Some 10 miles south of Furnace Creek lies the entrance to Artist Drive, one of the more popular attractions in the park. For nine miles, this one-way road winds its way east, north, then west through the foothills of the Black Mountains, passing through rugged washes and across wide alluvial plains. We didn’t expect to do any hiking along this drive, but the scenery beckons literally every driver to make frequent stops to further investigate the grandness up close – we made many such stops. Among the most notable was the first one, at the top of the first hill east of the Badwater Road – here, a low saddle to the south frames a beautiful view down the mountain range, and the wildflowers down in the flats made a colorful addition to the picture. A knob above the saddle made a particularly appealing viewpoint, and, despite the dozen cars parked below at the turnout a few hundred yards away, we found ourselves alone on the hilltop for a few minutes – it was somewhat magical, with only the sound of the wind reaching our ears. We continued northward along the road, eventually reaching what was the most congested part of the trip at a short paved spur road to a viewpoint below Artist’s Palette, a collection of hillsides and rock faces displaying a variety of colors, some turquoise, some red, some purple, some white. The motley collection of tour buses and private vehicles creating chaos on the road were well justified in their presence – this a marvelous illustration of God’s creative playfulness, like looking at a supernova or the aurora borealis, and it’s almost inconceivable that so many colors are naturally present in this single place. We continued north and west back to the road’s northern junction with the Badwater Road – it was about 2pm by this time, and we needed to find some lunch (we found it at the 49er Café in Furnace Creek, where, though the food was fairly tasty, our bill totaled $52 for sandwiches, Jane’s soda, and Chris’ cup of coffee – ouch). On to more adventures.