Lake Mead and Valley of Fire

Checked out of Sunset Station and had breakfast at IHOP. We then drove through Lake Mead National Recreational Area.

Sitting in the back with Cigi, I was taking pictures

out of the window with

Cigi wanting to see every

 photo I took.

A bathroom stop allowed me to take a panorama

and some flora. I tried to look it up on the internet but had no luck.

Out of the Lake Mead area and into the Valley of Fire State Park .

  Chris read from a brochure that the black rocks are lave, the white ones, limestone, the orange ones sandstone and the red ones have iron oxide in the sandstone. The Valley of Fire is predominately sandstone, which is quite a soft rock and easily eroded and shaped by water and wind.

We had been talking about the various wildlife possibilities and shortly after I had said that we would be unlikely to see Big Horn Sheep, there was a herd

 

right beside the road.

We stopped at the Visitors Centre for a map and met up with the rest of the family there.

We continued on to the White Dome Trail

I don't know how hot it was but it was VERY!

Stunning landscape.

We sought shade where ever we could and drank copious amounts of water.

I struggled with my knee and my heart rate, always bringing up the rear.

A number of movies have been shot in the park and we saw some ruins from one. Jason frequently carried Cigi and Mike carried River in "the Sultans Chair" (her luxurious seat in a backpack).

Selfie before going through the "slot canyon"

Smart, sitting in the shade of a cave.

I was very glad to be done and collapsed into the back of the car, craving salt and water.

The hour and a half drive from there into Arizona and then Utah was filled with stunning landscapes and I had no energy to even try and take photos out the windows.

We are now relaxed in our AirBnB in Washington, Utah. It is lovely and I will include some pictures of it in a subsequent post.