Exploring the West: Vic and Jenn come to Town

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Vic and Jenn come to Town

Vic and Jenn arrived at the Las Vegas Airport in the evening ready to explore Las Vegas... well not really, it was midnight after all.

It was great having them in town and this was Victor's first visit to Fabulous Las Vegas... of course by writing this entry I am breaking the "What Happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."

It was a short drive back to the house as we got reacquainted after not seeing each other in person for some time and I was glad they arrived in the evening because the mountains around my house would be somewhat hidden by the darkness and the morning rise would offer up a majestic mountain view from our front porch. What better way to really start a vacation than rising to a great view and a fresh cup of Beach House Coffee!

Of course we didn't get up that early because the one nightcap Victor and I decided to have after Jenn went to bed ended up cleaning out the rest of the JW Black and a beer or two and some port... we had some catching up to do... so we saw the sun at 11:00am... it's vacation!

The view and the coffee was great and much needed. Our plan was to go to Red Rock for some hiking and sight seeing. The picture above is one I took after we entered the park and parked near the recently refurbished Visitors Center/Museum. I can't say that I like the new museum "improvements" much over what they originally had to display the history, geology and biology of Red Rock Canyon.

The real improvement was that after two years of visiting Red Rock the Desert Tortoises were finally out and I saw not only one but four!

After a short scenic drive we came to the hiking parking area near the Calico Tank Trail. For those that don't know, a "tank" is an area that traps rain water and snow melt. This particular trail was listed as moderate and starts in a currently dry creek bed...