Wednesday, March 16th

We took a ride to Red Rock Canyon just 20 miles west of Las Vegas.  What an amazing place!

Red Rock is a National Conservation area and part of the vast Mojave Desert.  It covers nearly 200,000 acres of mountains, caves, and canyons.

After the leaving the visitor's center, we started the 13 mile scenic loop around the park.  We stopped at several overlooks to take in the view.  Each one was more amazing than the last.


About half way around the loop we stopped at the Lost Creek Trail.  The trail was about a half mile walk through brush, up rocks and around trees.  At the end of the trail was the big reward.  Since there had been some rain earlier in the week, the waterfall was running.  No Niagara, but the source of the falls were about 100 feet above and the small stream of water crashed below onto rocks and formed a clear pool.

We enjoyed a picnic at the falls before heading back down the trail to the car and completing the remainder of the loop road.  What a wonderful surprise Red Rock Canyon is.  I doubt most people that head for Vegas ever get here.

Later in the evening we went to my cousin Pattie's house in nearby Henderson.   Joined by her daughter, Patricia and grandson Alex, we all went to dinner.  Alex was an absolute joy!  It was fun blowing bubbles with him in the back yard and the all of us going out to dinner.

When we got back to the house, Pattie's husband Nat was getting up and getting ready for work.  He works overnight at the Mirage on the strip.  It is always good to see family, especially the ones you get to see rarely and miss the most.