This wasn’t our first time soaking in the hot spring waters that emerge out of Death Valley and spill into this pool near Shoshone Inn where we were staying, but the other night under the stars, it was impossible to take photos as it was so dark and it was too cold to even consider it. Jutta was a bit apprehensive to get out of the warm car after we changed into swimsuits that night and bristled at the idea that she was going to get in a pool when it was nearly freezing outside, but as we scurried through the gate and moved fast to immerse ourselves, a sigh of relief and awe went up from the three of us, luxury.

While we weren’t staying at the swanky accommodations found at The Inn at Death Valley, we had the indulgence of these incredibly cozy, beautifully warm waters all to ourselves.

After a hot breakfast at the Crowbar Cafe with Jutta furthering the indulgence to the start of the day by having strawberry-covered pancakes, we were once again on the road and before long were crossing into Nevada to visit a place that was on Caroline’s and my bucket list.

One doesn’t drive through a yucca forest and simply admire them, one gets out of their car and communes with them.

While visiting snowcapped mountains wasn’t on the itinerary, how could we leave somewhere as extreme as Death Valley and not contrast it with images of the winter Jutta was missing by being in America with us?

We are up in the Mt. Charleston area just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Of course, we got Jutta to fall back into the snow to make snow angels with her daughter. How often are you going to convince a lady near her mid-70s to do something so silly? Just five years ago, we had Jutta out in New Mexico making sand angels; click here to check out that day.

Mt. Charleston on a perfect day.

Speaking of contrasts, here we are at the item I mentioned from our bucket list, and the last reason for us to ever visit Las Vegas again is the Liberace Museum.

Update: on October 17, 2010, the Liberace Museum closed and never reopened.

Jutta had no idea who this guy Liberace was and Caroline only knew due to her time here in the States and learning about all the cornball stuff we’ve fetishized.

Well, now we’ve been here and done that: so long, Las Vegas, we may never see you again…at least until the next time.

If you were to look back at last year’s visit to the Hoover Dam when we stopped on our way to Death Valley, you might think these were the same photos. It’ll be another month before we travel with Jutta again, which is relatively extraordinary, but we have invited her to stay 83 days with us, with most of our focus on her experiencing what our normal day-to-day kind of life is like. She arrived back on January 23rd and will be leaving on April 15 if I can handle hanging out with my mother-in-law that long.