In celebration of 15 married years and 19 years of togetherness, we went to the desert seeking wildflowers. With this year’s rains, they were calling it a hundred year show (as in hundred year flood). So, along with a zillion others who saw the story on the national news, we headed to Death Valley. Let me tell you … it’s a looong drive. About 12 hours, all told. But in the end, worth it. The flowers were beautiful, the landscape strange and diverse.

Camping in Death Valley is … well … not really my idea of camping. My heart sank with dismay as we crested the last hill before Furnace Creek and looked down at the 1800 RVs parked in the “campground” that we would call home for a couple of days. By morning I had adjusted my head to this new reality and begun to enjoy it. Call it an RV rally instead of camping, and the scene starts to shift. We “camped” on the edge of the parking lot so that our back door overlooked the desert valley floor. And of course, the dump station. Kicking back on our proverbial porch, sipping coffee and watching the parade of RVers dump their rigs, proved to be quite entertaining. People were friendly, looking for any reason to strike up a conversation … the dog, our 4 Wheel camper, the stickers on the back door. Whatever. It was a chatty bunch. And helpful. Full-timers helping first-timers … it served to remind me that “community” means many things and can be found almost anywhere.

The weather was fickle. 75 degrees and sunny to a sand-blasting wind storm to drizzly mist that coated the desert wildflowers with water droplets. Our timing was lucky. We explored the Devil’s Golf Course and Golden Canyon while it was nice, got back to “camp” as the storm started, and then joined the masses in the Visitor Center while the wind raged. Other 4 Wheel Pop-Up owners reassured us that our top wouldn’t blow off in the high winds (again, the value of community) so we spent the evening eating, drinking, reading and relaxing, snug in our camper. Cozy.

Morning brought gray skies and we headed to the dunes. Once again we broke the law and took Noche into the back country. Once again we got away with it. What a landscape! Seemingly barren and vast but on closer inspection, teeming with life. Even a mushroom growing out of the sand … I bet they don’t show up every year! Then on out through the western part of the park where the wildflowers were less concentrated and more diverse. The scenery changed with every mile and the rains found us. We headed out of the desert to camp along the Kern River for a night before heading home. But that’s another story. Stay tuned …