Leaving Las Vegas

With copious opportunities for entertainment, Las Vegas has no shortage of activities for any visitor. The only difficulty is deciding what to do. Among our options were:
-gamble at any establishment in town including grocery stores
-take in a burlesque Cirque du Soleil show
-get re-married at the Elvis Chapel
-go indoor skydiving
-take a Stripper 101 course
-go exotic racing in a Lamborghini at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway
-stroll the Las Vegas Grand Canal in a gondola
-shoot a real machine gun in an air conditioned range
-hire personal escorts

None of these activities really fit our style, so Adolfo and I headed to Valley of Fire where we could follow the contours of the most beautiful, curved figures in southern Nevada.

At the time when dinosaurs roamed the earth, Valley of Fire was sand dunes. Through time, though, the dunes turned to stone. Then wind, sand, and rain eroded the rock and sculpted caves and holes along the walls and canyons.

As I climbed inside a cave, I realized that it was connected to other caves through a series of holes and arches. The yellow, orange, and red light inside the caves captivated me and I felt compelled to peek into every cave I encountered until I realized there were just too many caves. Later, I climbed in mostly to escape the glaring sun, but while inside I was surrounded with beauty.

Green and gray shrubs and cacti grow against the rocks and in crevices here and there. They add a fantastic contrast to the red rock. The sky, too, takes on a deep blue.


One hike took us into a valley filled with petroglyphs created by the Basket Maker people and later the Anasazi Pueblo. Unfortunately, today’s visitors continue the tradition of drawing and carving on the rocks.


The best hike was at White Domes. This area differed from the rest of the park in that the rock took on more contrast in its color. Here we continued to find red rock, but we also found white rock as the name suggests. The two colors mix creating amazing stripes.

The White Domes hike winds through narrow canyons formed by flowing water. With each step I wanted to squeal with glee—and in fact I did on several occasions. The curve of the canyon is erotic. The canyon with the tallest walls opens at the end to two rocks with stripes of red, orange, and white that look too perfect to be real. I nearly broke into tears of joy when I saw them.


Adolfo and I couldn’t stand to leave this place, so we stayed four days, celebrating our anniversary here. Although we had the trailer, we couldn’t stand to be inside. So on our anniversary we put out mats and sleeping bags and slept under the stars.

Campfires around us danced along sections of the rock, revealing amazing color against the dark sky. The stars, too were so bright, and we watched them move across the sky. Each time we woke to the hooting of an owl or a cool breeze, the sky was different, and as light returned, the rock glowed with the sun's spotlight.