Our first stop on Sunday was Scotty’s castle. Built by insurance magnate Albert Johnson, the castle bears the name of his caretaker, Walter Scott. When the castle was built, Scott bragged to reporters that he was the once who actually built the castle, financing it with his private gold mine. Albert Johnson played along with the charade, and it eventually became known as Scotty’s Castle. I supposed Albert must really be a nice guy to allow his castle to be named after his caretaker.

We chose not to join the tour into the castle, and spent our time walking up a small uprising to where Death Valley Scotty was buried. From the top, the view was quite pleasant, and there was a plaque with a quote by Scotty, “I got four things to live by: Don’t say nothing that will hurt anybody. Don’t give advice, nobody will take it anyway. Don’t complain. Don’t explain.”

To give an idea of how large Death Valley is, Scotty’s Castle is 53 miles from the Furnace Creek Visitor Center. That is roughly the distance between San Jose and San Francisco. It didn’t seem that far when we were in the Valley, though. I guess the size and scope of the entire region really do affect your perceptions.