We landed in San Diego seperately- I came in from New York in the afternoon & Div came in directly from Detroit in the evening. We spent the evening relaxing & planning out the trip with my brother. Since the weekend was just starting, my brother could join us for a couple of days and we decided to go see the Death Valley National Park.
It was a six hour drive from San Diego to Death Valley and we undertook this journey in my brother's second-hand Toyota Camry. I must admit that none of us had much confidence that this car would be able to go through this pressure test. But due to lack of options we decided to go ahead with the Camry. We started early morning around 6'o clock - first went to bro's office to print out Google Map directions & get some coffee and drove for couple of hours till we reached the outskirts of San Diego then stopped at a fast food joint for breakfast.
Then Div took over and drove for the rest of the way. It was amazing to slowly see the terrain change from city to open greenery to arid desserts. As we drew closer and closer to the national park, we were passing absolutely arid & dry mountains and sand dunes with no trace of life anywhere.
But I must say driving here was a pleasure- smooth straight roads all to yourself...the Camry was excitedly going at 90 miles an hour.As we entered the National park, we bought our tickets and self-service machines. Now unlike most parks there are no gates here or boundaries, its just a vast dessert landscape spread out in front of you. The first most curious thing of course was why the name 'Death valley'- we soon figured out that during the gold-rush in California, a group of non-native americans decided to take this route as a shortcut to California. They were stuck here for weeks and even though only one of them died, it gave the valley its name.
So we ventured further and came to the first 'tourist spot'- Zabriskie Point. It was amazing to see this landscape which is formed from the sediments of the Furnace Creek Lake. The terrain is reffered to as 'badlands' because of the difficult terrain. I was almost sure that it was used a movie set whenever they had to show Moon surface or Mars.
By now it was almost 12.oo in the afternoon and the sun was right above our heads. The heat in this place is unbearable. Infact the average temperature here in peak summer season is close to 120 degree Farenhiet OR 50 degree Celcius!! So we went ahead to the Furnace Creek Ranch- the main visitor centre is based here. It is an oasis in this dessert with a small lake, some greenery, restaurants, shops & hotels. After a quick lunch with beer, we rented out a room at the Furnace Creek Inn. We were so tired with the driving & heat that we couldnt resist a nap. After resting for couple of hours we set out again.
We first arrived at the Titus Canyon but we had a problem- there were only two ways of going in either with a 'four-wheel drive' or by walk. Now our Camry was definitely not a four-wheel drive so we could have walked but it was 2-3 miles. So we stood there wondering what we should do and we said lets check out the other sites :)By now the sun was setting and the temperatures cooling down. Next we reached the Sand Dunes and this was beautiful. Mounds and mounds of sand with the beautiful pattern that wind makes on them. It reminded me of the pictures of Rajasthan I have seen and I made a mental note that I need to see Rajasthan at the next available opportunity.
It was very interesting to read how wind creates these ripple-like patterns in the sand. And how some of these dessert plants can have roots which go upto 50 mts to tap into the water table.
Next we went to see an old Borax mine. Borax is very important in the history of this place. It was the reason why in the late 18th century, the first Europeans came to this place and set up thier mines to extract & export Borax. Infact, Borax was referred to as 'White Gold' in these periods. What was interesting to know was that this Borax was transported from the mine to the railroad in what was known as the 20 mule team. This is wagon pulled by 18 mules & 2 horses and covered 165 miles in this sweltering heat! They went at an average of 3 miles an hour and thus took almost a month to complete a round trip! This wagon is still preserved for our viewing.
By now the sun had completely set and we decided to call it day. We headed back to our hotel room, freshned up, ate some dinner and were soon fast asleep.
Next day morning we woke up and set out early to see the main attraction- Badwater. It is the lowest point in North America, 282 feet below sea level. This is actually a salt basin, where the salt eroding from the sorrounding mountains during rainfall, gets collected. The place was huge and there was salt as far as your eyes could go. At one point I doubted that it was salt and tasted it too :p.... it sure was salt! Due to drying up the salt formed these interesting looking patterns.
After this interesting site, we went to see 'Artists Palette'- this is the face of a mountain which has rocks of several colours. I guess we were expecting something really dramatic, colourful, almost like a rainbow and thus were pretty disappointed with this one. There were definitely some shades of green, red & brown if you looked carefully but it was nowhere close to what I had imagined it to be.
From here, we headed towards Golden Canyon. We parked our car and walked through the canyon. The geographical formations of the rocks were very intriguing. Though the walk through the canyon is actually quite long, we went half way through and came back....laziness I guess.
Our last stop, before we headed back to civilization was the Dante's peak. And it was fitting end as this place is 5,500 feet above sea level and provides you with sweeping views of the park. It was especially fun to see the Badwater basin which is the lowest point from so far above.
On Day 2, we headed out to the famous San Diego Sea World. We had some discounted tickets from my brothers office. So we reached there around 9.00 am when the park opens. And the first thing we did was go see the star of the park 'Shamu'- the whale. This is a show that happens where the whale 'Shamu' does several water tricks along with thier trainers. I could believe my eyes the kind of stuff they would make a whale do and also the relationship between the trainer & the whale is unbelievable. We were sitting in the first few rows which are reffered to as soak zones for obvious reasons! But you get these 'raincoats' to wear so that you wont get too soaked.
Next we got to see and touch some dolphins. I think Dolphins are the cutest animals. In the Dolphin pool, you could feed them fish & give them a quick pat.
Then we enjoyed a ride called the Shipwreck rapids, its a very common water park ride. Since we stil had our 'raincoats' from the Shamu performance, we managed not to get too soaked. It was afternoon, so we quickly took a lunch break.
Next we got to see some starfish, I never knew they came in so many colours. And we could actually hold them in our hands. Its a very eriee feeling, I kept thinking its gonna bite me or something. 
We then went to the aquarium, it was a wonderful experience. I have never seen such colourful & different varities of fish and sea creatures. We saw stone fish (they actually look like stones), sea horse, cat fish, lion fish, snail fish and many more interesting looking sea animals. But I think the best was Octopus, which spread out all its 8 legs and looked majestic.
We then saw beautiful sea-turtles, its amazing how lazy they look. Then we saw fiery red flamingoes, they sleep on one-leg while resting the other.
We also got to see Seal & Sea-Lions, the tourists are allowed to feed fish to them. And as a result these animals try to grab your attention by screaming their lungs out.
From there we proceeded towards the Shark adventures, we got to see several different species of Sharks including the Killer Shark. We got to know tit bits like an average shark gets 30,000 teeth in one lifetime!! There is also a shark encounter program where you are lowered into the shark tank in a cage and get to see these amazing animals up-close. But you need to reserve this in advance so we couldnt go for it.
We were so impressed with the 'Shamu'-the whale show, that we next went to the Dolphin encounter. And it was a complete delight. I am still amazed how they manage to train animals which dont speak. The dolphins jumped, swirled, danced in tandem with thier trainers.
The SeaWorld also carries out some animal rescue operations and they had currently housed a few rescued Manitees.
Someother interesting animals we got to see were Walrus, Bottlenose whales, penguins, Nemo fish, Jelly fish and many more.
There are very few rides here but the couple that are there are great fun- especially the 'Lost city of Atlantis'!
At the end of the exciting day, we met my brother had dinner and then went to Mt. Soledad. This is actually a war memorial but the views of the San Diego city from here is beautiful.
Day 3 started a little late as we were really tired with all the walking we had done yesterday. We slept in till late and finally rolled out of bed around 10.00 am. We got ready and went to meet Div's cousin for lunch. We were having lunch in a place very close to Carlsbad. Now Carlsbad is famous for its flower fields (like the ones you see Amitabh & Rekha running around in Silsila:). We were slightly late for the peak blooming season but it was still stunningly beautiful. Rows and rows of flowers in different colours spread over a 50 acre area. If you dont want to walk then you can take a spin in farm tractor !
After enjoying the flowers, we decided to go see the Cabrillo National Monument but by the time we reached there the 'visiting hours' were over and we had to turn back. We were driving by the sea, so we stopped for a while and watched the sun go down. Then we met my brother, had dinner and called it a day.
The next day, we decided to check out San Diego Downtown & Old town. We parked our car near Santa Fe, took the train and headed towards downtown. We started with some breakfast at a quaint french cafe. Walked around a little but most places were still slowly opening up. So we took another train and reached the Old Town. As soon as you enter the Old Town, you feel like you have been transported in time to an Old mexican city. There are a beautiful shops selling cigars, curios, china, personal care items etc. There are also some very interesting restaurants here. You could get a guided tour from guides dressed up like old-time mexicans. We should have actually visited this place in the evening when there is more crowd and street performances too. But I think it was fun in the day time too.
From here we headed back to the downtown by train, picked up our car and went beach hoping. The weather was still a little chilly thus entering the water was not much of an option. First we went to the Pacific beach- a beautiful stretch of sand. We relaxed there for a while, watching a few surfers riding the waves. Next we headed towards the famous La Jolla Cove. At La Jolla, they have nice little parks with benches to sit and enjoy the sun, sand & sea in front of you. We sat there for a couple of hours, generally chatting, watching the surfers and enjoying a beautiful sunset.
We ended the day & the trip with a few beers and playing some pool at a pub in San Diego downtown. The next day morning we headed back to New York city.
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