VEGAS ROAD TRIP!

Have you ever been to Vegas and actually left the strip? I have been to Vegas numerous times and still haven’t even seen everything on the strip. The farthest I’ve been off the strip is to the Rio Hotel. Well, this time we had 5 whole days in Vegas and I wanted to see something different – I wanted to rent a car and just drive out into the desert. I had a picture in my head of driving in the middle of nowhere, just desert all around. I got my picture and more. Describing what I saw will be difficult to put into words, if not impossible. But it’s worth telling because I think it should be on everyone’s “Things I Must See Before I Die” list.

After picking up our car, stopping at Denny’s for breakfast (what’s a road trip without Denny’s?) we headed off to Red Rock Canyon, at 15 minute drive from the strip, which I’m sure you’ve all heard of…known for it’s outdoor concerts and of course its televised poker tournaments. Anyways, we think we are going to drive up to some beautiful vista, be amazed by the red rock, snap some photos and be on our way. Ah, no. This is a National Conservation Area that has a scenic driving loop through the canyon with about 10 stops along the way, all kinds of trails, rock climbing, etc. It is stunning. You stand and look at these red mountains, which began forming over 600 million years ago and it is awe-inspiring. Beyond anything we thought we were going to see. After a couple of hours and many snaps, we are ready to really hit the highway out of Vegas to our next destination – The Valley of Fire State Park.

I am anxious to hit open road and be surrounded by nothing, so I’m hoping the highway is going to lead us that way and that we are not going to be passing through sprawling suburbs. I am pleased to say that once we were out of the city limits, there was nothing but desert as far as the eye could see…no suburbs, only the rare other vehicle and not even a gas station. We did see eight F-18 fighter planes flying around, which was pretty cool, but other than that it was just nothing, nothing, nothingness along the 45 minute drive. Sooooo awesome!

Again, we had no idea what to expect here. We had pretty much randomly selected the destination, although we did know there was some sort of rock formations to be seen. As we drove off the highway and along the road heading to the park there was still no indication of what we would arrive at. We were figuring a few rock formations and some wonderful canyon vista again. Ah, no again. What we happened upon was truly mind blowing and words will never describe accurately what we saw. Pictures cannot even do it justice. We finally got to the park entrance, put our $6 park fee in the box and as we rounded the first corner we were pretty much stopped dead in our tracks.

A massive expanse of deeply red coloured rock with so many formations that I just could not believe what I was seeing. I could not believe this was a natural creation. I wondered if I was hallucinating and had to keep checking with Dave as to whether he was seeing what I was. I literally kept questioning Dave as to whether or not perhaps someone had come in here and carved all of these formations…people, faces (angels, ghostly faces and more), animals (elephants, eagles, lizards and more), beehives…well, really if you can think of it, there is probably a formation of it. At least that is what it felt like. At every turn we saw something new. And after turning again that same rock would morph into something else. I was in shock and awe during our entire drive around the park and we did not even see the entire thing, which encompasses about 36,000 acres of land and has about 20 miles of roadway to drive around! I must say if someone wants to argue God versus Nature this place is a damn strong argument on the Nature side!

Arriving late in the day, we were literally the only ones there. Me, Dave and an expanse of natural wonder the like of which I have never ever seen in my life. I cannot believe we had never heard of this place and really think it ought to be listed as one of the Wonders of the World. This was most definitely the highlight of my trip. The combination of exploring this enormous piece of the Mojave Desert without another person in sight and the vastness of the naturally created formations that we saw were just beyond anything I could have pictured when I originally saw myself out in the middle of the desert, in the middle of nowhere. So it was here in the Valley of Fire that we sat and waited to watch the sun go down, surrounded by nothing but rock and sprawling desert and not a single sound.

If you have been to Vegas but never left the strip, well, there’s a lot more out there than the man made craziness of that one piece of road. Get a car, get off the strip and check out what natural beauty is so close to the unnatural bells and whistles of Vegas that draw all the tourists. And skip Red Rock – it’s cool, but nothing compared to the Valley of Fire.

(photos to be posted on a separate blog...)