Hey, everybody! It's been a while since my last post. I spent the whole winter out in the desert in California and didn't really have any news to share. We're back on the road though, so I've been snapping lots of pictures again, on my walks and some of the places were visiting.
Photo Captions:
1) We enjoyed a couple weeks at an RV resort in Laughlin, NV. While there we took a cruise on the Colorado River in this boat. For only $15 per person you get a 90-minute cruise up the river and back. There's also a full bar onboard, and you can order some food items. The margaritas I had were delicious. 😊
2) On one side of the river is Laughlin, Nevada, while on the other side is Bullhead, Arizona. This picture shows the Laughlin side, which is lined with hotel/casinos.
3) Look who went on the cruise with me! That's my FatSecret friend Diana Moreno on the left, and my partner Kevin on the right. Diana's husband Joe was there too. He took this picture for us. It was really a pleasure meeting them. They're definitely some good people.
4) This was one of the most interesting hotel/casinos. It looks like an old steamboat, but it's not really. It's the Colorado Belle Hotel & Casino.
5 & 6) After leaving Laughlin we next camped on the edge of Las Vegas, Nevada. This is what Las Vegas looked like at night from our campsite.
7) Today we're camping beside the Parowan Gap in Utah. The Gap was formed by an ancient river that once flowed here. Eventually the river stopped flowing, perhaps as the climate grew hotter and drier. The Parowan Gap is all that remains of that long-ago waterway.
8 - 13) The main attraction here at the Gap are the petroglyphs. The Parowan Gap is full of ancient petroglyphs, which were created over thousands of years by migration Native Americans that passed through the Gap.
The petroglyphs at Parowan Gap include clan signs (like signatures) and directional references (like maps), as well as references to ceremonies and songs. The spiral is the Hopi migration symbol.
14) This is the landscape where I've been taking my walks while we've been here. It's a desert environment here. There are lots of scrub brush, and the rolling hills are dotted with Utah Juniper (Juniperus osteosperma) trees. The elevation is approximately 5,653 feet (1,723 meters) above sea level, so it stays nice and cool. It got to just above freezing one morning while we've been here.
15) This is the view east of the Gap. That rugged mountain on the left is where you can go see real petrified dinosaur footprints.
16) I enjoy finding interesting wildflowers on my walks, and here at the Parowan Gap there are many. This is Desert Globemallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua). Desert globemallow is cultivated as an ornamental plant by specialty plant nurseries for use in desert and drought tolerant gardens. It was also used as a food source and as medicine by the Shoshoni tribe of Native Americans.
17) Desert Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja angustifolia) is so colorful, and they bloom from May all the way to September.
18) I had never seen Rayless Shaggy Fleabane (Erigeron Aphanactis) before I took this picture.
19) This Winding Mariposa Lily (Calochortus flexuosus) is pretty in pink, but they also come in lavender and white, with solid yellow and stripes or spots of white and red at the base of each petal.
Thanks for taking a look! 🙂
