Shoshone Village RV Park (by Asher)

It's called Shoshone RV Park, because there's only one RV park in Shoshone and the town has a grand total of 13 residents. The RV park has a little library and a hot spring fed pool.

On the way here, mom rode in the RV for the first time because we didn't have a car. The next day on Sunday, we climbed up the big hill behind the RV park after we watched church.

This is how close we were to the Death Valley NP boundary

I managed to get the whole town in one picture. RV park is across the street from the pool. The one-strip Shoshone Airport is parallel to the road in the top right of the picture. 

On Monday, a very nice guy gave us a ball nerf gun and a big 40-bullet nerf gun! We played with the guns in the parking lot next to our campsite a lot.

Then we went on a little nature trail called the Pools Trail. It had warm pools and Shoshone Pupfish, which only live in that one spring in the whole world. On the way back, we went by a small culvert where the water from the pools flowed through. There was minnows in it and I saw a frog!

On Thursday, We went to the Shoshone Visitor Center and museum. There were mammoth bones there.

Mammoth Footprint

On Friday, we packed up and drove the RV to Pahrump, NV to get a rental car and to get cheaper gas.

That night, Mom and Dad walked to town to go on a date at the Crowbar Café, the only restaurant in town, while Caleb, Jordan, and I watched a movie.

On Saturday, We went to Death Valley NP. The first thing we did was go to Badwater Basin, the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere at 282 feet below sea level.

This is how far below sea level we were

Up on the mountain the National Park Service put a sign that says, “Sea Level,” so you can actually see how far down you are. We walked out a little bit and played with the salt crusts.

We've heard that they're shaped like hexagons, but I don't really see it.

Then we drove on the Artist's Drive and stopped at the Painter’s Palate, where the rocks are different colors.

After we went to the visitor center, we had lunch really late (around 4:00) then dad got us ice cream!

It was a pretty pleasant day for being the hottest place in the world

We drove up to Dante's View. Even though Dante's View is 5,757' above Badwater Basin, it's only 2½ miles away. There was a really pretty sunset from Dante's View, but it was windy and cold.

On Sunday, we went to Ash Meadows National Wildlife refuge.

We hiked the Point of Rocks trail and saw blue pupfish in the Spring. The water there is very clear.

We went to Devil's hole, a part of Death Valley NP within the refuge. Devil's hole is a 500 foot deep pit filled with water. Looking at it from one side, it's about 400 feet wide underground at its widest, but only about 5-10 feet wide from the other side.

Devil's Hole

At the end of a short trail starting from Devil's hole is another entrance to it. Dad called it," the Devil's Nostril."

"Devil's Nostril" (Although I think it looks more like an ear)

Then we drove to the visitor center to have lunch. They had nice bathrooms as far National Parks and Wildlife Refuges go. The visitor center also had nice exhibits which, for once, were actually open. We did our junior ranger books on the Crystal Spring Boardwalk behind the visitor center. As the name suggests, the pool is crystal clear.

After getting our badges, we drove to the Rhyolite ghost town. The few ruins of buildings weren't that interesting, but there were some old mines in the hill. Dad, Caleb, and I scrambled up to look at them. They were closed off, but we could still see into them.

These two buildings were the most interesting

Then we went back to Death Valley. We stopped at Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes on the way to Stovepipe Wells Village and had sand wars.

The reason we were going to the Badwater Saloon at Stovepipe Wells was because we were told they had delicious chili cheese fries there. They didn't have fries there anymore, but they did have a delicious steak!

On the way back, we stopped at the sand dunes to see the sky, but it was too bright there, so we drove to the Salt Creek Trail parking lot. Even though it was only a mile out from the main road, it felt like there were twice as many stars there as there were at the sand dunes. I set our telescope up there and it was amazing. There were so many stars through the telescope. I think it's the best night sky I've ever seen! We got lucky with the weather. It wasn't cloudy and there wasn't a moon.

After a long drive back home, we went to bed at 11:00 pm.

The next day, we caught minnows with nets at the culvert.

On Wednesday, We went to the China Ranch Date Farm. The GPS on mom's phone wasn't working so I used a paper map to guide her. We were getting a little nervous when the road started to go down into a canyon and the road turned to dirt. However, we found the ranch at the end of the road and parked without incident. Their date shake tasted a lot like vanilla. They just put a little bit of date pieces in there so that they could call it "date flavored". While we were there, we hiked to a slot canyon. On the hike, we had to cross stepping stones over the Amargosa River. If the river wasn't in the desert, it would be considered a stream. The slot canyon was neat. It was flat on the bottom except for a ledge about 4 feet high that we had to climb onto. About 2/3 of the way through, rocks had fallen and had blocked the way. I was able to climb about half way up and could see the other side. Before we left, I went around to the other end of the slot canyon to see it better.

After hiking in the desert, I can relate to the people in stories who find any little shade the can. The heat wasn't sweltering, but being directly under the sun just drains you.

On Thursday, when we were doing school by the culvert, we caught minnows and a frog!

That night, we all went to the hot spring fed pool. I was able to swim under dad's legs without touching him while he was sitting on the bottom step.

On Friday, we drove the RV and the rental car to Pahrump so that we could return the car. While we were there, we went to Walmart and a Library! We rode in the RV back to Shoshone.

Then, on the day we left, we've been in the RV a whole year!