D is for Death Valley - images of America

What image does the word desert conjure up in your mind?

An endless flat expanse of sand and scraggly plants?

 yellow rolling dunes?

a boring grey landscape devoid of life?

barren, rocky planes? or something else entirely?

I had no idea what to expect when we decided to visit Death Valley. I knew it was hot and dry, but what I hadn't expected was the huge range of rich colours, the wide variety of landscapes, the stark beauty and deep, deep silence of canyons, the wavelike ripples atop large hills as if the land had been scrunched up like a piece of stiff paper and discarded to catch the sun and create glorious shadows!

In short, it was magnificent. The kind of place you say, "Yes, I could go back there". But next time, I'd camp and gaze at the stars and wake to the rising sun hitting the peaks and making its way over the majestic landscape, changing it minute by vibrant minute.

I'd allow time to don a backpack and carry enough water for a decent walk. And coming from a land where skin cancer kills, I'll be aware that I'll stick out like a sore thumb, with my wide brimmed hat, long pants and sleeves, because I only have a one in three chance of not being diagnosed with skin cancer in the next few years, and covering up is cheap insurance!

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