I didn't actually spend any time in casinos (unless you count the casino at my hotel in which I kept getting lost while trying to find the elevators to the hotel rooms) or on the Strip. Instead, I rented a car and went hiking at some near by parks. I hiked all day each day and then returned to my hotel and crashed (I was a bit sleep deprived when I got there because of flight delays and my stomach still being on eastern time).
The first day I went to the Hoover Dam and then to Lake Mead National Recreation Area. I did a walk from the park to the dam which went along an old railway line that was used during construction of the dam. What I found really noticeable was how low the water level was in the lake. The lake was created when the dam was constructed - the water in the lake is what powers the hydro generators in the dam and also provides water to Las Vegas. The ever-decreasing water level (and dire consequences) has been in the news in the past year - it will be interesting to see what happens in the future and what solutions for electricity and water supply are found.
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| Hoover Dam |
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| Upstream of Hoover Dam |
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| Lake Mead Recreation Area |
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| Railway tunnels |
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| Lake Mead |
The second day I went to Red Rock Canyon Park, just west of Las Vegas. It was here that I forgot that I can control the weather by putting on sunscreen. There wasn't a cloud in the sky when I got there so I figured I should put on sunscreen and then an hour and a half later it started hail/rain/snowing. I retreated to my car for a while (ate lunch and read a magazine) while it blew over and then continued hiking. Near the end of the day I came across a small herd of deer, which was kind of neat.
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| Red Rock Canyon |
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| Red Rock Canyon |
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| Consequences of sunscreen application |
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| Red Rock Canyon |
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| Deer |
The last day I went to Valley of Fire Park. I enjoyed scrambling in the rocks in the park (which I may or may not have been allowed to do... but I didn't get hurt and neither did the rocks so I figure it's all ok).
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| Valley of Fire |
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| Wave of Fire |
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| Rock Erosion |
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| Me |
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| Valley of Fire |
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| Desert moonrise |
There were a lot of "no guns/weapons allowed" signs in the parks, casinos, stores, etc. I could never decide whether the signs made me feel safer (because there would be no guns/weapons there) or less safe (because they needed to post the signs in the first place).
