The news was filled with stories of the impact of the “atmospheric rivers” of rain transforming Death Valley from its normally bone dry barren valley floor into a lush wet landscape with ephemeral lakes and ponds popping up everywhere.

Even the Badwater Basin, the vast, surreal salt flat famous for its beautiful crystalline patterns of salt crystals, was now underwater.

After 10,000 years, Lake Manly was back and Herb was not going to miss this once in a lifetime phenomenon.

But before doing that, we would spend a few days in Bishop visiting our son and daughter-in-law whom we hadn’t seen since Christmas.

Beautiful Bishop in the Eastern Sierra, located in the Owens Valley between the beautiful snow-capped Sierra mountains to the west and the Whites to the east, is a worthy destination in itself with lots of great hikes and beautiful scenery.

So the plan was 6 days in Bishop staying at our kids’ house and then four days in Death Valley, three at the Furnace Creek Ranch and one at Stovepipe Wells.