Weather shock

We went from nearly 85 F last weekend and Monday (mid 90s in Death Valley) to about 55 F today. This is due mostly to the wind in the 20-35 mph range. The good part is it also brought some more rain :)

Darwin Falls Hike

This will pretty much have me caught up on here. Last weekend I went with a group of ESDPs to Death Valley to go to the sand dunes and to Darwin Falls. The Dunes were our first stop with the intent of sledding down them on boxes and other things. Some of us stopped a little ways into the dunes to try out the idea: And the others kept going, out to the largest dune to try their luck there:In the end, the plastic snow sled was to narrow to ride on top of the sand, but a large box was able to slide pretty well.



The girl in the videos is generally the planner/organizer of events like these, and is usually a clown like this.

After we were done at the dunes we ran back over to the store/campground that is a few miles away for some cold snacks and from there we headed to the falls. To get there we had to drive on a rough dirt road for ~1 mile and hike another 1.5 up a wash and into a canyon.Looking up

The lower falls
Looking down at the lower falls on the climb to the upper falls. Gives an idea of the height that you need to climb to.
The upper falls

The climb to the upper falls is not for those who have a fear of heights, since you are on a fairly narrow trail looking down into the canyon most the way. Not to mention, you have to make a climb up and down on either end of the trail.

Wildflower Hike

On April 9th we went on a wildflower hike with people from work. I've been waiting to see it like I see the pictures on-line, but no luck yet. Anyway, here are some of the pictures:

Paint Brushes - I remember the NM ones being more a bright orangeA slightly out of focus Poppy
Yellow Flowers
Purple Flowers
Taller Purple Flowers
Thistle

Vegas!

On Easter weekend we went to Vegas with some friends. The initial reason for going was to do some birthday celebrations with one of our friends - the results of that were a mediocre sushi buffet, going to see Phantom, and dinner at the Strip Burger. The other things we did were gambling (obviously), eating a lot - again at Strip Burger, Bahama Breeze, Krispy Kreme, and others I can't remember. We also did a lot of walking to any of the casinos that we missed the last time we were there, we never moved the car until we left.

The Eiffel Tower, came out pretty good for not even looking at the camera when I took it.

RCX II

In late March we went to RCX, like last year. And we got Angela another helo...a much much better one that actually hovers controllably. Hopefully that will keep me from flying this one into the sink. It also has two bright LEDs facing forward with a blinking one on the tail rotor. The time machine was also there.

Disney Land

Two weeks after skiing we went and met the parents in Disney Land. We got 2 day park hoppers and went back forth between the parks. It was great to have family in town for my b-day.