Winter Break

When February comes around I'm ready for a break from our Ottawa winter. This year we took an Elderhostel program (now called Road Scholar)that started in Phoenix and ended up in Death Valley, Ca. We left to get away from the cold, but in fact, it never did get real warm in the two weeks we were in the south. Yes, warmer than here, but we always wore a fleece or jacket.

Our program took us from Phoenix to Yuma to Palm Springs to Death Valley. In Phoenix, our program commenced with a trip to the Heard Museum and the outdoor Desert Botanical garden, both were excellent. In Yuma we visited the famous Yuma Territorial Prison Historical Park and Museum, built in 1876; it was pretty tough on inmates in those early days. The highlight of our stay in the Palm Springs region was a ride in the Palm Springs Aerial Tram that took us up two and a half miles to a mountaintop with impressive views of area below. We also had an excursion to the Joshua Tree National Park. But the highlight of the trip was definitely Death Valley with its many mountains and a beautiful view point from Zabriskie Point. Other great sights were the Ubehebe Crater, Scotty's Castle, Badwater (salt sea), and the Stovepipe Wells Sand Dunes. It was a great surprise to me to find is so interesting and beautiful; I had imagined Death Valley as being bleak, flat, dry, and empty.
On the contrary there several hotels, and it is a busy place with lots of tourists.

In spite of the cool weather it was a lovely break.