Although my parents went home with David and Leisl and the kids yesterday morning, they kept the hotel room even though they didn’t come back until the middle of the day.  The kids had never slept in a hotel room, so Trish and the kids spent the night in the hotel room.  It’s funny that for them it was an exotic travel experience.  B was so excited she took pictures:

This morning a roadrunner came by to say hello:

Once my parents arrived back in Death Valley, we hiked up to the gazebo above the Death Valley Inn:

Viewed from here, it’s obvious that Furnace Creek Ranch is a man-made oasis in the middle of a vast desert valley:

The gazebo has seen better days:

I went up for a flight near sunset.  As a kid I used to bike out to the airport and watch the planes takeoff and land.  I was excited to finally be using the airport as a pilot:

It’s the lowest airport in the US.  At 210 feet below sea level, the air is thick, so takeoff runs are short:

I had to go quite high to conform to the FAA request to fly high enough to avoid bothering wildlife:

The airport and Furnace Creek are on the right side of the photo.  I’m at about 1000 feet here: