I wanted to see how the opera house where ballerina Marta Becket once danced was doing. Instead of heading over Jubilee Pass down to the valley and Badwater, I decided to head over to Death Valley Junction and the Amargosa Opera House and Hotel. An antique fire hose sits outside of the Amargosa Opera House.

I stopped in Shoshone to top off the gas tank - holy cow, gas was almost $4 a gallon! Folks said there were almost no flowers in Death Valley proper due to the lack of fall rains. This did not bode well for wildflowers in Death Valley.

The barren banks of the Amargosa River show no sign of wildflowers. There wasn’t even much greenery to suggest flowers were on their way. I thought for sure there would be some blooming. Going past Dumont Dunes out of Baker I was disappointed to see there were no desert sand verbena near the bridge crossing the Amargosa River on Highway 127. Death Valley and the possibility of wildflowers beckoned. It was time to do something, to go some place. I hope it wasn’t the latter.Īnyway, Sunday, I was bored. My mother always told me, “Intelligent people don’t get bored, they find something to do.” I am not sure if she wanted me to wash dishes or go find something new and interesting to do or see - or maybe she was telling me I was not intelligent. Boredom can lead to adventures of all shapes and sizes. It can get you out of the house it can give you reasons to meet people you might not talk to otherwise. Death Valley Junction and the Amargosa Opera Houseīoredom can be a wonderful thing.

Amargosa opera house history