Went on a guys trip to Johnsons Shut-Ins the last week. Go ahead and Google what happened there last night. I don't really know the point of posting this here but I feel like sharing.

It started raining around 11pm. The tents held up fine for a while.

I remember waking up at one point to hard rain. I checked the tent but things seemed fine. That was probably about midnight or 1am. Around 2am I woke up cause something felt wrong. The tent was moving and shaking.

I opened the door and saw chaos. It was like looking at the sea in a storm, and I was being carried off by the rushing water. We were swept into a shelter, where I was able to find footing to grab my kid (I was telling "GET UP, GET UP NOW" the whole time) and toss him onto a table out of the water.

I managed to grab quite a bit from the tent and toss it on too and then wedge the tent between two trees.

I then saw the other tent from my group float past. I couldn't help them.

My kid is crying, a torrent of rising water is at my feet, and I spotted that the bathroom shelter nearby was higher up. I grabbed my kid and had to fight my way through the raging water worrying I'd drop him with any misstep. I made it across and we were the first ones there.

Slowly others came. First my FIL and then other campers tricked in. We didn't know what had happened to my bil or my nephew, just they they'd been swept away. My FIL had been sucked out of the tent when he opened the door.

Another family we could hear yelling across the water. A father and son stuck in the trees. They showed up later at the shelter, apparently the son had been pulled away from his dad but wedged on a tree and was able to escape. The dad went back to find the rest of the family. They were all ok.

A few hours later, my bil and his son showed up. They'd been pinned by the current to the trees for at least 2 hours. Hypothermic and exhausted, but safe.

Dawn came and the rain stopped. We gathered what ever else we could find and then left through flooded roads.

I recently visited Albuquerque and spent almost a full day at their botanical gardens. It was awesome and made realize how much I love bioparks.
Of all the attractions a city may have, they always delight and never leave me conflicted like I feel at zoos and aquariums.

So I ask the people of Tides: where are the best bio parks and what makes them great?

We are just back from a first ever trip to Death valley national Park to check out the wild flowers.

We saw fields carpeted in bright yellow. We also saw more sparse purple flowers. We also drove through areas of the park that were as dry and dessicated as you can imagine. This is the wettest season of the year and it is still the desert.

Some of the highlights for me were the rock formations. We had planned a second day to explore more and hike, but weather prevented it. We still saw very impressive sights. Shout-out to a helpful ranger at the information desk who helped us choose.

One of the best experiences was outside the park. We would have missed this entirely without advice from Tildes. We visited Ash Meadows wildlife refuge where we saw the pupfish. We also saw a roadrunner, a large grey snake on the road, (we were driving) and a very pale raptor, possibly an osprey.

Thank you @chromebby and @worldasis.

Thanks also @skybrian. We drove through Panamint but stayed in Tecopa.

Death valley has not changed my top three so far US national parks but it is beautiful and impressive. I would go back to explore more but not in summer.

We plan to check out how the desert is doing after the recent rain. I have never visited Death Valley and I expect the National Park map will point out the highlights. But if you have been to this park, what stood out or was memorable for you? What advice do you have? We have a few days and the park is huge.

Was there anywhere to eat that you liked? We are coming from the West, not the East. Will probably stay a night in Bakersfield before returning home.