Our Week Out West, Day 2: Water and Fire

After saying goodbye to Vegas...

Like most cats, the sphinx outside the Luxor couldn't care less if we leave.

I, however, was devastated to have missed the open hours 

of the Las Vegas Sock Exchange. Probably the tragedy of the trip.

...we headed out into the desert. Not too deserted just yet, as there’s now a major highway crossing above Hoover Dam—one that wasn’t there the last time I visited the site! We took a full tour of the dam, seeing both the engine room and the tunnels built into the dam itself. 

That bridge over the river wasn't there the last time I visited!

All that white rock is usually covered by water. 

Just goes to show the impact that climate change-driven 

droughts are having on the (human-altered) landscape. 

Areg and I were both incredibly impressed with the engineering that went into building something so massive back in the 1930s, and I loved the story of the construction site dog that was spoiled by, well, everyone. Oh, and guides and Areg alike had way too much fun talking about the Dam tourists and the Dam low water level and the Dam everything. Hey, who can resist, really?

Next we headed out to the Valley of Fire, which had been recommended to us by Emily and Rajika. But we’d spent a lot more time at the Dam than we expected and the temperatures were rising as the afternoon wore on. By the time we reached the visitor’s center, the park ranger seriously warned us against doing the completely exposed Fire Wave trail in the 100+ degree heat. We decided to do a much shorter trail—Mouse Tank—which went through a bit of a canyon, so it had some shade.

(These pictures aren't from the canyon, though)

Had to get Areg into the frame to give a sense of the scale of this place.

But it turned out this trail was well worth it: it was chock-full of petroglyphs! I love all things ancient humans and it was so much fun to see Areg also super excited. We hunted down and photographed every single petroglyph we could find—but here are some of the best.

You'll have to click to enlarge this one,

as the petroglyphs Indiana Areg is showing off are a bit faint.

After guzzling all of our water in an hour and refilling at the visitor's center, we hit the road for Zion National Park. We didn't reach the lovely, home Two Cranes Inn until very late, so we went right to sleep in preparation for the big day ahead...and the notorious hike to Angel's Landing!

You can check out more pictures on Areg's Facebook page.