Nevada 2025

Friends, Food, and Parks

Amy and Dan

This was a quick, fun trip, thanks to Amy and Dan Loden, who hosted us for four days. You’d think I would have gotten a good photo or two, but shoehow that didn’t happen. Too much fun just talking, laughing, and of course, eating. Here’s a quick look at the two of them I cropped from a photo made at the entrance to Valley of Fire State Park.

Ethel M Cactus Garden

As I said, this was a quick trip. We flew to Las Vegas, jumped in a rental car around 8:30 in the evening, and drove to the Loden Abode without trouble. The next morning, Judy and I spent a little time in the conservatory at the Bellagio, grabbed a quick lunch, and met Amy at Ethel M’s Chocolate Factory. The Tasting (chocolates and wine) that Amy conducted for a small group of tourists was fun, educational, and mostly delicious. Judy and I then walked through the cactus garden there (330 varieties of cactus, succulents, etc.) while Amy finished work. Some shopping occurred, as you might imagine, but once again, I failed in the photo-taking experience when it came to anything but the blossoms on cactus. The photo you see here is Judy’s.

Utah Juniper in the Mojave desert

Our next adventure that day was a drive through Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, somewhere northwest of Las Vegas. Oh my. We were definitely not in Alabama any longer. I’m not sure how long we took driving through the loop to see everything. Great variety of wild flowers, including heliotropes, cactus, creosote bushes, colorful rock formations, Joshua trees, and the occasional Utah Juniper. That one caught my attention! Lots of deadwood examples to inform my bonsai work. I usually don’t take panorama photos, but this one of the Calico Hills deserves a spot of its own.

Red Rock Canyon: Calico Hills

The next day Judy and I had a restful time while Amy and Dan were at work. It was almost compulsory that we visit a casino, so we contributed to the local economy at the Green Valley Casino in Henderson. We did leave the slot machines with more money than we put in–but not quite enough to cover lunch. Clearly we had a good time. 🙂

Our final day was a great visit to the Valley of Fire State Park. Wow! I overworked my phone camera, and we all ran out of things to say at one turn after another. My vocabulary just wasn’t up to the task. The Visitors Center was as good as those we’ve seen in National Parks, what with educational exhibits and a shop. To get there, Dan drove us through the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, and that alone used most of my exclamations. I don’t remember seeing that much desert when we did a canyons tour years ago. No Joshua trees or junipers this time, but lots of desert plants and incredible rock formations. It’s too hard to pick just one photo from all the ones I took, so I’ll end this page with our group shot. Below it, there’s a link to a page with more photos.

Usually I have more to say on these pages, but I’m trying to be economical this time. This page shouldn’t take too long to load, since I’ve also cut back on the number of photos. But there’s another page with more pix than anyone would want to see. Take a look if you’d like.