Day 7

Day #7 of our Western adventure began with a morning trail ride through Red Rock Canyon, Nevada!
36.1356° N, 115.4272° W

This was a first for the Patterson family, as a whole.  And what better scenery to view while on horseback, or muleback in the case of my guy and the trail guide!? Some points of interest from our trail ride:

• Our horses' names were Beauty, Ty, Jerry, September and Sunshine.
• The rocks turn a deep red color because of the iron content in the rock. And just like iron/metal rusts when it is left unprotected in the elements, it does the same in the rock!
• Joshua pseudo Trees aren't only found in Joshua Tree National Park.
• The Native American men, who once inhabited this region, had to carry their brides up the side of one of these ginormous rocks to prove his manliness in order to be qualified to marry his bride!
• Contrary to its incredibly dry appearance, water actually does fall from the sky here, at times, and it leaves dry river beds throughout the canyon.
• Bunny rabbits do like hopping through the desert landscape.
• It's rather difficult to take pics while riding a horse over a rocky landscape.
• And roadrunners aren't quite as feathery and plumey as indicated by Chuck Jones, nor are they super fast moving when they aren't being chased by Wile E. Coyote!

L to R: Sunshine, Ty, September, Beauty and Jerry

One of those dry river/creek beds.

The rocky peak in the lower right corner is one that is said to be the challenge for the Native American men who had to prove their manliness by climbing it while carrying their brides to the top before they could say, "I do."

Lots of rusted rock here!

And here.

And also here!

Sunshine and me - blondes do have more fun!

When we left the canyon, we made a stop at a Vegas record shop at the request of my retro kiddo - Audrey.  She loaded up on several albums for her small turntable at home - everything from Johnny Cash to ZZ Top to Big Band music! After another trial of the famous-out-west In and Out Burger for lunch, we headed back toward the Hoover Dam.  My adventurous son really wanted to walk across the ridiculously high bridge that we viewed when standing on the Hoover Dam.  Sweaty palms, sweaty palms, sweaty palms...  So we were off for the bridge - bye, bye equestrian - hello pedestrian...

Let's just say this thing is CRAZY high!  The Hoover Dam is pretty high itself but you can see how small it looks in the background of the shot on the left above!  I must say though, that it really looked scarier when viewing it from the dam than it did when you were actually on the bridge.  I think it was because of the way the rail was made.  It came up so high that there wasn't really a way to see directly below the bridge so I didn't have a concept that I was truly over 800 feet ABOVE the water.  YIKES!  Oh an yeah, when the big trucks drove by, the bridge moved - so that was fun!  I was very proud of my nutter butter though.  She said the whole way there that she was not going to walk across it.  My guy and I were going to take turns staying with her on the side but she decided to face her fear and push forward!  Wow, just looking at those pics though makes my palms all sweaty again!

Gorgeous dam view from that bridge though!

Lake Mead - absolutely beautiful blue water!

We headed back to our hotel from there and split up for an hour or two - boys/girls.  Jac and Chris headed to look at some classic cars and the girls and I did a little shopping - Tiffany's style!

That evening, we had our first Vegas buffet dining experience - lots of food! And then we headed north on the strip to watch the famous Bellagio fountain show.

While there are many sites on the Vegas strip that I could lived a lifetime without seeing, I must say that the lights at night are something else - from fountains to volcanos to hotel signs - the lights are so much fun to photograph!  

Only one more day left of our Out West Adventure - next stop - ATL airport.