With the weekend fast approaching, I had to pick a destination since I took Monday off. This time, instead of opening 50 tabs and stressing myself out over where is best, I listened to my inner self and committed to a new location down south. The goal was Milky Way Sunday night at Alabama Hills and everything else will be a bonus. Usually Milky Way is best starting in May, I knew I had to get up really early. My only concern was giving up sleep, and sleeping in the car means tossing and turning all night. I have been scoping this location on google maps last year, but with the Sierra passes still closed for the season, it was going to be a lengthy eight hour drive. But then I asked myself, if not now, then when? It was time to wake up and go. I decided to split it up over 3 days, as the most I have driven is 6 hours in a day. I also wanted to go to Death Valley for years but never made it there. As this was the last month of pleasant temperatures there, my goal was to to just use my annual pass and enter the park, that was it. 

The 7 hour drive today felt like nothing. The contrast between sitting stationary all week and speeding down an open highway was invigorating. I didn’t get much sleep the past week, but for some reason my mind was racing with excitement, adventure. An open mind, open heart. I spent the late afternoon exploring Red Rock Canyon State Park and taking my ‘foreground’ shots. With the desert wind howling I couldn’t stay long. I headed early into the small town of Inyokern and stayed the night at a very nice motel.