Desert Fox Depravity In The Deepest Depths Of Death Valley. And Delicious Dates.

I know I promised more Death Valley pictures like, a month ago. It's been a busy month. I've put way more time than I bargained for into putting an addition on my house. Well not so much an addition as turning a patio/porch into a room which one day seemingly far in the future will be my den. Anyway, exciting for me, dull for you. On to some Death. Valley. This is a lava rock that looks like some freaky medusa head.

This is the lowest point in North America, Badwater Basin, which is about 282 feet below sea level. The road lookin' thing they are standing on there is a road of salt. Pretty much all the white in the picture is salt.

And of course, being who I am and all the weirdness which that implies, I had to have a taste. FYI, it tastes just like salt. With a hint of dirt.

In contrast, here's me being weird at the lowest point on Earth, the Dead Sea in The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. (1385 feet below sea level.)

Give me a break, this was back in 2005. I've lost weight since then. And it's Dead Sea mud. Good for the skin. This was only supposed to be a gratuitous "hey look what other low point I've visited" shot. Shut up.

So anyway I was driving through the valley of death, yay, and this guy ran out right in front of my car forcing me to screech to a halt, and then stood there looking at me. It was kind of spooky.

So since he made it so easy, I of course got a few shots in. But then I felt bad; in foreign countries when you want to take pictures of the locals and they catch you doing it, they want you to buy something from them or just give them a few cents in payment. The water sellers in Morocco are the worst for that, by the way. Oh and Egyptians on camels. It's like they think I owe them for violating their privacy or something ridiculous like that.

Anyway, this desert fox stood there purposefully posing for me to take photos of him, and I felt bad. I had a bag of dates in the car, so I threw him a couple. And when I did, it was very apparent that this had been his plan all along. I totally got carjacked by a desert fox! They don't call them foxes for no reason. Clearly, he'd been running this little scam for a long time. I imagine food is hard to come by in Death Valley for a mammal. I know you're not supposed to feed animals in National Parks, but his tricks confused me! I was all befuddled and stuff! He used foxy black magic on me!

Well you can't blame him for wanting some dates. I've developed an obsession with them myself recently. I used to eat them right off of the date palms that grew everywhere in Baghdad, and they were delicious. I'd forgotten. They grow them in California, and every time I go there for work I buy like 5 pounds of them and eat the crap out of them all day every day, instead of meals. I've gotten so obsessed that lately I've taken to visiting the China Ranch Date Farm near Tecopa California after driving through Death Valley and buying them direct. I bring home several pounds to last me until my next trip to California. They're very sweet, like candy, but very healthy.

Comments

[Miss Luongo]

Desert puppy.

[messiestobjects]

Hey, that's what I called him!