It's Friday! Time to Wrap up the Vacation

While we were in Nevada we visited Valley of Fire State Park. Lisa blogged about this a few weeks ago and you can see her article here. She posted some of her wonderful pictures, too. Thought I'd share a few of the ones that I took.

This park has some very interesting geographic formations, petrified trees, animal species, Native American hieroglyphs, and history. (Here's the link for more park information and some great professional photographs.)

Dan and Lisa playing at the Beehives.

Whenever I couldn't find The Bear I just kept looking up and his head and body would eventually appear on the rock formations above me. From his vantage points he managed to see more than the rest of us could from below. It was hard to keep him safe on the ground this trip.

I think Nevada has beautiful scenery based upon the various colors that can be found within the rocks. The photos I showed last week of Red Rock Canyon's calico hills were one example of the diversity. This park was just as aesthetically pleasing.

This boy below is, um, "native" to America, but he and his "kind" didn't make these marks on the rocks. The cliffs along this trail were literally covered with ancient symbols.

(What "kind" is that, you ask? I was thinking of destructive teenagers, but then, I couldn't really say with any certainty that ancient Native American teenaged boys didn't leave some graffiti here while their mothers yelled from below, "Get down from there before you kill yourself!" I suspect ancient moms were not so different from modern ones.)

Here's The Bear with just one of the ground squirrels (a.k.a. "chipmunks") that we fed. I'd brought nuts to snack on in the car which we then shared with the little beggers. Word of our generosity spread quickly and before long there was a groundswell of critters heading our way. We soon drove on, leaving the picnickers nearby to deal with any late-comers. :)

Here's a photo of one of the petrified logs in the park. Looks like there was a catastrophic flood there at some time in ancient history! Ya think?

See the guy waving a cap in the picture below? That's Dan. Evidently you can't let your brother-in-law have all the fun trying to break a neck climbing on rocks. :)

And yes, just in case you're wondering, we did actually go into Las Vegas itself. Here's Pastor Dad (and Lisa) waiting patiently for the Bellagio fountains to begin their show.

That's the end of the vacation pictures that I'll be posting although I think I took a couple of hundred of them. I would probably never get tired of looking at them but I suspect that you might. New subject next Friday!