My friend Jae is in town, visiting from New York, and yesterday for
some reason we decided to drive to Death Valley, which is about three
hours away. It was like a journey to another country.
We headed straight for Badwater Basin, the lowest point in the Western
Hemisphere — 282 feet below sea level. It was amazing to think
we'd sunk so low.
There was a broad pathway from the parking area whose surface was
packed salt. As you walked out into the valley on this pathway
you could see other figures walking far in the distance. It made
you feel like a pilgrim on some supernatural highway leading to the end
of the world.
The good news was that the only way we could go from Badwater Basin was up.
I love western USA, and I grew up in Minnesota. But since I have spent all of my adult life in Germany, these pictures have a special meaning for me. I have visited Death Valley many times, several times on trips with my family as a child (originally in a 39 Plymouth with backwards-opening rear doors, and without air conditioning but with a “car cooler’ in the right front window), and since then whenever I can save enough money.
An interesting anecdote: A professional television wrestler called the “Undertaker” used to claim that his home was in Badwater; he did this simply because being “bad” is part of a wrestler’s act. My stepson believed that it was true, and at some point we took him on a trip to the USA and included a loop “out west” in the incomparable American West (I have camped in a tent in every (status 1980) National Park and visited all of the original 48 states via car and tent camping trips). We also took him to Badwater so that he could see if he could find the Undertaker’s home. We took lots of pictures, some of which are similar to yours here, and had a great time. We were never fortunate enough to be there when the Opera House was open.
I was shocked on my last trip to see that the Armagosa rest stop was closed and boarded up. That wonderful place was always one of our favorite stops.
Time goes on, things change. Sometimes it’s unfortunate.