News, updates, Weather, roads, etc.

YIPEE! We finally have all our building permits!! Temporary power has been installed. DIRT MOVED!! The dirt pad is done!! Footings in, electrical trenches dug; steele supports for the arched entrance in. Now we have a real live concrete floor!!! Watch as the walls fly up!! Oh boy! They're working on the steel roof beams, the arched ones that go over the new store, in Bakersfield. Keep an eye out - when the roof beams go up the walls won't be far behind!
Keep track of our progress!!!!! There is a SLIDE SHOW under the Photo heading, New Building. !! Or just go watch.

Save March 2 for Annual Meeting date! Tickets are now on sale in the museum store at a cost of $30 each.

All Sierra passes [120, 108, 4 and 89] are closed due to snow. Sherman Pass is closed. Kennedy Meadows road closed beyond the store.

Petroglyph Tour Dates are posted several places - see What's Happening and Pet tour info pages. Sign up quickly - tours fill fast!! Only 19 people per tour.

"Brush & Blush" fundraiser - see details under "Special Events" Feb. 22 and March 14.

New - on Death Valley web site - a "virtual museum tour" of some of the items in their collection storage, you can play the Castle Organ, etc.
http://www.nps.gov/history/museum/exhibits/death_valley/index.html

The refurbished Death Valley Visitor Center is now OPEN!! Furnace Creek Campground is now closed Feb. 1, 2012 through the Spring! they're replacing the
sewer and water lines! see my Death Valley info under Tourist Info for details. Don't forget that you can order Scotty's Castle tour tickets through www.recreation.gov website! Know before you go....

**Marta Beckett has retired from her "show" - last performance was Feb. 12. End of an era! See http://www.amargosa-opera-house.com/schedule.htm

Trail of 100 Giants - road is closed at Parker Pass Rd. The USFS plans to build a walkway near the fallen sequoias to complete the loop trail again - construction will ve Fall 2012.

NEXT FREE DAY AT THE MUSEUM IS March 10

Admission is always FREE for anyone to the Store and information area. The whole Museum is FREE every 2nd Saturday of the Month!! .

FYI - the one lone gas station in Trona probably does NOT have gas! Call T Stop - 760 372-4761 If you're headed for Panamint or Death Valley, fill up in Ridgecrest.

Snow happens!! If you head for the hills, watch the weather reports and go prepared with food and chains and lots of warm clothes!
Be sure to tell someone where you are going and when you expect to return!!

Welcome to our new improved look!!!! The current and past newsletters are in the box above here "newsletters". Petroglyph tours now have their own section, as does the Store. Greatly expanded

and improved are the Exhibits and Get Involved sections.

My travel info which has been on two pages, Death Valley and Exploring the Northern Mojave Desert from Ridgecrest is all there, but now divided up into sections according to location under Tourist Information - local
area places to visit, Hwys 14, 395, 178, Death Valley, and Kennedy Meadows and farther away than 3 hrs. from Ridgecrest. See the links below the intro photo in each section. And last but not least Mike has gathered the photo galleries and art show panoramas under "photos". Webmistress, Janet Westbrook

Charley's Grilled Subs will donate $1.00 to the Museum every time you order a combo meal. Print the coupon from the box above and enjoy great food!!

Point-of-Sale is now working in our Store! Saves time- no more hand-written receipts, no more headaches for our bookkeeper, it makes inventory easier, and you'll love it!

Petroglyph screensaver - works on Mac or PC, on 16:9 or 4:3 screens, $8.95 in our Store. GREAT photos, some from places with no public access.

Wildflower screensaver - works on Mac or PC, really pretty photos of our local flowers. $4.95

We're part of ESCHA - Eastern Sierra Cultural and Heritage Alliance effort. We don't have the CD here, but you can download the audio bits and play them as you enter the Owens Valley, as most of it relates to the Paiute people and Cerro Gordo - get it from www.roadsideheritage.org, it plays on your computer or MP3player, or cut a CD and listen to it in your car as you drive. 30 min, nicely done. Lots of interesting topics!! Check it out.

LOCAL WEATHER - go to www.ridgenet.net there's a little box with current weather info, and under it a place to click for "more info" - do that and you get current stuff and can ask for 10 day forecast, current doppler radar map, surface map, and earthquake map!

Current HIGHWAY CONDITIONS - updated hourly - go to California DOT page and enter the highway number you want or go to a list of ALL of the numbered highways in CA and their conditions, updated hourly.

It takes only 10 min. longer to go to Las Vegas from Ridgecrest through Death Valley and via Hwy 190 to Death Valley Junction and Hwy 160 to Pahrump and to I-15! And you don't have to deal with I-15 all the way; If you're coming north on Hwy 14, it's way faster to get to Death Valley via Ridgecrest and Trona than from Hwy 190 from Olancha.