A Death Valley Thanksgiving

I really like spending Thanksgiving with my new in-laws, because rather than sit around the house getting fat, we sit around and get fat in the great outdoors! We had the full turkey dinner, a la Weber grill and Coleman campstove. I have never eaten a more delectable turkey. And alas, I exaggerate on the getting fat part. We actually got in several good hikes as well.

Where, you ask, did this camping extravaganza occur? None other than the infamous Death Valley. Maybe it isn't the first place that pops into your head when considering thanksgiving vacation hot spots, but this place is crowded for the big turkey weekend! The entire campground was filled to capacity. That is, until the wind storms hit on Saturday. Then, pretty much everyone cleared out.

I have never been to Death Valley before, and I must say that I was suitably impressed. There is the obligatory amount of driving to get to all of the very spread out sites, but if you've got the time, it is well worth it. Sit back and take the photo tour of a Death Valley Thanksgiving to be remembered.

This is all of the gear you will need to prepare your thanksgiving dinner at the campground. Note the modification to the red grill in the foreground. It has a silver extender so that a turkey will fit on the grill. No joke, this was probably the best thanksgiving turkey I've ever had. Mashed potatoes and other sides were made on the Coleman stove, and my ingenious hubby made a delectable pumpkin pie in a cast iron dutch oven in the fire ring. Not bad, eh?

Badwater (pictured above) is the lowest point in the United States, just a little shy of 280 feet below sea level. It is a vast, flatter-than-a-pancake salt flat. And yes, my almost-4-year-old nephew did taste it and confirm that it is definitely salt. If you're ever lacking a shaker-full the next time you are making some popcorn, this is the place to come.

This is the Devil's Golf Course. Wind, rain and evaporation have created these unique crystalline structures on the salt flats. They are very sharp and difficult to navigate.

These hills are dubbed the Artist's Palette, for obvious reasons. The different colors are made by a variety of mineral pigments on the volcanic deposits. Maybe I was just hungry at the time, but it reminded me more of an ice cream sundae.

Behind the biker, you can see the ruins of the ghost town of Rhyolite. This town sprang up in 1904, spawned by a gold strike in the region. Between 1905 and 1910, Rhyolite may have had as many as 8000 citizens. But by 1914 the town was in rapid decline, and by 1919 the post office had shut down and Rhyolite became a ghost town. Most mining towns were built of temporary materials, but Rhyolite was built with the intention of a permanent settlement. In the end, though, it folded up just like the temporary boom towns. Some interesting buildings (or pieces of them) remain, including a house constructed entirely of glass bottles and mud.

Stay tuned for more pictures of Death Valley!

Bora Bora: The Food

Le Meridien: I have but one piece of advice. Do NOT get the meal package! Fortunately for us, we did not, and were very glad. As it turns out, the meal package does not save you any money, but locks you into being forced to eat all of your meals at the buffet at Le Meridien. This buffet is monstrous for the amount you will pay. And I don't mean that in terms of portion. We found the a la carte menu at Le Meridien to be tasty and satisfying nouveau cuisine. Amazingly, the quality was far superior to the buffet, even though the price was actually less. The buffet touts an enormous salad bar (the best part of it, with many interesting seafood dishes), as well as a variety of breads, desserts and warm entrees. My two biggest complaints were that all of the hot food was overcooked and tasted quite obviously like it had been sitting under a heat lamp for several hours. The theme was overcooked meats in heavy sauces. We were especially disappointed on seafood night, when the all-you-can-eat crab and lobster all tasted like it had been sitting on the beach for a week, dead, before anyone came and collected it. They clearly got a discount on some past-its-prime seafood. For more than $60 per person, this is nothing less than highway robbery. Fortunately, you can make reservations at many good restaurants on the mainland, and they will provide free transportation to and from their facilities.

Lagoonside dining at Le Meridien.

Bamboo House: This place was recently renovated at the time we were there. It is run by a couple of hip French guys who make service and hospitality a priority, even if they take their time doing it. Plan to relax and spend the evening here. The bar is very chic, with all of the furniture, walls and lamps constructed of bamboo and other woods. The drinks were some of the most reasonably priced (and inventive). We each had local fresh fish for dinner, and were very happy with the place, although it seemed not to be one of the more popular restaurants. The bread fruit on the side is an acquired taste for the american palate. It has a consistency somewhere between mashed potatoes, sponges and cottonballs. Not to be missed, just to say that you tried it.

Bloody Mary's: Yes, it's owned by an American, and consequently is very Americanized. (It's probably the only place where you won't wait an hour for a drink or to have your order taken.) But it was still by far our favorite. There is no menu. At the entrance, you stare at all of the mouth watering fare laid out on ice, and order while you are salivating. The variety and quality of fish is unsurpassed. The drinks are pretty great too. The atmosphere is festive and fun, with sand floors and coconut tree stumps for seats. If you ever find yourself in Bora Bora, this place is not to be missed.

Check out the spread at Bloody Mary's!

Shameless Gushings on Le Meridien Bora Bora

If you want some advice on planning your trip to French Polynesia, I can let you in on a few hints. Pretty much every tourist there is on their honeymoon, and we talked to many of them about their plans. We were in the minority, choosing to stay for a long week in one location. Many folks would stay 3 to 4 nights, and island-hop to another exotic locale. I can't speak for what these other islands were like, but we were very content to set up our tropical home base and spend our time relaxing rather than catching planes and taxis, packing and unpacking.

Although I've never been to any hotel on Bora Bora other than Le Meridien, we did drive around, and boat around, enough to see many of the popular hotels. Le Meridien has by far the best location. The food, on the other hand, is another story, which I will discuss in more detail when we get to the food section. Le Meridien is very private and secluded, situated not on the main island, as many of the other luxury hotels are, but on its own private motu, facing the main island across the lagoon.

Pictured above is our room, a premium overwater bungalow. The best part of these rooms, as you can see here, is the glass floor. We liked to leave the outdoor light (beneath the floor) turned on at night to illuminate the water and create beautiful patterns on the ceiling and walls. Contrary to what some people might think, there is no reef directly below the floor. This means that you won't actually see a lot of fish swimming below. But a puffer or an infrequent other meanderer did occasionally swim by.

Pictured above is the bed, opposite the sofa in the previous photo. At this time of year (October), the mosquito netting is strictly for decoration, as there were no bugs, and we needed to run the air conditioner at night. True to what I had read in previous reviews of this resort, the bed is actually two twin mattresses pushed together, with king sheets on top of them. This may not sound great, but it is really not nearly as bad as some people claim, and didn't bother us at all. Note the glass floor just in front of the bed.

Pictured above is the view of our neighbors' bungalow from our balcony. All overwater bungalows have a staircase leading into the water, so that you can go for a swim or snorkel any time you like. There is also a showering platform (difficult to see here) to rinse off the saltwater before you go inside.

From our bungalow, room 238, we had a fabulous unobstructed view of Mount Otemanu. Every morning, we would wake up early, around 6 a.m. (the time change helped considerably with this). We would make instant coffee with our little electric hot water pot, and wrapped up in our hotel bathrobes and slippers, we would enjoy the morning reading books as Bora Borans commuted past in their outrigger canoes and motor boats.

The bungalows and wooden walkway connecting them, lit up at night, seemed magical. We were living in a fantasy village, where the stresses and worries of our hectic lives back at home could not touch us. The islanders of Bora Bora truly appreciate and understand what a paradise they have, and we were privileged to share it, if only for one very short week.

Bora Bora At Last!

After much delay, here are some pictures of Bora Bora that are not from a bird's eye view. These were taken using a Canon PowerShot S200 Digital Elph. As our wedding gift to each other, we purchased a Canon EOS digital Rebel XT, which frankly takes much better pictures, to be shown in the next installment. For an inexpensive pocket digital camera, though, the Elph does amazingly well.

Here's Tom on the walkway from our room (an overwater bungalow at Le Meridien) heading back to the beach and main grounds of the resort.


We took a 4x4 jeep tour of the island one day, and this is a spectacular view of the thin barrier reefs surrounding the island (or motus, as they are called in this region) with the Pacific Ocean in the distance.

Another view of the beach at Le Meridien. You can see a lot of the free water sports they offer here: open kayaks, paddle boats, and wind surfers. There is also free rental of snorkle gear, which you must take advantage of to view the turtles in the lagoon. We also rented a Hobie Cat for $20 per hour. Sailing is a lot of fun, provided someone in your party knows how to sail. Don't forget your sunscreen and sunglasses! The sun is incredibly intense and we both had peeling sunburns at one time or another.

This is the view from the boat dock at Le Meridien. In the distance is Mount Otemanu. This mountain is on the mainland of Bora Bora, and is one of the reasons why the location of Le Meridien, situated on a remote motu on the rim of corral surrounding the mainland, is so perfect. To the left you can see some of the overwater bungalows. All of these bungalows have glass floors, letting in the light that sparkles and reflects off the turquoise water below.

A closer view of the Le Meridien beach. The water in the foreground is part of the main lagoon of Bora Bora. The water in the background, behind the trees, is the private lagoon of Le Meridien. It houses many tropical fish and green sea turtles. We spent many hours snorkling in this lagoon, and never grew tired of the sea life. There is even a morray eel in this lagoon, although we never saw him.

This should whet your appetite for the beautiful sights of Bora Bora. More photos soon to come.

Politics Do Not Belong On This Blog!

And religious propaganda has no place in a science class. Kudos to Dover, Delaware for electing eight new school board members, all of whom oppose placing "intelligent design" curriculum into the science classrooms. These people have so beautifully demonstrated that one can celebrate their religious faith in an appropriate setting, and still keep science classes talking about science. What a revolutionary idea! The plan is to teach "intelligent design" in an elective course on comparative religion.

Boo! to Pat Robertson, who not so subtly stated that the residents of Dover, in light of their turning against God (or so Pat would have you believe) would not receive any help from God should a natural disaster happen to strike their area. Pat, get your head out of the Old Testament! This is the twenty-first century. Vengeful God rants are sooooo first century BC. Get with the program, Pat: What Would [insert favorite celebrity here] Do? Boo! also to the Kansas folks who are planning to sneak creationist rhetoric into the public school science books.

Some of you are probably saying to yourselves (or maybe out loud, if you're that kind of person), "Gee, this is all very interesting, but WHERE ARE THE *%$&!@# BORA BORA PICTURES???!!!" Okay, okay, enough procrastinating. You will hear more about Bora Bora very soon. I promise!