Saturday March 9 2019

Today we drove from Elko down through the wilds of Nevada. The skies cleared but it was still cold, in the 30s. Beautiful road running south between the mountain  ranges. We crossed over one range on Rt 50 through Austin at an elevation of about 7500. Looks like they'd had a foot of snow overnight.

As we headed south the temperature rose a little bit, but still in the 40s. Obligatory stop at the Candy Store in Beatty then on down the hill into Death Valley. By the time we got there the temperature had risen to the upper 60s.

This was our first look at the new facilities that have been built at Furnace Creek Ranch. The restaurant/bar/store just opened Dec 1. Its very attractive, with the same southwestern architecture that they used up at the Inn across the way.

We have discovered that this place is incredibly expensive! And since you have to have reservations for the main dining room, and the "buffet" costs a ridiculous $30 per person, we were relegated to the snack bar for dinner.

We thought we had reserved a "cabin" but since they had some maintenance issues, we got upgraded to the main hotel...which was very cool!