11 July 2005

More desert pics





When I flew to Vegas to visit my sweet little Jae-Min and her dear Mama and Daddy, I took the opportunity to strike off on my own and do a little desert hiking in the incredible and amazing Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire State Parks. Please go to both of them if you ever get a chance. It's amazing that Red Rock is within 15 miles of a major metropolitian area like Las Vegas and yet you feel a million miles away. Same with Valley of Fire but you are more like an hour from the city. I am so thankful that these are protected areas. For that reason I did not mind the entrance fees. However, I am sure if I lived local I'd be finding a way to sneak in. I really love, but respect, the desert. I love the refreshing fragrance and feel of the dry air-especially high dry air, the lack of mosquitos, sky-scapes, the interplay of sun and shadow on the rocks and mountains, alpine glow, the way it cools off at night, the way the plants look different depending on the time of day and how the sun is shining on them, and, just being in an allergen free (for me) environment. I respect the heat, the way it cools off at night, the need for water, the need for preparedness, the intense sunshine, rattle snakes, black widow spiders, the potential for flash floods and other storms. Yes, that's water coming off that rock in the above pic. In fact the day I was there they were warning about flash floods. Didn't see one.

8 comments:

Patty said...

Fantastic pictures Mary Beth. Keep them coming. I love the desert too. Nothing at all like what we used to encounter in our camping days way back in the 20th century.

patty

Sunny said...

Bill King.

Sunny said...

Patty, remember the cows?

Sunny said...

"Excuse me officer, I just wanted to let the girls out to the....
bathroom."

Patty said...

that moment was one of my all time favorite camping moments. I think we smelled a bit smoked, like a BBQ of sorts. We did adventure didn't we. I was just looking at those pictures from Bridal Veil Falls. One of Bill King there too.
I believe you and I had a roll of T paper handy when the officer stoped him. Always prepared.

Sunny said...

Running up the embankment with the TP flapping in the wind. He didn't get a ticket either.
I was just telling the girls here at work our prank and one of them told me a better one. She and her sister went on a double date (that's trouble right there) when they were kids to a drive in. When they guys went to the concession stand they moved the car and the guys came back with all these sodas and couldn't find them.

kushibo said...

Death Valley in the summer... haven't done that since 2001, when it felt like a hair dryer was constantly blowing on me.

And I haven't been up to Las Vegas's lovely canyon since I was a teenager... next time I visit my komo (who lives in Vegas), I'll suggest it to my family.

Great pics.

Sunny said...

Not in summer, I hope, Kushibo. You don't want to FRY in that desert!