Standing on a hill and looking out at the vast spaces of a desert like the Mojave is just plain thrilling. It is so hard to drink it all in. It’s easy to imagine the centuries of native americans, travelers, settlers, miners and ranchers who have criss-crossed the landscape…

This is the view we saw from the entrance to Mitchell Caverns in the Mojave Desert yesterday. I can see why it became a popular tourist destination (in addition to the amazing caverns) when Route 66 was a busy path from Chicago to Los Angeles.