We spent four days in the Wahweap Campground overlooking Lake Powell. It was a beautiful and relaxing spot. While we were there I got up early for some solitude and to witness the dramatic sunrises over Lake Powell.
Death Valley is the land of extremes, it has the record for the hottest temperature in the world: 134˚F in 1913, and it’s the driest climate and the lowest elevation in North America. The National Park has a page with some interesting facts about why it is so hot and dry.
We continued north along the increasingly treacherous and amazingly gorgeous Pacific Coast Highway.
We made it to San Diego and stopped at another car repair shop, seeking an alignment and ending up with new brakes. Finally our bad luck ran out and we enjoyed a beautiful sunset and lots of great beer.
In my last post I mentioned that Joshua Tree National Park has nine campgrounds, which are all available on a first-come, first-served basis, and when we visited the park on Friday and Saturday all nine were full. We arrived again on Tuesday and a couple of the campgrounds were crowded but we had a few options in the Jumbo Rocks campground. Many of the spots are close together, so we chose one that had a bit of separation from the neighbors, put our “reserved” sign up, and went out hiking to watch the sunset. 
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