete. You are faithful. Temptation is not your weakness. You are honest and loyal. You fight for your world and make him the king of your little kingdom. You continue to walk hand in hand and you tore yet again to bring life into this world. The world kept evolving and so did you.

Today, as you watch the world go by: Woman, you yearn. You yearn for your friends. You miss the mud puddles, the lunch boxes, the pillion rides, the secret diaries, the hushed whispers, the coy smiles, the side glances and yourself.

Yes, you miss yourself.

Woman, you are smart. “You know the loneliest woman is NOT the woman without a man, but the woman without a close woman friend.” You know you need your sister friends to laugh and cry. You know you need them to sustain. Why did you let them go? You realize that you made time for ambition while your friends waited. They could wait no loner and left you to enjoy the view from atop the ladder. You look down and you see no one. You have everything, and yet you feel you are missing. You take down the old chest and pull out the secret diary. You look at the pictures and the smiles, you pick up your phone and pray someone picks up the phone. The phone rings and you hear a voice. You smile. You are in love again; in love with yourself.

Today, you love your children more. Their questions don’t confuse you. Their needs don’t tire you. Today, you are filled with gratitude for a man who lets you be. He notices the smile and smiles back. Today, you realize you have your friends back in your life. Friends who listen to you for hours, friends who make time for you, friends who scream in joy for your success, friends who giggle at your silly anecdotes on life, friends who tell you it’s going to be okay. Today, the giggles, the smiles, whispers and the diary is back.

Today, you realize your girl friends make you better. They empower you. You promise yourself to never let your friends disappear again.

Happy Valentine’s Day to all my girls out there!

Death Valley National Park – It’s different.

2015, was a year of adventures; The Last Frontier, Alaska to the desolate Death Valley, we covered the spectrum of life to death.

This winter we took our annual driving trip to Sedona and Death Valley. Our route was SFO, CA – Sedona, AZ (with a night halt in Barstow) – Death Valley, CA – SFO, CA. This was long, but well worth it. Sedona, AZ is beautiful but Death Valley National Park took the award for this trip, so starting with the second half of the journey. Sedona will come later.

The drive to Death Valley National Park is boring, dry and full of desolation. It doesn’t matter which side of the country you enter the park from, it’s just miles and miles and miles of barren land. Nothing, absolutely nothing for miles, then suddenly a travel center and you breath a sigh of relief, refill the gas tank, make a bee line for the restroom, grab your coffee refill and then start driving again. Be careful as you drive into and exit out of Death Valley – Hwy, 190 is a well maintained highway that curves through mountains with 9% grade in certain parts. It has very little signs and no cellular service. Keep paper maps handy.

FullSizeRender — Death Valley National Park – A overview Map. This saved the day as were driving out of the park.

The drive maybe dry, but the story behind how Death Valley came to be is rather interesting. The Unusual Story of Death Valley centers on the Pacific Coast Borax Company and the 20-mule team. Back in the olden days, when Death Valley was a land untamed for man, some brave souls mined Borax and it was transported via mules. In fact as I heard in Death Valley (I love to talk to the locals – cashier at the general store, the rangers at the visitor center and so forth. Their stories are either their experiences or what their grandparents told them. Definitely more interesting than the internet.), the 20-mule team was a household name in those days. In fact the Borax Company also laid the foundation of Furnace Creek Inn. It wasn’t long before the good folks of Borax Company realized that the travellers were attracted to the desert for its raw beauty and the lore of the mule teams.

FullSizeRender_7 — The 20 Mule Team Barn at Furnace Creek Ranch – a treat in itself.

They say that “universe works in mysterious ways,” this couldn’t be truer for Death Valley, one event led to another and we fast forward to February 1933, when after years of waiting, Death Valley was officially crowned the Death Valley National Monument. In 1934, the National Congress gave it the park status. Today, Death Valley is 3.4 million acres of stark, powerful and impressive landscape that attracts over 1 million visitors annually for its clear starry nights, craters, sand dunes, fault lines and snow.

It took us 6.5 hours to drive from Sedona to Death Valley. We wanted to stop midway to see Hoover dam, but after seeing the 3 exit long line, we changed our plans, because we wanted to reach DV before sunset. DV takes pride in its night sky, so there are no lights whatsoever on the way to the park or inside the park roadways. It’s just you, your car headlights and maybe a car light in your rear view mirror. Word of advise, if you go to Death Valley National Park, please plan on reaching there before sunset. It’s not dangerous but the silence can be eerie in the still of a dark night.

After driving for miles with no one in sight, it was a relief to see this sign. Excitedly we took our turn and were very pleasantly surprised to find our resort way beyond our expectations. Xanterra is the company behind Furnace Creek . They have two properties, the absolutely beautiful Furnace Creek Inn that charges a little too much I think, but then the views from the location are stunning and you pay for that OR you can try the common man Furnace creek Ranch (where we stayed) for about $200 per night for the deluxe rooms. The rooms are nice, clean, come with the standard amenities and 2 queen beds, but the money is for the French doors that open into a patio and a common green grass area. It’s walking distance from the play area; pool, tennis courts and they have fire for those cold desert evenings. The Ranch has 3 restaurants on site and that’s a blessing after a long day of hiking and walking OR you can get creative and take little rice cooker with you. We were blessed to have friends who treated us to some delicious food every evening J the property also has a RV park and camping grounds for the more adventurous souls.

Furnace Creek Ranch – An excellent family friendly Oasis. Very nice rooms and the patio opening into the open grass area with fire pits was perfect.

This is the inside of the Furnace Creek Ranch – a mini oasis indeed.

Day 1 in Death Valley started with a visit to the Furnace Creek Visitors center. As a general rule, every time we visit a non-commercialized national park, the visitors center is a must stop. The rangers are extremely helpful and give good advise on the must see and do hikes.

We were there for 2 days and since we were sure we wanted to be back at sunset, the plan for us was:

Day 1:
Ubehebe Crater, Sand Dunes, Zabrinski Point,
Day 2:
Artist Drive, Badwater Salt Flats, Natural Bridge and Dante’s peak.

The bummer – no Scotty’s Castle and Golden Canyon hiking. They both were closed due to flash floods. Good news for you, Spring 2016, the dead lifeless rocks will come alive with an abundance of wildflowers. It’s going to be a riot of colors.

We started on our journey. Ubehebe crater is about an hour drive from Furnace Creek. It’s an easy no car in sight route J Just make sure to follow the signs and stay away from areas that are zoned out.

Ubehebe Crater:

The crater is 600ft deep and ½ a mile across. A maar crater, the steam and gas explosions created it as the hot magma heated and all the steam gushed out. The rim of the crater can be viewed from the parking lot and the view is absolutely breathtaking. More than anything, it is the empty vastness that boggles ones mind. You can hike the rim or go down 600ft and experience the solitude and magnitude of the crater. Walking down the crater is moderately easy. There is a marked trail, however loose gravel and gravity can cause a slip or two, so be careful. Walking back up is exhausting and can be tiring. Walking the rim is again moderately easy for the most part. There is loose gravel and a little climb, which makes it tricky. If you get tired, take breaks and walk at your own pace. Once you reach the Little Hebe crater, pause and just breathe. Sit down and soak in the calm and peace. It’s a circular 1.5-mile walk around the rim, so regardless of which direction you go; you will end up at the parking lot. The rim walk goes through many other smaller craters.

Part of our troop did the Little Hebe walk and part when 600 ft. down into the crater. Once both groups were back, we took our photos and headed to the Mesquite sand dunes.

FullSizeRender_1 — The Ubehebe Crater. PC: Ansh Verma

Mesquite Sand Dunes:

A desert is any place with less than 250mm of annual rainfall and you know there are cold deserts such as Antarctica and hot deserts like Death Valley. Regardless of the kind of desert, one look at the sand dunes, and I realized how tiny I was and even tinier was my footprint.

What is the first thing that comes to your mind, when you hear the phrase. “Walking on sand,” Beach, right? Of course, we always associate sand with beach, when there is so much more of it in the desert. I wonder why and then I started walking on the sand dunes and understood. When we walk on the beach, the sand is cool and sort of tickles our feet and the child in us comes alive. When we walk on the sand dunes, it isn’t the tall sand dunes that daunt us; it’s that tiny sand grain in our shoes that bothers us J

FullSizeRender_4 — A Pano of the Mesquite Sand Dunes PC: Ansh Verma

FullSizeRender_8 — The mountains in the far back change colors constantly as the sun sets. It was gorgeous.

FullSizeRender_5 — The Teens wandering off to the farthest corners and the rest of us scattered all over the dunes.

All of us did our little adventure here, the teens wandered off to the tallest and farthest sand dunes, the younger kids, tried to keep up and then decided to roll and play, and us adults, we walked as far as we could and then went on our photo rampage. Somewhere in between I realized it’s been an hour since the two teen boys left and haven’t come back. My continuous cribbing forced my husband and our friends to walk beyond and look for them. We found them and then of course I got the “over protective” mom look. In vain, I tried to explain the difference between an over protective and a cautious mom. All in all, it was a good day. We took some awesome pictures and headed to Zabrinski Point.

Zabrinskie Point: Is an overlook. Boring? It is quite the contrary. The elevated overlook, just a few miles east of Furnace Creek on Hwy 190, is a photographer’s paradise. Best viewed at sunrise or sunset, it makes for some stunning photographs and un-paralled views of the badlands. I’ll let the pictures do the talking here.

FullSizeRender_10 — The Sunset Sky at Zabrinskie Point

FullSizeRender_11 — .. And he walked alone to explore and make his own way.

FullSizeRender_12 — Birds of the same feather flock together. These are dead lifeless rocks and yet they are so alive. The colors were breathtaking.

FullSizeRender_17 — It took nature centuries to create this imperfectly perfect landscape. As the sunsets, the eerie nature of the rocks starts creeping in. PC: Sangeeta Srivastava

Back at the resort, our friends treated us to delicious biryani by the fire pit. As a special treat, we did some night sky watching too. So ended a perfectly perfect day.

FullSizeRender_16 — The Fire demanding respect.

FullSizeRender_14 — We saw him and more constellations. So much for all the progress we have made.. one has to go away, very far away to see stars.

Day 2: Artist Drive, Badwater Salt flats, Natural Bridge and Dante’s Peak.

Artist Drive: I was excited to see this. I had read some good and some okay reviews but either way, just the name intrigued me. It’s on the way to Badwater Salt Flats, and again, it’s just you and the desert. We were lucky to have friends with us, but if you go solo, it is you, your car and the desert. Don’t let that intimidate you. Learning to enjoy your own company is a life skill. The drive is an easy loop. It’s called Artist Drive because there are a variety of colors in the formations. The pictures are self-explanatory. The drive also makes an excellent stop for “sitting on the road” photos.

FullSizeRender_3 — Great drive to sit down in the middle of the road and soak it all in. There are a few cars around, so have someone watching out for you 🙂

Badwater Salt Flats: This is the lowest point in Death Valley. It is 86meters below sea level with miles and miles of table salt J Yes, it is mostly sodium chloride and as we were driving to it, I understood what the word “mirage” means. On a bright sunny day, it looks like a pool of water. Why go to Bohemia, when you can see them right here in the USA, though I have heard that the Bohemia Salt Flats are just WOW. Many couples choose it as the backdrop for their wedding photos. Backdrop or not, Death Valley Badwater Basin Salt Flats should be included in your “to see” list

Natural Bridge: On our way back, we took a short detour to Natural Bridge. It’s an unpaved road to the parking lot and then you hike for a mile to a that rock formation that looks like a bridge. It’s a short hike on gravel, relatively easy, but take water with you.

FullSizeRender_13 — We saw a flower blocking at the Natural Bridge parking lot. Survival of the fittest 🙂

By now, it was post lunch and we were hungry. We headed back to our resort only 20 mins away and had lunch. The kids decided to unwind, and found their way to the tennis courts at the resort. As the day was ending and our little one was “exhausted,” we chose to stay back and watch the 4 kids, while our friends made their way to Dante’s View.

Dante’s View: Directly above the Badwater Basin, it is the highest point in the park. At approx. 5,000 feet it has seen a fair share of snow this year and the local folks of Death Valley are looking forward to the flowers. The photos are courtesy our friends.

And so ended our two day stay in Death Valley.

Death Valley National Park, CA should definitely be one of your bucket list items. If the pictures above did not excite you enough, then maybe knowing that Star Wars IV – A New Hope was filmed in Death Valley, will intrigue you to go see it. Blogger Steve Hall shows you how and where. Still not convinced, here are 3 more facts so you can start planning your Death Valley vacation.

South of Alaska, it is the biggest national park.
Badwater Basin is the lowest point below sea level in North America and just 15 miles from it is Telescope Peak at 11,049 feet and the sheer drop makes Grand Canyon look shallow.
The area was named by a woman in 1849. This is another interesting story. One brave group of miners trying to reach CA, during the gold rush decided to take a short cut via Death Valley only to realize that there was no vegetation or water for either the animals or themselves. Slowly they perished and as the remaining were exiting the park, one woman looked back and said “Good Bye, Death Valley.” The name has since stayed.

Death Valley is beautiful and dangerous. Its enormity mocks the petite human and yet its is grandeur allures us to walk straight into its badlands. “The Force” was definitely with us and we made it safely back home, with a fleeting feeling that yes, we will be back.