a day in the desert

A tenacious little tree growing out of the rock.
I wonder if the roots will someday become large enough to crack the stone?

From the Red Rocks National Conservation Area.  It's easy to understand how the land was formed when you can see it open like this.  This summer we bought the National Park Senior Pass, and it has already paid for itself on the trip here!

Hoover Dam and Lake Mead are easy to get to and memorable.

My hiking companion.  He's a keeper!  
This was in the Spring Mountains National Conservation Area, just northwest of the city.

I brought along some paper piecing to work on, but forgot to bring a light.  The lighting in the living room area of the condo leaves a lot to be desired, once the sun goes down, so even though we've enjoyed a couple good movies on TV, that doesn't mean I have very many pieces together.  This little section is part of the Round We Go series from Sue Daley.

A couple of things that have made an impression on this trip:

Most people here are not born here.

The highway system is really good.  Back at home, the highways are always damaged by the freezing/thawing cycle.  Plus, less than half of the year is available for a lot of the roadwork that needs to be done.  Around Las Vegas, we have driven on wide roads that seem like new all the time!

We are within a couple miles of the famous Strip, but have enjoyed all of the things to do away from there!

We have found some good local restaurants that I would recommend:  DW Bistro for shared small plates for last night's dinner, The Bite for breakfast and Lindo Michoacan for good guacamole!  Since we have stayed away from the casinos and big hotels, we have really lucked out on finding these places that have excellent food and service.

We visited one quilt shop, Quiltique, so far.  It was a very nice shop with great displays and friendly people.  And since they have Victoria Findlay Wolfe in the store for a lecture on Friday night, I'm going back for that!  Yay!