Pre-Christmas trip

I just returned from a quick pre-Christmas trip with a friend who had vacation days to use up and was willing to risk the adventure of heading out to Death Valley Junction with me, a place the family visited a couple of times during covid and that I’ve been wanting to see again. In particular, the spectacular Amargosa Opera House, which I have a half-baked plan to host a small dance event at. 

Part of this trip was leaving the kids alone all day for three days, which meant them making breakfast and lunch for themselves until dad could get home to make dinner each night. It’s another step in their independence, and something I wouldn’t have dreamed of attempting a year ago. Needless to say, they were fine.

We drove out Monday and stopped by a place I’ve always wanted to see, Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch off the 15 north.

Next, we made our way to Death Valley Junction for our stay at the Amargosa Opera House and hotel. The place was a bit more run down than when we last stayed here in I think 2022 - and it was run down then! Two big floods this year wore away at the 100 year old Adobe, making it look on the verge of collapse in several places, and it smelled of mildew everywhere. Our toilet hardly flushed, so we mainly used the lobby toilet which worked a little better. We did a tour of the opera house itself. I was glad to see the floor had been largely repaired, and the murals were intact, but it was obvious to me that the whole facility is too ramshackle at this point to safely host a big group of dancers. It’s really a shame, because it’s such a special place and could probably be completely rehabbed for just a few million. It’s one of those times I wish I was rich and could just throw money at a place like that and save it from decline. 

The next day we went to the China Ranch Date Farm and soaked in the Tecopa hot springs (partially roped off for vole habitat restoration), but decided to drive out that night to get ahead of the massive rain storm that could have trapped us out there over Christmas. I had a harrowing four hour drive in the dark - not what I had been planning - but made it with only the last half hour in some light rain. It’s been pouring all day. I think we made the right decision. 

Now, on to Christmas stuff. Tonight we have our traditional Jewish Christmas Eve Chinese food with a friend, then tomorrow we’ll just be home all day. Then we leave for the final cabin visit of the year (it’ll be dry but cold) and then we leave for Florida. Never a dull moment!