Death Valley National Park

 This March (2019) we took a week off and went to Death Valley National Park. We flew to Las Vegas, Nevada, and toured the Las Vegas Strip for two days. Then, we rented a car and drove to our second hotel near the national park.

The Highlights of This Trip:

 I bought a Death Valley National Park sticker on the first day at the visitor center, since I'm a huge collector of laptop stickers ^_^

 We went to Mesquite Sand Dunes, which looks like the Sahara desert. There were a lot of sand dunes, but we didn't get to all of them. I ran up sand dunes and slid down their steep faces. It was all a lot of fun! If you ever get a chance to go to Death Valley, make sure to spend some time at the sand dunes!

 Ubehebe Crater was formed by a powerful volcanic steam explosion. The result is a massive crater that visitors at Death Valley can hike around! Since the elevation up there is relatively high, the winds are really strong. The car was literally shaking when we went, but don't let that discourage you from paying a visit (obviously if it's too windy you might not want to hike right next to a huge crater that you might fall into, but still...^_^). I would say the only downside to this is that the hike is a bit long, and the gravel from the trail always finds a way to enter your shoes.

A beautiful salt flat at Death Valley National Park

 I know Hoover Dam isn't in Death Valley National Park, but if you went all the way there, you might consider paying Hoover Dam a visit! Not only is the force of the rushing water really amazing, the landscape around it also had me stunned. You can take pictures here, jump across the border from Nevada to Arizona (I have now also been to Arizona!), or just walk around and take in the landscape.

Since you have taken the time to go the Nevada, might as well pay a visit to Las Vegas! When we went to Death Valley, we actually lived in a hotel in Las Vegas. It was surely an awesome experience! I strongly suggest that you go there at least once; you won't regret it!

A picture of some colorful mountains in Death Valley, Nevada