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Death Valley is a place that I've always wanted to visit, and until recently I figured that it would be a majorly trip of a couple of days from LA into the desert.

But I recently realised that's only a couple of hours drive from Las Vegas, which is where I am currently esconsced in a hotel atteched to a casino.

Also up until recently I also didn't have a very high opinion of Las Vegas, but there's been a number of changes here that have altered my opinon of the city; more on that later perhaps. After all, it's been about 21 years since I last visited.

The oriiginal plan was to drive oure rental car into the valley, but De didn't really want to come, so instead I just picked up a day tour from downtown Vegas. It was an early start, but covered many of the places that I wanted to visit, plus a few others.

There was also a ghost town about halfway between Pahrump and the entrance to the National monument that looked really interesting from a photographic PoV. Sadly (for me) it wasn't a scheduled stop, so that didn't happen.

Our first stop was Dante's View, which is about 5000 feet above sea level with an awesome view of the valley floor. About 6 Celcius here. The day wasn't the clearest, and in some ways that has helped a couple of the images. These are JPGs straight out of the D3400 with kit lens, resized only. I took this camera because of the deteriorating condition of my shoulder, which is making taking photos a bit more difficult than I'd like. I lot more difficult, actually.

Great posts Gary. BTW, did you get visit Brubaker's grill this trip? New Awlins?

N'Awlins was our first port.of call for this trip. Something about a blues and bbq festival. Spent time in many of our usual haunts, as well as a cigar bar out on Tchoupitoulas, about a mile past Tip's.

Spent a few days in Santa Fe, moving from temperatures of 85F to snow flurries. Also went from sea level to 7000 feet to 200 odd feet below sea level, so quite a few contrasts to consider.

Currently sitting in the Mexican bar at the hotel/casino, enjoying a $4 16 ounce margarita with some chips, salsa and bean queso.

Thanks for the kind words. While Bakersfield is bad, please remember that I've lived in Modesto for three years.

gstark wrote:While Bakersfield is bad, please remember that I've lived in Modesto for three years.

Ah yes, I forgot about Modesto. I lived next door to San Bernaghetto for about 8 months. Drug runners/deal were commonplace in the laneway behind our rental house

Love the photos, so different...

I understand the dilemma of carrying heavy camera gear. I took practically all the photos in my last trip with my mobile phone, while the cameras and lens were idle in the suitcase.

zafra52 wrote:Love the photos, so different...

I understand the dilemma of carrying heavy camera gear. I took practically all the photos in my last trip with my mobile phone, while the cameras and lens were idle in the suitcase.

Understood mate. Last year we did a lengthy trip (11 weeks) through NZ and I dragged two camera systems plus a Mavic Pro. Tomorrow I head back to Spain/Italy/UK for a short trip and I'm only taking my iPhone XR and an Osmo pocket and that's it. How times have changed.

ozimax wrote:Tomorrow I head back to Spain/Italy/UK for a short trip and I'm only taking my iPhone XR and an Osmo pocket and that's it. How times have changed.

Oh yes. I was in quite a state (NSW) trying to decide what to bring, basically for just the Death Valley part of the trip. Everywhere else I figured that the phone would be good enough - they've improved so much over the years (and the XR is exceptional in that realm, while the Osmo Pocket is no slouch either) - but for Death Valley.

In the end I decided that the D810, along with three primes, plus maybe a couple of zooms, was going to be too much for the old man's shoulders to bear through the vast canyons of McCarran, SFO, LAX, and DEN, so the D3400 along with its kit glass filled the bottom of my carry-on while the owner of said carry-on carried on, whilst avoiding the consumption of carrion. As it happened, I didn't touch the 55-whatever glass from the kit, using only the 18-55. I was satisfied with my choices.

We need to find more time to spend in Eu, as well as finding a quiet resort somewhere in Asia where I can smoke a cigar around a nice, quiet pool.

And I need time to visit Armagosa, with some DSLR gear in my pack.

What do you know... an Osmo Pocket eh? While in Amsterdam, I saw a couple with what it looked to me a funny GoPro on a short stick taking photos. I never gave it a second thought and just now thanks to you guys I learned it was an Osmo Pocket. How good is this gadget?