I had heard about the 'Zabriskie Point' (or 'z-point as rdx likes to call it) as a great spot for sunrise and had determined to head there Sunday (day 4) morning. RDX was making elaborate plans for running/walking so that he could attack the breakfast buffet guilt-free. Vinay was a bit more circumspect about waking up early. In any case, I asked RDX to set the alarm for 5.10am and went to bed. After the alarm went off, he woke me up and snuggled deeper into the covers showing not even a hint of waking up. I got ready and periodically knocked on the connecting door, but there was no response from the Murthys. Finally around 5.30am, just as I was ready to head out, I knocked real hard and Sangeetha came to the door and told me that Vinay was too sleepy to get up. So, I headed out on my own. Later on I learnt that Sangeetha and Bhavana had woken up with all my knocking and weren't able to go back to sleep. I stopped by the front desk to get detailed directions and the lady there asked me to just follow the road and that about a 1/4 mile from there I would see a sign for the Z-point. I was a bit surprised since the map showed 5 miles. When I mentioned this, she said, "Oh, it could be 5 miles. I am not real good with distances." You have to be pretty bad with distances to confuse 5 miles for a 1/4 mile.
It was still dark, but right on the dot of 5 miles I saw the sign for the Z-point. There were a couple of other cars there and although it was about 5.45am, it was 72 deg outside. It was quite windy though. I gathered all my gear and walked up with another (Japanese) guy who seemed similarly prepared.
Upon inquiry he told me that this was the third time he was coming to photograph the sunrise. You have to walk up a short hill to get to a stage like area from where you look down into the Zabriskie Point. The sun was not up and we set up taking some general shots. I continued till about 7.30 and then returned to the hotel. Folks were still mostly sleeping. Since the buffet closed at 9am, everybody got going quickly and we walked over for the breakfast buffet. It was rather disappointing. The choices were poor and the food was only so-so. Some folks tried to make up with quantity.
There are lots of well known vista points near the FC area, so we set out right after breakfast. First stop was the southern most point we were going to hit - 'Badwater' which, at 282 ft below sea level, is the lowest point in the western hemisphere. The badwater basin used to have a lake thousands of years ago,
that evaporated leaving behind upto 5 ft of salt. Now the whole area is just covered with salt and small puddles of water after it rains. The salt is almost pure table salt (Malini and I tasted it). We walked on to the salt basin and spend some time admiring the view and taking pictures. Then we started driving back towards FC, making stops at all the various vista/hike points. First was the Natural Bridge.Arjun and Abhi were not going to come on the hike, so I stayed in the car with them while the rest of the gang went first. Malini hurried back so that I could go as well. I quickly did the hike and returned to the car. It was a gentle climb most of the way. The natural bridge was about mid-way and then the trail
culminated with a shiny rock formation that is called the 'dry waterfall' since it looks like there is water falling, but of course, there really isn't any. I actually ran all the way back since it was easier than walking down hill on the loose gravel that covered most of the trail. Next stop was at the Devil's golf course - it not a real course of course, but the mud and salt have created such a treacherous terrain that somebody commented that "these were links so bad that only a
devil could play golf here" and a vista point was born. It is just a quick stop - the approach road is once again unpaved and Vinay needed some convincing to continue on it. It was one of the better roads, thankfully. Next was going to be the Artists Drive, but Vinay was desperate for a potty break so we headed to the next trail head - Golden Canyon - which is basically on the other side of the Z-point. Murty (for old times sake) made a beeline for the chemical toilet and others decided to tackle lunch. We were going to take turns doing the hike anyway and I wasn't feeling too hungry so I decided to head in first. For some reason, Arjun wanted to come along. The info said it was an "easy" 1-mile hike. So I took him along. It was an easy, albeit slightly uphill, walk. We ambled along at a reasonable pace with me taking pictures and keeping an eye out to see if Arjun was getting tired. I felt we had walked almost as much as the natural bridge hike (which is also marked as 1-mile), but the end was not in sight.
I asked some folks walking back and they said that I had at least as much to go! Arjun was tiring and there was no way he would make it all the way without me having to carry him. One couple assured me that going further wasn't going to yield any better views and that was all the encouragement I needed - we turned around. When Arjun and I got back, others were done with the utilitarian lunch (bread & cheese) and were ready to head out. I made a similar meal for Arjun and myself and settled in the shade of Vinay's minivan for the gang to return. It was almost 3pm when they got back. We had talked about visiting the Borax works museum and then going back to the Artists drive for sunset (around 4.30pm), but folks were tired and we decided to just do the Artists drive and forget about the Borax works. Quick note: Borax was mined for a long time in the DV and museum (very close to FC ranch) is supposedly quite nice. Anyway, we headed back to the Artists drive and apart from one stop to take pictures (only I got out) we finished the drive before 4pm.
The Artists drive is so named because it presents views of several mountains that seem to have dabs of paint applied on them. There are some unusual yellows, browns, reds, blues, and greens to be seen. There are some good spots for sunset photos, but we didn't stay too long. I suggested checking out the Zabriskie point and folks readily concurred. It was getting close to sunset when we got there. I stayed in the car with the boys, but had to signal vigorously for Malini to get back since Abhi declared a potty alert and Arjun was fast asleep. They didn't see my wild semaphoring for quite some time, but luckily Abhi was in sufficient control to avoid an accident. I went again and squeezed off some more pictures at the z-point, but didn't really wait for all the sunset colors to appear. I sort of regretted that when we started driving since the sky rapidly became very colorful.
Back at the ranch, the original plan was to go to the pool, but only Vinay could be convinced to join me. Malini brought Abhi also, while Arjun wanted to stay back and watch TV while RDX was planning to browse. The pool was very nice - really warm. Abhi also enjoyed the pool. After showers we all headed to the 49-ers cafe for dinner. We bought a tub of ice cream which we split later while we played poker and the kids watched a movie. RDX felt bad for the 4 kumars in one queen bed (although we kept insisting that we had been fine) and made a bed for himself on the carpet. I had the luxury of a bed all to myself.
Monday morning, we all got ready by 9am and went back to the 49-ers cafe for breakfast. No buffet today. We filled up on the most expensive gas of the trip - $3.10 per gallon - and headed out.
We had one more stop to make - Dantes View. This is 13 miles off 190 (which is the road out of the park) and climbs quite a bit. We were rewarded by a gorgeous view. I had to deploy my 200-400mm lens and as a final act, I decided to take a group shot. 
The lens required that folks had to get quite far away from the camera so that we could all fit in the frame which led to some wisecracking at my expense. Vinay attempted to drive the point home by trying to locate me with his binoculars while I set up the shot. We finally headed out of there by 11.30am. The drive to San Diego was uneventful, with an undistinguished stop at Buffalo Wild Wings in Murrieta. We stopped at the Murthys since RD had ended up in our car for the dinner stop (the Murthys had found an Indian place nearby - apparently Vinay had some sort of craving for paneer masala or something).
The planet Jupiter was forming a triangle in the sky with the moon and Venus and I attempted to take a picture of that with limited success. Sangeetha kindly obliged with tea and after consuming the same we headed home to Dormouse Rd. I had been getting bad vibes as the trip got closer, but most everything went off well. True, we missed out on a couple of sights, but perhaps that will be incentive to return. We did get to experience one of the truly unique spots in the world and everybody had a good time. Can't really ask for much more from a vacation.
Footnote: Perhaps there was a DV jinx. A week later all four of us are unwell, with Abhi being the latest. Both Abhi and Arjun are on antibiotics and Malini needs a dose quite urgently. According to the doc, Arjun's rash was not an allergic reaction, but caused by a strep infection. Apparently they have been seeing cases for about 2 weeks.
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