And for my final trick...

How about driving home via Mount Whitney, the famed location (Alabama Hills) where so many movies were shot, and Death Valley?

 

Here's Mount Whitney from Alabama Hills in a panorama:

 

 

You can see why Alabama Hills was such a favorite for making movies for Hollywood, This kind of scenery only 400 miles away with excellent highway access.

 

Alabama Hills has several small arches, and this astonishing arch called the Mobius  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%B6bius_strip which by fabulous chance frames Mount Whitney perfectly!

 

 

For another experience, I went up the Mount Whitney switchback road, which you can make out Almost in the center of the picture.

 

 

On the way down. I turned on the GoPro to give a flavor of the seven-minute drive down the mountain. Here's a short sample::

 

 

Then it was off to Las Vegas by crossing Death Valley National Park. The road goes from 5,000 feet down to 100 feet below sea level (!) and then back up to 5,000 feet. It does that twice!

 

Here's the view from 4,000 feet on the West side.

 

 

You can see the road sweeping down toward sea level. Here's how it looks when you're driving it (The entire ride takes 14 minutes, so this is just a small clip):

 

 

 

And so the two weeks ends. All in all, lots of exciting, colorful subjects, which I can work on in coming days.

 

That's all, folks!