On the perpetual quest for challenge, novelty (and productivity): Death Valley National Park

Day 1: Camped in the car at Emigrant (free) because we arrived very late at night. Surprisingly comfortable. Drove down to Stovepipe Wells which is a very nifty place to see (super Old Western) but has absolutely abhorred wifi, seriously. Might as well not have any wifi. There is service at Furnace Creek however (we discovered this later). However there is no service anywhere else in Death Valley.
Day 2: Saw the sand dunes - boatloads of fun, make sure to come early in the morning. Circa 10am, hoards of people show up. Prior to that, we had the dunes essentially to ourselves. Went sand dune surfing. The dunes seem very very far away from the parking lot, but when you start walking you'll be surprised at how fast you actually get there. Death Valley really messes with your perceptions of distance.

There is a cool museum in the visitor center.

Went to Dantes Peak to have ourselves a picnic. Very cool view, highly recommend.

Then to Artists Drive to kill time before heading to a program lead by a Ranger about the Dark Skies (why light pollution is really so bad). Did you know that birds in Las Vegas die because the skylights confuse them (since they, like turtles, scorpions and many other creatures, use moonlight and starlight to navigate). So they can't orient themselves and will fly in circles until they die from exhaustion.

Saw Jupiter from a telescope also!
Day 3: Badwater Basin - very cool, literally plains of salt.

Stopped by the Borax Museum. It had lots of awesome rocks and info about the 20 mule team (which was actually 18 mules and 2 horses typically). Mules were better than horses because they ate less and drank less and could stand the heat better. Also they were sterile. However horses had to be used to help the team deliver the borax because they were easier to train and would follow instructions better.

Day 2 morning brought us this beauty :) (NO EDITTING)

Classy

Ubehebe Crater (very long drive there). Learned about the similarities of deserts and Mars! Who knew that clay was so awesome.

Everything is super far away from everything else. ALSO GAS STRAIGHT UP EVAPORATES. We used over a tank of gas in one day. For a Prius. It was ridiculous. Gas is $5-$6/gallon in the heart of the park.