My family and I went to Death Valley National Park in California on Saturday, January 3rd. This is the the lowest, driest, and hottest area in North America.
First we went to the salt mud flat – it was a big part of land that was all mud and used to be under the ocean. According to the movie we watched, this area is home to the pupfish. (Wikipedia: a species of fish that is the last known survivor of what is thought to have been a large ecosystem of fish species that lived in Lake Manly, which dried up at the end of the last ice age leaving the present day Death Valley in California. The pupfish is adapted to the 
shallow, hot, saline water of a particular part of Salt Creek that flows above ground year-round, and is also sometimes referred to as Salt Creek pupfish.) We did not see the pupfish here but we did see it at Ash Meadows Wildlife Refuge where we saw a lot in the hot springs.
Then we walked through a canyon; we climbed on the rocks and looked for lizards.
Then my brother and I walked through the sand dunes. We were trying to get up a big sand hill. When we got to the top we were really high up. Then after we made 
it up, we emptied our shoes then we slide down the big hill. It was really fun! After, we went up Dante’s View and there was a really good view of Death Valley.
Then we drove home and on the way back we saw a road runner and a coyote.
thetravelingturtleblog 
January 20, 2015 at 1:28 am
What a fascinating place to visit Lucas. Why is it called Death Valley?
LikeLike
January 21, 2015 at 5:07 pm
Dear Grammy
Why Death valley got its name is that its the hottest place on the planet and there’s no water there so if you don’t have water you die.
LikeLike
January 21, 2015 at 10:57 pm
Well, I guess that is a good reason to name it Death Valley. I sure wouldn’t want to get lost there!
LikeLike
January 22, 2015 at 9:15 pm
A group of pioneers went through Death Valley during the gold rush era. They had a late start out of the planes, which caused them to miss their window of opportunity to travel through the Northern passes in the Rockies and Sierra Nevada’s. Subsequently they took a more Southern route and went right through Death Valley. They were the first non Indians to travel through the region and they did not know what was in store for them. Many died on the trip. They saw mountains to the West and incorrectly thought that it was the last mountain range they would have to get over. Sadly, the small range was the Panamint Mountains which dumped them down in to Panamint Valley. A place just about as bad as Death Valley. They eventually made their way over another set of small mountains and some Indians led them to some wells at the base of the Sierra Nevada mountains, on the edge of the Mojave Desert. These wells were later named Indian Wells and the valley they are located in is named Indian Wells Valley. It is where I live.
Read the book Death Valley 49ers
LikeLike
January 30, 2015 at 12:17 am
Hi Lucas, how hot was it in Death Valley? I got your postcard. It is awesome. I miss you.
LikeLike