Nevada: Boulder City, Summer 2018

Boulder city is a very small little town outside of Las Vegas, where gambling is illegal within the city limits, and there's only a handful of traffic lights (if that). It's a quiet place, where families that tire of the excitement (and crime) rampant in Vegas proper can go to escape the city, while still benefitting from the predictably arid, sunny climate and close proximity to all the entertainments of the city. I actually spent a few years living in Boulder City when I was younger, and was exceptionally bored by the quaint, quiet little town as an energetic teen. Now that I'm older, and presumably wiser, I suppose I can see the allure to moving out of Vegas for Boulder City, if you're 60. It's a great place to retire, and if you can afford one of the homes on the slope towards Lake Mead you'll have an excellent view of the dwindling resources at the bottom of the hill. Of course, the ongoing drought has impacted some of the landscape choices in the area, but there are still plenty of open, green areas where the Big Horn sheep of the area will congregate to graze and get their fill of grasses. In a town as small, and quiet, as Boulder City, it should come as no surprise that the cops get stuck playing sheep-herder when the stubborn sheep begin to wonder perhaps a bit too close to the nearby residences. 

If you like outdoorsy or water-bound activities, having Lake Mead in your backyard is certainly a boon, despite it's drying out. As bored as I was throughout much of my angsty youth, I have to admit certain gratitude for the friends I made in that little town, the experiences and mischief we shared in that safe little burb, and the opportunity to explore. I'm certainly not going to be moving back any time soon, but for old time's sake it was fun to breeze through. We didn't stop for lunch, like we normally would, as we'd had plenty of snacks out at the Lake and had been driving for a while by this point. We were more eager to get home and grab a shower than to get down on some grub. Given as much, the photos are going to be a bit scattered. Still, I hope you enjoy!

Driving: Portland, Oregon, to Seattle, Washington

If I had to summarise the city of Portland, Oregon, with one phrase, I think it would have to be; 

"Does this city have enough freaking bridges?!"

This isn't necessarily a negative thing! I'm not saying it's a bad thing Portland has 12 different bridges over the Willamette River, it's just a very noticeable aspect of the city as you drive into it. Reno has a bunch of bridges, too, though I guess they're considered some of Nevada's worst, so take from that what you want.  Portland is a cool town, full of hipsters, good food, tasty beer, giant bookstores, mild climate, and all sorts of other aspects that make it a popular destination for my peers when visiting the Pacific Northwest. It's hip, it's happening, and supposedly it's a lot friendlier than Seattle! My experience in either place is too limited to really make a judgment call there, but people in Seattle have generally seemed quite a bit nicer than those in Vegas, so if they're even nicer in Portland I'm not sure I'd know how to handle it. Maybe I've been lucky, or maybe I'm such a hermit by nature that the lack of external invites for socialization hasn't phased me. Whatever the case, this visit through Portland didn't even see us come to a full stop. We weren't here for sightseeing, I'm afraid (and Antho was disappointed), we had places to be. 

Still, we definitely intend to make a trek back down to spend some time in Portland, proper like. After all, I've had the luxury of visiting the city before, even dipping into Powell's bookstore and sipping on some locally brewed coffee, but Antho has yet to enjoy the pleasures Portland has to offer. We will, and I'm excited for that time, but it's not today. Not this trip. Sorry!

 

Oregon: Driving North into Eugene

After the initial hiccups and mechanical mischief that delayed our morning a bit, we made good time heading north. As I'd mentioned already, there was a fair bit of forest to make our way through before we fully escaped the clutches of the Deschutes National Forest, but the drive was beautiful so we weren't exactly upset at this predicament. It was a bit difficult to make time to pull over for every stop, so we weren't able to make that happen, but we did try to stop and make time to enjoy the scenery every few hundred miles or so. You might think that over time, the forest would simply become more forest, stretching off into the distant horizon, but in reality, it's more nuanced than that. Shades of green and blue blend together, offset by puffs of white or sharp interjections of yellow or brown. 

The timing for our road trip worked out extremely well, too. Initially, I had wanted to leave earlier and get out of Vegas before the fall settled in, but timing simply didn't pan out with various vehicular issues popping up, work arrangements and gigs that cropped up. We only had to delay by a month or so, though, so it wasn't the worst of situations despite my melodramatically losing faith sporadically along the way. There's a lot of talking and planning involved before actually taking the leap, and with each new hurdle, there were more possibilities for cold feet to settle in and squander our chances. Leaving when we did, at the very beginning of October, however, meant we caught verdant green expanses of forest with some bright shocks of color thrown in as the leaves just began to take on their changing for the season. Pops of yellow and little flashes of orange cut through the foliage to make the drive all the more exciting. I'm glad that we were able to make the majority of the drive under the sunlight, as the days grow shorter going into the cooler months. 

Onward and upward, away we go. Off to the forests of the Northwest!

Vegas: Psychedelic night drive

Who's your favorite superhero? I know superheroes might be a sore topic for some, given the events that unfolded in the Infinity War... I mean, I know that I can speak from personal experience to say that I'm still reeling and feeling a bit traumatized by what we all witnessed, and repeated viewings on Blu-ray haven't helped matters much... but Antho and I, we've been watching The Flash on the CW since it first started airing (four years ago!)... it's been our show. We've grown and evolved as a couple over the years while we watched our favorite hero and his rag-tag group of scientists and alternate-Earth friends grapple to confront the meta-human menace and time-travel-tangled mess they've found themselves in every week. Even when I was off in Korea for six months we managed to synch up and watch the new episodes together, video-chatting with our reactions in real time! It's been a lot of fun, and while the show is currently on hiatus (boo, hiss) we're eager for when it returns to the airwaves in October. Sheesh, October still sounds so far away, but really we're almost through August already... all the little kidlings have gone back to school, and the big yellow buses have resumed roaming the neighborhoods. Time has been flying by, not unlike our favorite Scarlet Speedster, and summer is rapidly coming to its conclusion. Here in Vegas, summer doesn't fade away without a fight- she digs her claws in deep and spews her fiery, arid breath through much of October. Usually by time of All Hallow's Eve we've got enough of a nip that those skimpy insert-blank-here costumes are mildly uncomfortable... at least, for me. Some girls can walk the streets in booty shorts when it's -15 degrees fahrenheit out, and my respects to them, but us desert rats tend to have thin blood. 

I mention the Flash, though, because when doing long-exposures and driving things tend to take on an aspect not unlike that our favorite fast guy gets, with any light source creating streaks that resemble lightning. We do a fair bit of cruising around in that big van of ours and decided one night to experiment with long exposures. This is the result of that. Also, bonus cicada, because it's summer here and I love the little singing bugs. 

Vegas: Sunset Drive up Las Vegas Boulevard

Being born and raised in Las Vegas, I've seen the city grow and change so incredibly much over the years. Some of the most iconic hotels I knew as a kid have been dramatically imploded into their own footprint, while others have grown and risen up from the ashes like a phoenix. As a city, it's a constantly evolving amoeba, stretching it's tendrils out to the outskirts of the valley as it consumes the desert landscape around it and incorporates new acts and entertainments in it's never-ending quest for cultural relevance. It's a strange thing- this relentless pursuit of growth while interior areas of the city fall by the wayside.  Cul de sacs with blockhouses pop up like zits on a teenager's grease-riddled face, with all the creative ingenuity and diversity of those same pustules forming into their angry red whiteheads.  While the endless pursuit of growth is great for the construction industry, pockets of decay linger like abscesses through the meat of the city, festering into crime and desperation. This, unsurprisingly, leads the lovely city of Las Vegas to rank as the 4th worst city to live in, in the USA, for 2018. That's right, the glistening city of Sin, where "What happens here, stays here", nestles in right behind Detroit, Michigan, at number 1, Flint (also Michigan) at number 2, and St. Louis, Missouri, at number 3. That's right- between a city decimated by the dissolution of the automotive industry, a city made uninhabitable due to the toxic water contamination caused by fracking and humiliatingly long-standing inactivity or resolution to the issue as it lingers on, and St. Louis, where roughly a quarter of the entire city's population lives below the poverty line and the state's name speaks for itself... Las Vegas finds itself ranking so high due to the sheer volume of violent crime it experiences- 2,136 crimes for every 100,000 residents. While, thankfully, I myself have avoided any major incidents thus far, I have had encounters with crime that left a bad taste in my mouth. Whether it was the teenager who smashed my windshield in with a cinderblock, and tried to blame it on "marijuana withdrawals", or any given night on Fremont street that involves a police presence being needed, it shouldn't come as a big surprise to anyone that a city that builds glistening monuments to the winners relentlessly upon the suffering backs of the losers would be full of such poor unfortunate souls lashing out. 

This post is going to show a bit of that decay, along with some of the glistening monuments. This is Vegas, my Vegas. It's not always glamorous. 

Road Tripping: Drive through Moapa, Nevada

Drive through the desert for about 75 miles heading South on the I-15 from St. George, Utah, and you'll find your way to Moapa Valley. Dubbed as the "Gateway to Valley of Fire and Lake Mead", which it quite literally is, this small town is a pleasant reminder of civilizations' existence after expansive emptiness that's more reminiscent of Mad Max.  It's quite a charming little town, and we'll definitely have to make a point of visiting it and spending more time there in the future. As of this venture, we were trying to beat the sun to the horizon and squeeze in a quick photo shoot before it grew too dark. We had miles yet to go, so we drove through Moapa without stopping but I managed to snap plenty of photos of the town on our brief tour. There wasn't a huge amount to it- there's no major chain stores or familiar fast food franchises proliferating to choose from, but there are small neighborhood markets and restaurants. One in particular stood out, with a giant rooster standing high above the roadside. The large bird jokes are easy to make, but I'm going to try to rise above the immature impulse to make some joke that ends in "that's what she said!"...

I don't know about you, but I've been dropping that line into conversations a little more regularly than I think is probably ideal. I blame the constant rotation of "The Office" in our home. I really don't want to let Michael Scott's mannerisms rub off on me (that's what she said). Anyway, it's hard not to notice a giant red cock glistening in the sun, and it definitely adds a unique charm to their downtown sprawl. 

 

Driving through Moapa it's not hard to see why people would want to live out here. It's close enough to multiple bigger cities that any amenities or things you might want or need are still fairly easily accessible (so long as you have a vehicle) but it's far enough away to feel secluded and maintain it's rural charm. There are farms and boats, for heading out for a day on the nearby lake, and at night it's small enough that the light pollution is absolutely minimal, especially when compared to its ostentatious neighbor Vegas. This is a great locale for people who enjoy the outdoors and the beautiful scenery of Valley of Fire as it's right next door. The quiet life, with Vegas just an hour down the road if you miss the bustle and hustle. 

Road Tripping: Riverside, Nevada

Sometimes you take a detour in life and you're rewarded with random cows. This little experience in our timeline of life, happened to occur because we were trying to see the goats from Glendale again. Antho misjudged where we'd encountered them, pulling off the freeway on the exit for Riverside. The goats, as it were, are located in Glendale, not Riverside. That being what it was, we cruised along the two lane road in the hope that it would eventually route us towards Glendale, or at least the freeway. What we found instead was that it grew more rural and rapidly ended in the driveway to a beautiful farm with a very large front gate. Along the way, we encountered a couple of cows out for a stroll, which was extremely entertaining for us as a couple of city kids from Vegas. These particular bovines were ambling along the road, so we tried to go slowly and cautiously so as not to spook them or cause them to run in front of the vehicle out of startlement. We love cows, after all, and certainly wouldn't want to harm someone's pets. I know there's probably some vegans out there taking deep breaths preparing for an epic argument, and I assure you guys, I get it. I do. But I'm still going to eat the occasional hamburger. I know there may be a degree of cognitive dissonance that occurs when you dwell on it, but it is what it is. Lab grown meat is showing promising advances day after day, so maybe in the not-too-distant future soylent beef will be our burgers. 

Given the spontaneous cow encounter, we weren't too upset about losing some time to this detour. Once we reached the end of the line, quite literally, we turned around as best we could in the narrow lane and made our way back to the freeway. It was a nice side trip and we saw some beautiful fields full of lush crops that I certainly wouldn't have expected to find in this climate, but it always gives me hope to see people overcoming the odds and thriving. I know we have several farmers markets in Vegas and the farmers have to grow their produce somewhere, but I typically assume the majority of it is coming in from the cooler hills of California. Glad to see some places thriving in Nevada! We saw several other farms during our drive, too, which again was quite pleasing for me. There were plenty of photos taken along the way, so those lie ahead. Enjoy!

Road Tripping: Return drive through Arizona

Now that the time for fun in St. George had come to an end, it was inevitable that we'd have to hop back on that fateful highway and head southbound. All good things must come to a close sooner or later, right? We managed to get quite a bit done during the day, though! We cruised through town, saw the Historic District and some creepy art there, checked out a local shop, hiked in two different areas, one with an incredible view of the city, got our feet wet... all in all I'd say we did pretty dang good given the circumstances! Go us. After being on the road for a bit going south, we hit the stateline of Arizona and I was able to snap a photograph commemorating the moment. It's all just lines in the sand, literally enough, but it marks the transition point from one region to the next so it at least makes organizing photos a little easier. 

The handy sign above helps to orient where we are here, too. Mesquite is only 18 miles down road, and Las Vegas (aka home, sweet, home) is 97 miles away. Not bad, not bad at all. That's why I've tagged all these posts, or at least the majority, with "day trips from Vegas"! it's totally manageable, guys. If you're in Vegas and want to get away and see something different, a day trip out this way would be nice. Leave in the early afternoon and get some photos at the look out sights or any significant spots you intend to hit, grab an early dinner then hop back in the car and head home if you must. I'd highly recommend trying to make it a day or two long affair if you have the time because there was quite a bit we didn't get to see. 

  

Arizona, of course, has it's own unique charms. There's a lot to see and do out here, too, but we didn't stop much along the way because we were trying to beat the sun. We had things to accomplish yet and miles left to go, so we had to make some executive decisions and driving through Arizona was one of them. There's plenty of natural beauty to see just hauling down the highway, so we didn't feel especially deprived. I've been to Arizona multiple times over the years for hikes and visits and things, so it's not as much of a rarity for me that Utah is. Visiting St. George was far from my norm, and I'm glad we got to do it, just as I'm glad to have been able to capture at least some of Arizona's beauty during the drive. 

   

  

Road Tripping: Leaving St. George, Utah

Well, St. George, it's been lovely. We didn't get to partake in too many of your bountiful offerings due to our limited time available, but what we were able to see was lovely. From the giant, creepy spider statue and flinging-babies statue adjacent to it in the Historic District, dipping our feet in the water in the park, greeting the velociraptor and enduring parking challenges nearby in the shopping district, to hiking among the beautiful red stones and posing on a giant boulder overlooking the city, it was fun. It's not too hard to see why people are moving there in droves. It's easily accessible to other, larger, cities like Salt Lake City or Las Vegas, but it absolutely feels like a small town. Families gather in the public spaces and let their kids splash around together in the water, ice cream men roll up on mountainside parks with sweet treats to cool off the family, it seems pretty sublime. We did see someone getting battered about the face while sitting next to the road when we were driving through their downtown area, so obviously, it's not all picture perfect sitcom-worthy bliss, but it's nice. I'm sure if we spent more time and dove more in-depth into the area and the recent population growth explosion it's been experiencing, we'd hear some fascinating stories. Any city that experiences the kind of rapid growth that St. George has will undoubtedly undergo some degree of growing pains in the process. Each municipality and governing body deal with it differently, which can lead to a city's thriving or declining. For the time St. George seems to be on the up and up, and I imagine that as populations continue to become more mobile it will likely continue to experience a surge in traffic. 

Not only is it a hot spot for young families looking to settle down somewhere quaint, but Dixie State University brings droves of youth from nearby towns looking to glean and education with a side of independence. Many of the graduates I talked to from Mesquite mentioned that they were planning to go to DSU for their post-high school education, which makes sense. It's not far down the road so they can easily make a trip home to visit their families, but it's far enough for them to feel their first bit of freedom. It's not hard to imagine that some of these starry-eyed young dreamers will meet some other lovely youth and fall in love, and potentially end up settling down in the area. Storybook romance, right? The cycle continues. The force has balance. 

Yadda yadda. Anyway, we weren't looking to put down roots here, not this time. We packed it into the van again and started rolling out, with our end destination being home with a few side quests along the way. Join our adventure!

Road Tripping: Further explorations of Pioneer Park in St. George, Utah

I mentioned in my previous post that Pioneer Park has 52 acres of land to explore- which is quite a lot of space! We didn't have that long to explore, so we didn't get too far from the car, but we tried to take in what we could. After checking out the overlook and making myself thoroughly uncomfortable by waddling closer to the edge of a large rock with a steep drop than I feel comfortable with, we returned to less frightening environments. What's scary about a dark tunnel going into the mountain, after all? I guess it depends who you ask... for all we know there could be trolls, scorpions, rattlesnakes, homeless people (who aren't necessarily threatening but might make some people really uncomfortable), Droogs, the possibilities are endless! Lucky for us, we didn't encounter anything frightening other than my camera running low on battery. Womp womp. These things. We still managed to get a pretty good amount of photos, but when it was time for Antho to get a fancy tunnel photo shoot my camera started flashing the low-battery indicator which caused a bit of grumbling from Antho. Sorry, buddy, next time. 

This park seems like an ideal place to bring your mountain bike if you're into that sort of thing. We found this nice paved route for biking on, but I expect there's plenty more unpaved routes to take that we simply didn't have the time to find or explore in this venture. While it does get up to the 100's during the summer, there were still people out getting their pedaling fix during our walk. Downhill is really nice, after all, as you get your own breeze from the momentum to cool off from the exertion of getting to the top of the hill... unless you just drive to the top and save your workout for the end. Whatever works for you, guys. I'm not here to judge, I'm just trying to say there are so many freaking options out here! There were picnic tables for those who want a more casual snack outside, and there were dudes with their remote-controlled ATVs playing among the rocks.  Lots of things to do out here!

     

Road Tripping: Pioneer Park in St. George, Utah

If you want to get THE best view of St. George, then Pioneer Park is the place to go! It's not much further up the road from where we were in the previous post, and the big rock overlook is easy to spot from anywhere in the city. Such a prominent landmark makes it easy to identify and locate, and if you get lost you could surely ask any local and be pointed the right direction. There's a bit of a trek to get to the viewpoint after parking, but it's nothing terribly arduous so don't worry if you're not in outstanding physical shape. If you can climb some stairs, you'll be okay. If you struggle with a narrow stairwell, then be forewarned, the route to the top of the rock is a roughly defined stairway in stone that could be slippery or a little difficult if you have mobility difficulties or it's just rained. No rain fell on us this day, so we're grateful for that, and we were able to get a photo together near the edge of the large rock thanks to a friendly couple who happened to pop up to take in the view around the time we did. We traded phones and cameras for photos, an even exchange. 

I don't know if you can tell from my body language or not, but I was ready to be away from the edge. Despite working at the Stratosphere tower on the 108th floor for years, I'm not too keen on heights, especially out in the open like this with the wind blowing my hair about. We got our photos and took some for the other duo, then went back to our hike where we were less precariously perched near the edge. There's a lot more to the park than just this big rock look out point, after all! It's a pretty massive park, with 52 acres full of hiking trails and biking paths. We'll definitely have to make a point of it to explore the area more in depth next time we find ourselves out in the area. The colors in the stones remind me of home, Valley of Fire and Red Rock, but all the trees and greenery add a lush contrast to the usual views we get. It's not that Vegas and the nearby areas don't have greenery, any trip out to Mount Charleston to admire the bristlecone pines and aspen will quickly affirm that we, too, can have forests, but these are different. While landscaping choices are going to divert from the traditional Fremont Cottonwoods or Honey mesquite, the fauna is going to be subtly different from what we're used to in our stretch of desert. 

It's always a good idea to try to get a new perspective whenever possible. This was a nice glimpse of the city and we enjoyed our visit. We'll definitely make a trip back out this way at some point in the future, perhaps when we can spend more than a day exploring all that it has to offer. With so many miles of hiking trails, and the nearby nature reserves, there's so much to see and we'll definitely have to plan an overnight van-stay. 

Road Tripping: Overlook hike in St. George, Utah

As I mentioned in my last post, St. George is located in a prime spot for outdoor enthusiasts. Not only are the somewhat mild (by Vegas standards) summer temperatures ideal for getting out and going hiking among any number of outstanding natural rock formations and national parks but the winter brings ample options not-too-far away for going skiing, snowboarding, or otherwise enjoying the outdoors. If you're not keen on snow, never fear! St. George averages only 8 inches of precipitation a year, well below the national average, and the mild winter temps mean it's unlikely you'd have to ever contend with too much snowfall, but if you're pining for the powder you won't have to travel far at all. Brianhead Ski resort is only an hour or so further north on the I-15 and has a ton of options for enjoying the snow, from tubing to ziplines, to disc golf! I have to admit that I've never gone skiing myself, but I know people who go annually as tradition and Brianhead has always been spoken of highly. This time of year, of course, it's not going to have much snow, and you're going to see a lot more mountains that look like this:

I mean, that's not a bad thing, right? That's actually quite pretty. Reminds me of some of the photos of Mars that have been sent back. I think it's absolutely fascinating how the same basic building blocks make the basis for life, the universe, and everything, just in an infinite variety of combinations. A little more heat or a dash more of one element or another and you have something else entirely, like exoplanet Cancri e, whose surface is made of graphite and diamond rather than the water and stones of our home. Nature is pretty cool in that regard. Endlessly creative. I guess you could say life, uh, finds a way. Deserts always provide proof of that statement in the virulent life that crops up despite the harsh environment, plants taking root in the most unlikely of crevices and making a life where they land. It's poetic, of course, which is why countless tomes and sonnets have expounded the merits of nature, and Japanese studies have shown the health benefits of simply strolling among the trees.    

So go on, get out there and take in some nature! Do it for your health! Most cities, at least that I'm familiar with out here on the Western side of the US, have ready access to the outdoors, and even our more landlocked neighbors have endless ways to get outdoors. I'm sure our East Coast, Midwestern, Northeastern and Southern friends all have their own amazing outdoor areas to explore during the appropriate times of year, I'm just not as familiar with them. I remember loving Ohio summers as a kid when I'd get to visit, and feeling like I was going to melt into a mosquito-drained mass of goo in the humidity of central Florida during the summers, but there were still so many awesome options for going out and being among nature. Plan accordingly for the seasons and climate of your region, then have at it. The world is a big beautiful place with a lot of stunning, less-seen corners we won't get to take in if we don't make a point of going out there and trying. 

And you never know, you might have a random ice cream truck show up when you're coming back down the mountain or something. 

More photos below~