Our trip
began with a flight to Las Vegas and an overnight stay at the Palace Station
Hotel (a pleasant hotel, modestly priced, though located nowhere near the
"Strip"). That night we drove along the almost overwhelming
"Strip" of theme hotels and casinos. The light from vast moving
neon displays, brightly-lit buildings, and huge video screens was
overwhelming - though seeing large replicas of NYC buildings, Paris
landmarks, volcanoes blowing up, large waterfalls, a ship being attacked,
Roman buildings, miles of NEON, etc., can be fun.
The next
morning (May 20), we set out in our rented Chevrolet on a 3+ week trip
through southeastern Nevada, southern Utah, southwestern Colorado, and
northern Arizona. Leaving Las Vegas, we had our first taste of one of the
many forms the alien-looking landscapes of the southwestern US (photos 2
through 5). David felt
nostalgia for some of these, even though he had seen some of these only during a few trips and one
brief stay in the SW several decades ago. Traveling at the time we did, the weather was mostly pleasant, with
the extremes being at Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, and Zion (about 95 degrees -
but, "It's a DRY heat…!") to near freezing in the highest areas
- with sunshine on most days.
Hardly a dull moment - just when you think the landscape has
"settled" and you are getting used to it, everything changes again
(photo 1).
The cholla - claimed to spit its loose ends at passers by. The spines
are so sharp that they can go through shoe leather (I know - it happened to
me once) - and the reverse-barb spine ends make them very hard to remove
(photo 6).
Near Sedona, AZ we saw several century plants in bloom (these are
enormous, towering over us with bloom stalks 10-14' high - photo 7). After blooming
the plant unfortunately dies.
We
were VERY lucky to have had the unusually wet and cool spring delay and
extend much of the cactus flowering until we arrived (photos 8
through 13, 15, 16, 18, 19). These blooms must be
seen to be believed - the colors are brilliant! The desert in general was
blooming when we were there, but the cactus blooms overwhelm most others
(though we never did get a picture of a large clear-yellow buttercup-like
flower...).
The most commonly seen non-plant life-form is this small lizard
(photo 14) -
these scurry everywhere. In the past, when walking in back areas,
rattlesnakes and other "un-niceties" were seen - but we did not
see any on this trip...
