Our last Sunday in Las Vegas. This will be a low impact day as John is pretty tired from his long week. We will be visiting Valley of Fire, the Hoover Dam and riding the Las Vegas strip in the evening to gawk at the lights and the nightlife.
The Valley of Fire is located in the Mojave Desert, Northeast of the Las Vegas Strip. The red sandstone formations are a welcome visual relief after traveling miles through gray desert rock.
Unfortunately it was cloudy today. The park was named because the formations can appear to be on fire when reflecting the sun’s rays.
The formations were formed from great shifting sand dunes during the age of the dinosaurs more than 150 million years ago. This one is called a Beehive.
Though the red sandstone was the most common color in the Valley of Fire, there were pockets of different colored sandstone along the way. This area was called Rainbow Vista. The different colored striping was beautiful.
It is amazing to us. The way the shifting sand dunes turned to sandstone, frozen in time.
Prehistoric people of Valley of Fire included the Anasazi, who were famers from the nearby Moapa Valley. Their visits to Valley of Fire involved hunting, food gathering, and religious ceremonies. Here are some petroglyphs.
For the TV and movie people out there….the 80’s hit show Airwolf used the Valley of Fire (Valley of Gods in the show) as the hiding place for the helicopter. It was also among these formations that Captain Kirk fell to his death in Star Trek Generations.
It is hard to depict what we were seeing as we drove through the park, so view the video below to take a short ride with us through the Valley of Fire.
After the Valley of Fire, we headed to Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. How do you take a picture that is so big you can’t see it all at once with your own eyes? (yes I know , the panoramic function on the camera…not the point I’m trying to make)
Talk about vertigo, and I normally don’t have issues with heights.
Check out the electric line towers. The grade is so steep and the available real estate so small they put them on the side of the canyon.
There is the bridge we will go over when we leave the Las Vegas area heading for Phoenix.
Speaking of leaving, it is time to get something to eat and head for the Strip. It is hard to get pictures at night, but I managed to get a couple usable ones. Trump Tower, and a cool Tiffany lamp outside of a restaurant. It is just something you have to see for yourself.
Since children may read this blog, you are going to have to ask John about his early morning “gift” from a lady-of-the-evening.
Farewell Las Vegas….’til next time.
Gorgeous pics and I know they don’t do justice. I was thinking about that in the middle of our woods recently when the leaves were coming down all around us. There is no way to capture that kind of beauty. The video brought me right back to our major roadtrip. No way to preserve it, just breathe it all into your heart. Have a wonderful adventure! I’ll look forward to seeing much more.