Spring 2024 - Death Valley-There really was a Lake where we usually see salt flats.

Sunset from our campsite. 

We noticed that a few people took their chairs up to the 

top of the surrounding hills to enjoy the sunset.

 We got a First Come First Serve campsite at Texas Springs Campground. This is a good find. While the camping setup is somewhat like a "parking lot" the surrounding hills are glorious and magical. Our neighbors were a couple of young men from France. 

  Off early the next morning to find Lake Manley. Every few years there is enough rain to create a lake in areas of Death Valley. This was the year. We added a day and rearranged our schedule to get a chance to see it. Totally worth the changes! Even if it had already dried up by the time we got there it was worth taking a chance.

Devil's Golf Course is still dry. We could still see snow in the far mountains.

Here we start to see the water of Lake Manley. 

The view from the Badwater parking lot. Most years we would be pretty excited to see this little bit of water and the beautiful reflections.

I'm always intrigued by the 

Things Left Behind.

This is as far as Watson gets to go so from here we take turns. Watson is very patient with us and enjoys the constant attention. His main job of these trips is to make people happy. So many are missing their 4-footed friends left at home and so many have memories of the yellow labs that they had loved.

Lake Manley!

Dean entertained himself and Watson while I was off exploring the lake. Now it is his turn (below, you can see his red shirt about the center of the photo). Dean reported that it was very salty. I did not taste it.

What a beautiful experience we had.

Now we are headed to one of our favorite places (there are so many of those), Red Rock Canyon National Monument.