Location: Delight's Hot Spring Resort, Tecopa, CA
in the United States at 285 feet below sea level at Badwater, Death Valley. Okay, that was a trick, but it seemed appropriate on Halloween. The temperature last night was no where near the night below, but closer to 45. Needless to say it felt a heck of a lot better getting up and at 'em this morning. We didn't have to walk very far, perhaps 50 feet to take advantage of Keough's finest...a rather run down soaking and swimming pool. We've stayed here a couple of times before so we knew what we were getting into, literally. Nevertheless it still felt great to get a good 45 minute soak before heading off for the day. I took a great photo of Ned sitting in front of the old bath house looking like a man of leisure. What a crack-up! We took our time continuing down 395 stopping for mochas and to visit the Beverly and Jim Rogers Film Museum in Lone Pine - fun, kitschy place. Eventually we veered left and headed for the bowels of Death Valley. The highlight of the day was having a late lunch in Stove Pipe. What a fiasco, kinda like a Lucy Show episode. There were 4 couples in the dining room and one waiter. He was absolutely clueless!! After taking all of our orders he proceeded to bring each table the wrong lunch. To make matters worse he started grabbing plates off each table and switching them to try and make the orders right. At one point we all threw our hands up in the air, to indicate we hadn't actually taken a bite out of someone else's lunch and then everyone started laughing. One woman even started videotaping the "great lunch swap caper". The poor guy even managed to screw up our check which was par for the course.
Since we've explored Death Valley before we decided to drive past Furnace Creek and take the long Southern route through the valley. It was interesting to see Death Valley from the floor looking up, rather than viewing it from the overlooks. It was even better to experience it at 90 degrees rather than the triple digits!
Tonight's spa adventure is at "Delight Hot Springs Resort." It's located in Tecopa, a funky small desert town. There are 4 private baths to which we have unlimited access. They are decorated Greco-Roman style, freshly painted and in pristine condition. Th.at said, the RV park is just that...a place to park your RV...in the desert, with no water available. Because it's Halloween, and it's in the middle of the desert on a Wed night we have the place to ourselves. We've already taken a dip in each and every bath, cuz we could. We are now sitting outside in our bathrobes enjoying the pleasant desert night time air, with some wine and crackers. We are looking forward to a possible midnight soak and then another one before we leave. The good news is "taking the cure" as definitely cured my cold. Let's hope it does wonders for Ned's achey joints.
