Vegas: Lone Mountain Park Sunrise

One beautiful day, Antho and I were lounging around trying to decide what to do with ourselves and I came to realize that we had an All You Can Eat Korean BBQ AND Sushi place not too far from our humble abode... this realization rapidly resulted in both of us eating ourselves into a happy slumber colloquially referred to as "the -itis" or a "food coma"... and we slept. We slept hard. Really hard. We were both beyond consciousness by 8 or 9 pm, easily, if not earlier, and when we later awoke semi-digested and bleary eyed, it was well into the early hours of the morning. We ended up marathoning movies and having a pretty good time, but as it neared sunrise Antho was growing anxious. He's been working mornings the last six months or so, rising at 4AM to leave for work by 5-5:15 in the morning, whereas my work schedule typically starts at a much more normative 9am. What this all translates to, is that Antho is usually up for sunrise and almost always alone for it. Since I was already risen, albeit more half-snoozing than shining, he felt the strong need to share at least this sunrise together. So we did. I was already awake and since Vanticore is a spacious vehicle (especially compared to my much loved, but much smaller, Volvo sedan) there was plenty of room for me to sprawl out and nap while we made our way to Lone Mountain Park. While I hadn't personally gone to the park before, at least in recent memory, Antho used to visit quite regularly as he lived nearby. One of the perks of living in a valley...mountains everywhere! 

And so, we were off, racing the sun. 

More photos after the cut!

Vegas: Springs Preserve Botanical Gardens

As much as we love all things cute fluffy (be them our mischief of rats or gila monsters lounging in a zoo) there was a lot more of the Springs Preserve to explore beyond the Space Exhibit at OriGen Museum and their zoo. Onward, we strolled, along the many winding paths through the gardens. We'd been in a hurry to see the museum and now our meanderings were aimless, simply looking to see what there was to find as we went and to, you know, stop and smell (or photograph) the flowers. Perhaps not all too surprisingly, there's quite a lot of garden that can be fit into 180 acres! That's a lot of flowers, even for us, so we weren't able to acquaint ourselves with each and every blossom, but that's ok. Saves something for next time! 😘

Of course there's abundant bounty of gorgeous flowers to see throughout the grounds, from the tiniest of wildflowers to shock bright cactus flowers jutting out from their spiky abutments like some kind of alien growth, but there's also plenty of benches to sit and ponder the beauty (or horror) of nature... or sit and pick your teeth, plus informative signs, hidden trails and all sorts of other fun things to discover. We spent at least an hour enjoying the mild weather and the beautiful sights and scenery. The Springs Preserve is a very, very photogenic location and it's easy to see why it's a popular destination for weddings! They also offer hosting for private events like corporate parties, special occasions, and often have public events celebrating the holidays like their Haunted Harvest event and the upcoming New Year's Eve celebration in their Cafe which sounds pretty spectacular.

There's a lot of classes available, too, which all sound like a lot of fun! 

This really is one of our favourite places here in town. It's conveniently located near the Meadows Mall, so if you don't feel like eating at their cafe you can always grab some Panda Express just around the corner. On top of being easy to get to, there's tons of parking (even for our awesome van, Vanticore) and it feels like the oasis in the desert that it is. 

More photos after the cut!

Over 100 photos from beautiful Takao-san Mountain!

If given the opportunity to travel Japan, one should always take advantage of the limitless natural beauty that surrounds the high-tech metropolitan areas. Whether you're visiting Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo or any other city, nature is never far away. Sometimes it's more raw, more feral, and other times it's a bit more... gentrified. 

Takaosan is a beautiful mountain, with lovely hiking trails and glorious views of the nearby forests and valleys, but it tends to fall into the second category. Relatively close to Tokyo, it's an easy day trip to tackle. I've already covered the experience in detail, this post is all about the photos!

Las Vegas: Visit from a little bee buddy

Just nature doing nature stuff.

This little bee landed in the little patch of astroturf we have here (be water smart, shop s-mart) and hung out for quite awhile, posing for us like a true professional.

I've never been spooked by bees, and I've been stung several times.

Stinging someone requires having their guts ripped out… o_o

Why would anyone want to do that?

Even bees aren't that cray cray unless you force them into a situation where they'd have to be.

 This little home-bee meant no harm!

And neither did we.

:)

These are the flowers that attract the little guys. They also attract humming birds!

Thanks for hanging out with us little buddy!