Feb. 11 Saturday
The desert is a very strange place. I was already starting to feel a bit odd on our way to Las Vegas but once we left and started to drive toward Death Valley Junction I really began to feel quite depressed. It’s beautiful in its own way and although I’m not obsessed with being surrounded by things and people, I felt pretty anxious about all the nothingness. I guess it’s not nothingness, there is a lot of sand or maybe dust is a better description, a lot of space, a lot of wide openness, wind, dried out brush, sun, and time. It was very spooky and I liked the idea of the experience, but almost as soon as we arrived I was ready for the actual experience to be over. We were checked in for two nights, Steve was excited about Marta Becket’s performance at the Amargosa Opera House the next day*. I was looking forward to the performance too, Steve had been talking about it a lot, so although I wouldn’t be going to it (someone had to look after Freddie) I was excited to see the video footage. We were also excited to look around the ghost town of Death Valley Junction. Our hotel was 8 miles away and in the middle of nowhere. No gas stations for 40 miles, no grocery stores, no anything. It was the exact opposite of where we had just been and it was quite surreal.
*The performance was the reason we came out here to Death Valley Junction. Marta Becket is an 80-something year old performer dancer originally from New York. She happened to be driving through Death Valley Junction on a trip with her husband after she had already been retired from her career in dance for a few years (in her forties). They stumbled upon the abandoned Opera Theater and decided this was the place they were supposed to be. Marta has been performing in this ghost town ever since. Her performance has consisted mainly of dancing and singing, but in her older age she has been performing from a chair seated next to a little café table. Her role is pre-determined by whatever prop she picks up off her table, she recites a little song/joke and then moves on to the next prop. The performance lasts about 45 minutes. Sunday, Febraury. 12th was her last show and she will now focus her energies on fundraising to restore the Amargosa Hotel and Opera House.
February.12 Sunday
Breakfast at the hotel and lunch at the Death Valley Junction Café. We walked around the very small town and got scolded by one of the 250 or so Marta Becket fans there for the show (all older ladies, and Steve). Freddie was picking a piece of chipping paint off of the building and a lady scoffed “just destroy the building then”. I am always annoyed when someone criticizes my ability as a parent or Freddie’s ability as a child, and although I felt like slugging her I just pretended I didn’t hear her (boring). I took some pictures of the sites, got yelled at by another old lady for trespassing, and then Steve drove Freddie and I back to the Long Street Inn and Casino (where we were staying). Freddie and I wandered around outside the hotel and the man-made lake behind it while Steve was at the show. That night we all went to sleep excited to leave our dried out sinuses and chapped lips behind us as we headed for Long Beach the next morning.
Freddie picking the paint off the building.
The scenery around our hotel.
Death Valley Junction
February. 13 Monday
Although the landscape did seem bleak at times, the dessert is truly beautiful and the sky is always changing.
We stopped at Peggy Sue's, a great little 50's dinner for lunch and saw some dinosaurs.
February.14 Tuesday
Valentine’s Day! Steve got me some beautiful flowers, and wine. We are at our place in Long Beach, a cute little studio apartment 3 blocks from the beach. We will be staying here for at least a week, maybe a bit longer. Steve and I are both glad to not be moving around for a little while at least, or maybe we’re not. We will make some short trips out to L.A to visit some of the galleries, and of course the La Brea tar pits for Freddie. We plan to go to San Diego and Escondido too, we’ll see where else.
The Beach here.
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