A beautiful way to wake up and enter into my next decade of life!
Today was a little warmer out, and simply beautiful!
First stop was Natural Bridge. A short hike up a pretty steep hill to view the natural 50-foot bridge.
Looking back down towards the bottom:
Under the bridge:
Heading back down:
Back on the road…
Our exercise for the day was hiking Golden Canyon. A road was created into the canyon years ago. However, a storm in 1976 dumped 2.3 inches of rain into the canyon and pretty much washed the road away. The natural path is a more beautiful hike. The red rock formation in the background of the first photo below is Red Cathedral. There are a couple of path options, and we took one of the shorter ones, up to the base of Red Cathedral. It was about a two-mile hike round trip.
The rock formations were beautiful!
Below, looking into the valley at the road and a couple of bicyclists.
The highlight of the day was, hands down, Dante’s View. Located directly above Badwater Basin, the view was breathtaking! And because of the elevation, it is much cooler than the valley floor.
In the lower left part of the photo below you will see the area we walked out to the day before. You can see that post here. I had no idea there was so much space beyond the area we walked. It was a very long walk out along the path. It is amazing how the perception changes as our physical location changes. The path out to the salt flats is somewhere around a mile out, depending on how far you walk.
Below is a closer look. You may be able to see the small specks of people walking out along the path.
Looking closer, below. Do you see them now?
In the photo below you can see there is a path up higher for an even better view. It was very windy and we chose not to experience that adventure. But when I look at this photo, it looks so easy! Quite frankly, it was somewhat unnerving looking down from so high.
The road back down:
Back at the hotel I took one last walk in the gardens before dinner. ❤️🌴
Dinner was lovely. The hotel had a beautiful restaurant on the top floor. It had that old historic feel, but still casual.
Dinner was delicious, but my favorites were the crab cakes appetizer, the caprese salad and the date bread! My desert was date cake, so it’s on the top of the list too. The server sent me away with a couple of extra slices of date bread, bless her heart!
Sadly, my indoor photos with my cell phone and pocket camera didn’t come out too well, but the memories did!
“Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears.”
~ John Lennon
“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.”
~ Abraham Lincoln
“How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?”
~ Satchel Paige
peace of life today 
A very barren but beautiful landscape Lisa, and a lovely dinner pic of you both having a lovely time.
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It was wonderful! Thank you! 😊
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You visited an amazing landscape. Happy new decade! 😉👍🪻🌼🌸🌻🌷
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Thank you so much!! So far so good! 😊
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What an amazing scenery, great photos, especially the the last one❣️ A Lovely post Lisa!
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Awww, thank you Anita!! 😊🥰
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A belated happy birthday to you! (Sorry, I’ve been away walking myself). It looks like you had (maybe still having) a fabulous time. And I love those quotes. I just sent them to my friends, one of whom is 60 next month!
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Thank you so much! I am home now but reliving the experience as I write my posts! I’m glad you like the quotes. I like how they help communicate a feeling or attitude! 😊
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Happy belated birthday and welcome to the sixties club! I can’t get over the contrast between those lush hotel gardens and the barren, but beautiful, landscapes all around 😮
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Thank you, Sarah! And it is so amazing that it is nature fed by natural springs! I will never forget this birthday! (I hope 😊)
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Beautiful photos. Happy Birthday! 🙂
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Thank you so much! It was such an amazing place!
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Beautiful! Happy birthday, Lisa! 🥳
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Thank you, Jeff!!!
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Those are great quotes! And such a beautiful garden at the hotel.
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You would love walking through that garden!! 😊🌴🌴🌴
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Happy Birthday! The rock formations were beautiful. Great quotes as well!
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Thank you, Nancy! The rocks were amazing!
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Happy Birthday!!!!
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Thank you, Shelley!!
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You’re welcome!
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Happy belated birthday!!
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Thank you, Nora!
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You’ll have many wonderful memories of this birthday. Not many of us can say we celebrated our birthday in Death Valley!
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Yes I do! Not everyone agrees, but I think it’s kind of cool! 😊
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Amazing images. Nature is a great creator of wonders. Cheers.
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Thank you, and I agree!! 😊
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🌷🙏
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