Surviving Death Valley

If I have a list of things to do before I die, seeing Death Valley once in my life would be on it. When I told my coworker I was thinking about going to Death Valley, she asked me what there is to see, a whole lot of nothingness, I said, and she gave me this crazy look and our conversation kind of awkwardly ended like that. I'm sure she's not alone. I've been nagging Paul for the last two years to go to Death Valley. I might have been suggested at the wrong time of the year, as it will definitely burn you to death during the summer months. The record high reached 134F (57C), ranked No. 2 in world's record.

It is also the lowest elevation point in USA, 282ft (86m) below sea level. Even more interestingly, it is only 100 miles away from the highest peak in USA (within the 48 contiguous states)--Mt Whitney at 14,494ft (4,418m).

But it was the name that intrigued me the most. And this place truly is as the name suggested. Nothing grows in this place. The combination of its heat, lack of humidity and minerals created this weird place on earth.

Two hours and one speeding ticket (所謂欲速則不達矣) later, we entered into the territory of the National Park. First we stopped at Dante's View. It gave us a panoramic view of Death Valley. From a distance, it almost looked like it was covered in snow. But it was just covered in minerals (although I like to just call it salt, the tour book insisted it was more than salt).

So without further delay, we hit the road to get a closer look. The temperature seemed to rise faster than our car managed to descend. Next stop was Zabriskie Point. While it's still on the hillside, the hot air already starts to accumulate.
Maybe I'm playing favoritism, but I think Death Valley is far more interesting than Grand Canyon. They are not really comparable besides the point most people travel 5 hours from Vegas to see Grand Canyon but who, besides us two morons, wants to go to Death Valley? But the thing with Grand Canyon is, after the 3rd view point you start to wonder what else is around to see, and it takes you all the way until the 8th and the last to realize it's all the same canyon. But with Death Valley, every stop point is something totally different: Dante's View, Zabriskie Point, Artist Pallet, Devils Golf Course and Badwater... it just makes you want to go on and on and wondering what earth's wonder you might be missing.
Speaking of earth's wonder, my travel companion might have something different to say. In Paul's point of view, the thing that made Death Valley so magnificently beautiful is because it is so ugly beyond imagination.
But one thing we definitely would agree with each other, this place is simply impossible for human existence. The rainfall averages about 2 inches around here, but each year it sucks 150 inches of water out of thin air. (How is it mathematically possible I do not know--our guess is the remainder comes from the melted snow)
We didn't go through the whole park as we got a show to catch that night. But I thought to myself maybe I'll take my dad to Devil's Golf Course to play a 18-hole one of these days...

I posted some photos here if you're interested.