Hey noodle what did you do today?

Well because I stayed up until 2 I slept in until about 9. I woke up and goobed off online, then saw my sister had sent a text. She'd been in a fender bender, where the guy behind her hadn't stopped in time and had sandwiched her into the car ahead. She was fine tho!

After getting ready I left and headed to Walmart for some groceries and a new phone charging cable that would let me transfer photos...But I grabbed the wrong type and it's a Crapple charger. Hecc!

After leaving the city of Parumph I headed to Death Valley, which was just 90 minutes or so away. I watched as the elevation signs ticked away, until one sign read “Sea Level” and the road dipped further into the Earth than that. I did get out and climb to a point that was about a quarter mile away and about 8 stories up...But the winds were hot and dry and everything was desolate. Gosh!

I got to a little village and called mum and dad, who were conferencing. After, I chatted with grandma! When I had finished I went out to take some photos of a couple things relevant to virtual caches, then saw the museum exhibits out back, which largely consisted of the old equipment they had used to mine borax. I also took a photo of this French couple posing in front of the train!

When I got back to my car and started pulling out someone had taken a photo of my license plate. I was weirded out. As I drove the 5 MPH street nearby, another guy did the same. WTF!? I was getting paranoid.

I went to the visitor center and saw some guys out front working on the thermometer, which was supposed to read 107 degrees but I snagged a pic while it was at 707. I went inside and saw the museum then went to the store and the guy working the cash register had to do my passport stamp (no idea why!), then I bought a souvenir necklace of a road runner and a little national park token. After that, with little else to do, I left! The park even advised against hiking after 10 AM. As I left I saw people taking photos of license plates in the lot, and I assumed they were 'collecting' states.

I felt a bit nervous leaving, as I remembered the story of the 4 dead Germans and how they wound up taking a bad road, getting stuck, getting lost, and dying...And google wasn't exactly keen on taking me down normal roads! Nevertheless I followed its instructions. At one point the sign advised against having the AC on for the next 26 miles in order to avoid overheated car. I think that was about the time I started getting Desert Panic.

You see, Death Valley is absurdly desolate in ways other deserts are not. In fact, most deserts are quite filled with live, but Death Valley was just rocks and sand. I was worried about my car...Would it give out? If so, could I survive?

Thankfully I didn't need to find out. The sand turned into scrublands and pockets of civilization appeared here and there. Vast acres of solar panels. Wind turbines. Gas pipelines. California is a state brimming with energy! While in a larger city I did miss my exit because they had that lane barricaded off like 2 miles in advance, but I managed to maneuver. Since I'd only eaten poptarts and apples and cookies and chips all day, I stopped at a Taco Bell about 45 minutes away from my destination and got a cheddar chalupa with 2 tacos and a steak quesadilla on the side. Also the straws were plastic! Yey!

It took them a long time to make my order, and by the time I got within 10 miles of Sequoia National Park, the roads once again got shitty and winding and nonsensical...Because of course they did. It said the campgrounds that were 4 and 7 miles away were full, but I decided to check anyway. Of course the roads were just as treacherous and shitty as you can imagine, and of course there wasn't a single flat parking spot at all. I got to the campground and, of course, no overflow parking or anything like that...And of course all the spots were reserved already.

I cussed my way back to the visitor center, where I used my geocaching app to find out that, holy crap, the visitor center has a load of parking behind it! I went back there and did a bit of goobing off on my phone, typed on my computer, and readied myself for bed. I wound up going to bed around 9:20 after chatting a with a frand that I was gonna meet up with, but she decided she was too shy. Dang!

I hope everyone has a Death Valley day! <333