We've spent the last couple of days just delighting in where we are staying. It has been great to just relax and enjoy (what feel like) the lazy days of summer. This post is just a glimpse into our happenings here.

This is where we are calling home for six nights- Furnace Creek Campground. It's conveniently located next to everywhere we want to be, which is great for evening strolls and chitchatting with neighbors. Fun.


While I say it's lazy days, we're staying busy. At the Visitors' Center, we delighted in seeing a Chautauqua by Steve Hale. Mr. Hale portrayed Albert M. Johnson, the owner of "Scotty's Castle" a famous landmark here in the Valley.
We learned so much about the character Walter Scott  (Scotty) who was 'adopted' by Mr. Johnson and his wife, Bessie. We have a new appreciation for their unique relationship and the history it provided Death Valley.

We even bumped into friends, Jeanne and Josh (with their friend Terry). It's a small world after all!
We continued to explore our surroundings with a visit to the Trading Post (1883), also known as the Borax Museum. This is the oldest structure in the Valley and was built by F.N. "Borax" Smith. It served as an office, bunkhouse, laboratory and ore checking station.
The grounds are an open museum for all to discover the incredible history here.
I loved this 1907 printing press which was used at the short-lived mining camp of Greenwater to print Death Valley Chuck-Walla.
Isn't this an amazing train locomotive? This is the second of two engines of the Death Valley Narrow-Gauge Railroad which transported borax ore from the mines at Ryan to the processing plant at Death Valley Junction between 1915 and 1927.



Meandering in such history is pretty fabulous. The history is one of the things we love most about this Valley. Wow.


And this is how we have been ending our days. Every night there is a gathering with live music and a bunch of 49ers. We're loving it here.