After spending a few days at Valley of Fire, Nevada, we traveled to Death Valley, staying at Furnace Creek Ranch. We were told that the previous summer the ranch had to be evacuated when the temperature reached 130 degrees. Luckily for us we arrived in April.
While in Death Valley we visited Zabriskie Point, Artist's Palette, Desolation Canyon, Golden Canyon, Mesquite Sand Dunes, and Badwater Basin - the lowest point in North America at 282 feet below sea level.
The Tatooine scenes from Star Wars IV: A New Hope (1977) were filmed in Tunisia, North Africa (in '76), but a number of short pick-up shots were filmed in Death Valley (in '77). When this film was released, and for the next few years, I was the Star Wars kid - until the musical obsessions took over. The cover for U2's Joshua Tree album (1987) was shot at Zabriskie Point by Anton Corbijn in late 1986.
