Scotty's Lower Vine Ranch tour had been near the top of my priority list for Death Valley ever since tours started a couple of years ago.  The reason that it took me so long to take the tour, was that my trip dates never seemed to match up with the dates when tours were given.  The tours of Scotty's Lower Vine Ranch are not given year round.  They are generally given one or two days per week for only a few months out of the year.  Thus, Daria and I were really looking forward to going on the tour of Lower Vine Ranch, and it did not disappoint.  For starters, the two rangers who conducted our tour did an extremely nice job of talking with us about Lower Vine Ranch, Scotty, and his life there.  We saw pictures which we had never seen before and learned new things which gave us a different perspective of Scotty.  At the same time, they kept everybody in line and made sure that people were respecting the area in which they were visiting.  So, I can't thank the park service enough for making these tours available, as there is no other way in which to see this area.  To help interest others in this exclusive tour, I decided to put together a Trip Reports page on our visit.  We were allowed to take pictures during the tour and encouraged to share them with others, so I am happy to do that here.  As you go through my pictures, you will see that I will not be explaining them in great detail, but rather raising questions.  The questions which I raise will be answered for you on the tour, so hopefully that will help motivate you to try it.  Just a note that on extremely hot days, I would actually encourage you to bring an umbrella with you to protect yourself from the sun.  Either that, or lots of sunscreen and water.  I know that might sound like a strange idea, but you'll understand why later.