finnish sauna at the northern edge of California

While our America's Best Value Inn room was already really nice - who would expect that - this magnificent spot in California's most northern larger populated area named Crecent City even offered a Spa including a chaccousi and a sauna.
Since it is actually chilly up north here, especially at the rough Pacific coast, we were so going to do some sauning. In the early evening, the whole spa located in between the parking lots was ours. My mum, an experienced saunist, was little concerned about missing but essential features like sufficient towels, towel wracks and the lack of nudity. It is really weird to sit in a sauna wearing a swim suits. But hey, its complementary and it was actually pretty nice ... until THEY came.
They were a typical (I did not say that!) US-American end of forties couple and obviously not so sauna experienced. Wearing full rope, they first climbed into the jaccousi, puffing and blowing. Later on, we had to share the sauna with'em. "It is gonna get a full house in here, ehu", the guy said entering the small room, soaked and dripping all over. Way better even was the entering of her. When she placed her butt on the wooden bench, the sound was like pouring a 10 gallon bucket from the 5 th floor on the street. Seriously, I think not only her pants and underwear was pressed out, but also other parts back there. Ok, so were they sitting there eventually. "Baby, I don't remember when I had a real good swet the last time". That was him, and I had the hardest time not laughing when imagining him doing sweaty activities - or not doing them, as he said. My mum just left after them entering and I followed her, not hearing what he actually said about his last real good swet experience, which he apparently remembered - in presence of his girlfriend/wife.
Oh, the sauna was brought to us buy Finnlandia Sauna. Thank you!

it's getting hot out here

While describing my dune climb in the Mojave Desert, there would be no way doing this in one of the hottest places, Death Valley. We slept in sight of the highest thermometer in the world (yes, they do it biiig), which measures 134 feet. The equivalent temperature (56°C) was measured in 1937 or so. And really, it is insanely hot. When standing inside the Park, in the large valley of death, there is a constant wind, which feels exactly like a huge hair blower directed at you. Still, facing 116°F, I barely ever swet, which is so nice. However, physical excercise is torture. You cant stand any ten minutes outside without a bottle of water in front of your mouth. In the center of the valley, Bad Water is the lowest elevation in the Western Hemisphere (who the heck knows what this exactly is?), - 78 m below see level. Few miles away, mountains as high as 2800 meters arise. Star Wars and many other movies were shot here, which makes perfect sense considering the the moon like rock formations.
After driving and walking through heat and dryness (around 0 % humidity, 6 cm precipitation per year in average) an ice cold beer at Furnace Creek oasis (well chosen name!) feels sooo good.
To further illustrate the present heat, it is interesting to see that "cold" water from the tab is still so warm, that even I take ice in it, which does not last long melting in minutes. Warm tab water is therefore as steamy hot, that you can easily prepare a tea right away, true story.
In the information and visitor centers everywhere around the parks, friendly staffs welcome you, giving true advice about what to see and do. And there is free stuff everywhere, wifi in the middle of nowhere. One lady in a flea market store in tiny Shoshone, which is a really cute place with 47 (?) inhabitants at the entrance to Death Valley, was so excited about our visit, that she felt like giving us one of the self painted travel bags crafted by herself.
Driving and climbing up the sourrunding mountains in Death Valley brings cooler Temperatures. Actually, at around 2200 m hight, it gets already chilly, in the middle of the desert. At the trail head in a remote valley, 7 charcole kilns (Holzkohle Meiler) from 1879 (!) are still standing there like being in use, since they had only produced charcole for 3 years. Such relicts of the times of gold rush can be found all over the place, and its impressive to imagine how people have been living under such severe conditions more than hundrets of years ago.

acknowledgement

Thank you, America (and I mean the USA, sorry all other Americas) for creating the National Parks all over the nation. It seems like one of your best achievements (besides free drinking fountains and beverage refills). Everything is kept really neat, the park roads seem to be in better condition than in the rest of the country. There are abundant and nice rest areas, toilets even at the most remote trail head. It also feels safe, I do not feel terrified of being shot around the next corner (just kidding). I want to conclude with a citation to the US citizens, which is most likely both incomplete and altered without indication. Also I forgot the : "Welcome home. The National Parks are all yours. Come and discover the rich variety of these lands connect with it. It is the land, the connects all of us." (I ll try to find the true statement, since such a statement by unknown author is admittedly little pointless. Its my effort to give my blog more substance. And I know I fail, but I ll keep trying. Hope thats not what they ll write on my grave stone at the end of my days, though.)

the story of the tortoise

I really wanna share the story of a small desert inhabitant with hard crust but soft inside. Theses tortoises live up to 80 years and are capable of surviving without water for more than a year. This is possible due to their uberbladder, which retains liquid and makes it reaccessible for the tortoise's metabolism. Isn't that amazing? However, not everything in their life is as easy as it sounds like. Desert tortoises suffer from a mean enemy, know as man. Such one approaching a tortoise or even touching it, can terrify the latter in such a way, that it urinates, loosing too much liquid to survive until the next rain. Poor thing.

singing dunes

The desert - my associations went from dry, hot and sandy to completely dead. But what is a desert actually like? dry is right, as learned in school as the most important characteristic of a desert. Everything else is not really correct.
Mojave Desert Reserve is a huge stretch of land, we drove over 300 miles in and around it, not even having seen all the highlights. Landscapes change widely, from dry lake bassins to granite mountains and volcanic cinder cones. There are also the only singing dunes, which sometimes make a deep brumming sound as sand avalanches roll down the slopes setting sand particles in vibration. Hiking up a dune is hard, but it is beautiful (but dont forget, its also hard). Equipped with a thick layer of sunscreen, a shirt hat, sunglasses and WATER (2 liters per hour) we headed to the base of the dunes. Since my dear mum chose to enjoy the view from the bottom, I continued on my own, let alone with only the sun and the sand. It was steep, and sandy, thats what probably describes a dune best. As soon as reaching the edge, which forms a perfectly sharp line, there is great view over a huge, plaine bassin, surrounded by dark mountains in the far distance.