The Furnace Creek Ranch at Death Valley has gone through major changes over the last two years. I wish I had pictures for the "before", but after two days of looking I still can't find many. I'll do my best with words.
I believe the Ranch, such as it was, dated back to the 1920's or '30's, when good roads and automobiles began to make it less difficult to travel rugged terrain. The cabins, shops and restaurants were all wooden structures, following a theme that would look familiar to any fan of American westerns. There is a stable with horses for folks interested in horseback tours. There is a Borax museum with fascinating artifacts and explanations of the geology and history of the area. There are also laundry facilities, a U.S. Post office, a golf course watered with recycled water, a date grove that is no longer commercially harvested (they leave the fruit for the wildlife), a warm-springs-fed swimming pool. (The nearby Furnace Creek airport, the lowest in this country, provides interesting ground school material for flight students.) In addition to rooms and cabins, the resort has a dry-camping area with the evocative name of Fiddlers Campground. The Ranch, while not inexpensive, always seemed to be more family-oriented and less fancy than the Furnace Creek Inn, a very swishy resort up the hill above sea level, where the movie stars hung out. Maybe they still do.
We liked the casual western-style atmosphere of the Furnace Creek Ranch buildings. The bar had posters from movies and TV shows filmed in Death Valley. The restaurants had photos of the area in earlier times. The bare wooden plank floors added to the relaxed atmosphere of the place, and we could walk to dinner at night from our campground for beer and burgers or pizza, or steak or salmon at the more upscale steakhouse. Two years ago we enjoyed pizza and beer at the bar. We thought it excellent.
During our visit two years ago we learned that the owner corporation, Xanterra, planned to raze the buildings and rebuild in a more Mediterranean motif. We were dismayed until we learned from a few employees that the existing buildings were miserable places to work: too hot in the summer, moldy (or was it mildewy?) due to the age of the wood, pest-infested. Okay, that made sense. We'd just have to wait and see what the new design looked like.
In looking back over this topic I see that last year I didn't even bother posting about Death Valley, aside from a teaser-title "A Dearth in Death Valley". The restaurants and shop buildings had indeed been demolished. There was a new, large, open-plan cafeteria called The Date Garden Oasis set up as a temporary measure during construction. We walked in but walked out due to the long line and overwhelming din. We went to the 19th Hole at the golf course and found that their grill had shut down for the night. After a couple of beers by their fireplace we walked back to the trailer and ate something - I forget what - and hoped for an improvement by our next visit.
We've just come from that next visit. The original stone entrance gate is intact. The Borax Museum and its exhibits are unchanged, to our great relief, with its old maps and artifacts inside and mining and railroad equipment outside. The new buildings and grounds are nice. I'd say the new design isn't jarring except in contrast to the earlier motif; it's more in keeping with the design of the posh Inn a few miles uphill. Note the rain chains in the upper-right photo of this collage. I've always admired rain chains as a clever way to channel rainwater from the eave gutters to the ground.
The old firepit in the dirt courtyard outside the general store and restaurant is gone. In its place is a patio, complete with tables and chairs for relaxing and dining outside. It looks like one might be able to cook in this fireplace, although the management might not appreciate it.
We went in to check out the restaurants and their offerings. I was determined to dine there one night, preferably where I could get a steak. My darling is much more the beer-and-burger sort, but will occasionally yield to my more extravagant tastes as long as he can get a beer or three. The interiors have continued the Western theme, although I think they went a bit overboard in the Last Kind Words Saloon.
Alas, the schedule and prices aced us out. It isn't clear from these pictures, but the "Sandwiches, Burgers and Such" menu applied only from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Dinner began at 5:00 and went until 9:00, but no burgers, or sandwiches of any type were to be had at that time. The 19th Hole Grill, over at the golf course, would offer burgers - but only until 5:00. We eat later than that.
The left side of the collage below shows the choices that would have applied at what we consider a civilized time to eat, usually around 7 p.m. We could have chosen from "Steaks, Chops and Ribs" or the "Death Valley Specialties" or the "Plate to Share" (appetizers, basically). A flatbread would have been the contemporary alternative to pizza, but that would be the closest we could get to pizza and beer, or any meal at the price range my darling prefers.
I'm afraid that even I, with my extravagant tastes, balked at the prices for the full dinner I'd been advocating. (Go ahead, snicker if you wish.) Those prices may be right in line with big-city dining and are considerably less than I've seen posted on eGullet from very upscale restaurants. But I shied away from spending $40 on the 6-ounce ribeye with mushroom-merlot sauce that had caught my eye. I kept thinking, "it's so small! and what if the steak isn't cooked properly?" I can do a lot of experimenting for that kind of money. I'd rather save my splurge money for exploring new cuisine or techniques.
Xanterra has put a lot of money into the new setup and needs to recoup it. That's business, and I wish them well. However, unless there's an adjustment that allows dinner past 5:00 without blowing the budget they'll be recouping it without our help at the restaurants.
I'll show in another post how we spent our money instead, and what we ate at "home".
