More Red Rock Canyon Sites

We went on another hike, different trail, in the Red Rock Canyon.  I found the different directions of the rock layers interesting.

 An over look of part of the area.

There are lots of sand stone rocks in the area.  Some are really pretty.  These are just a few.

There were also pictographs in this area.

 We took a short side trail into a falls.  There was just a trickle coming down which disappeared at the bottom.  B. is standing at the foot of the falls.  The air was really cool here.

This is part of the Mojave Dessert, but there is water in a few places.  We came across this stream in a large wash.  There is a marshy area a ways below the above falls and this may come from there.  However, it soon disappears, close to the tree, as seen in the lower picture.

Red Rock Canyon NCA

Some friends of ours had given us some information on Red Rock Canyon.  They said that it is a good place to see and there are several hiking trails there.  So we decided to go see it and try one of the easy hikes to see how my leg did.  




This is looking north east from the visitors center.

  

 There is a fourteen mile road that circles around the park and also takes one to the trail heads.  So we started out on the road.  This is the red rocks in the above picture.  Many people go rock climbing though out the park.  This is zoomed in on some who were climbing.  Note the person half way up the darker area.

This is looking back towards the visitors center from close to the upper end.  The east side is pretty low but the west side goes up into higher rugged hills.  You will see some of them in pictures below.

Our hike was about a mile and a half over easy to moderate terrain. The only trouble I had was when I needed to go down large steps.  Then B would give me his arm.  My knee still doesn't want to bend as much as it use to.

On the trail, we went past an agave roasting pit.  It was a large mound of dirt and rocks that had been built up over the years from use.  It was deeper in the center.  They would dig a hole, line it with rocks, build a fire, then when the fire was burnt down they would add the agave, etc. and cover it with more hot rocks and dirt to cook for several hours or days.  Then they would dig it up for a feast.

There were also pictographs in the area on a rock face.  You can see hand prints below.

 The red rocks are from the iron in it.  If you look at the rocks in the far right of the first picture, you will see that they are a mix of color.  They call them calico rocks.  The rocks with iron, the sand stone, and lime stone are all mixed together.  They don't form layers but are just mixed and blotchy.  Sometimes there are small areas of iron in the sand or lime stone.  The iron doesn't erode as fast so you end up with red nipples sticking up from the other part of the rock.

The next is taken on the west side of the area.  Most of the rocks are either sand stone or lime stone.  The sand stone is very pretty with the veins of different colors.  I didn't take any pictures of any as we were in the shade by then and they would not have turned out very well.  Next time I will.  Since both of these stones are soft, they erode easily.  As a result there are all kinds of rocks lying about of many different sizes that have come down during rain storms. 

This doesn't show as well as I would have liked but you can see where a column has collapsed, leaving a huge rock resting on one narrow pillar.  I think it may also be resting against the back side.  I would not want to be close when it decides to cut loose as it is much bigger than a truck.

 This is where we parked the truck to hike.  The road only went about a fourth of a mile further.  You can see that it narrows and is rocky.  There was a large wash to the left.  We went up on the right, crossed over up at the end and then came back down on the left, going up further onto the hill side.  Somewhere along the hill side on the way back we lost the trail and ended up going down into the wash.  We just followed it down until we hit our trail crossing the wash to the parking lot.

 This is what the west side of most of it looked like.  There were several canyons going back in with hiking trails.  We had stopped here to help someone whose battery needed a jump.  He is from LV and said that batteries only last about two years because of the heat.  He was planning on replacing it this weekend, but should have done it sooner.

In this area there are wild burros, tortoises, mountain sheep, etc.  We didn't have binoculars with us as we thought they were in the trailer.  (We found them in the truck when we got home.)  I think we saw some sheep up on one of the hill sides.  It was light colored and moving around.  We didn't get to see any burros or anything else.  Fortunately, no snakes, but you do have to watch for them.

 It was a pretty afternoon, a little on the cool side because of the altitude, but a nice hike.  We plan to do some more.  We just wish it was closer.

Leftovers

 My mother raised me to never throw out good food but instead find something to make with it.  That is how the caramel candy came about.  She needed to use up some sweet cream.  That is a different story though.

Some families hate leftovers and others don't mind them at all.  Of course, families with teen age boys seldom have any.  If anything does make it into the frig, it doesn't stay there long as it seems a teenage boy's nose is always in the frig.  One family even enjoyed having one of our sons come as he would eat up their leftovers for them, and that was when he was in his twenties.

As our kids were growing up and before they were teenagers, sometimes lunch was a day of leftovers, usually in a soup.  B would sometimes comment that it was really good soup and I would tell him to enjoy because he would never get it again.

Over the years I have found that Ramen works well with leftovers.  Fortunately my husband is not a picky eater.

After a couple meals of spaghetti squash for dinner I had poured the sauce over what was left.  Now there wasn't enough for another meal, but I couldn't just throw it out, that would go against what my Mom taught.  So instead I created this soup.  It really tasted good and I may just have to have spaghetti squash again so that I can make it.  Sorry, no picture but here is the recipe in case you have left over spaghetti squash.

What is your favorite recipe from your leftovers?  If we each post one, maybe we can make a cook book? Ha Ha!

1 carrot  chopped
1 half onion chopped
2 stalks celery chopped
1/2 cup green pepper chopped
3/4 cup slivered cabbage
1 Tbs. beef bouillon
1-1 1/2 cups left over spaghetti squash with sauce
1 package of beef Ramen

Combine vegetables in pot, cover well with water, and bring to a boil.  When carrots are about half cooked add beef Ramen along with the spice packet and the spaghetti squash/sauce.  Return to boil and cook until noodles are cooked and vegetables are done.  If needed add water when adding the Ramen.  Garnish with gratted Parmesan cheese.

Our Winter

There is one thing nice about living in Las Vegas for the winter, it doesn't have snow.  A few years back I made a discovery, winter is nice when it is less than a month long.  I came to this realization the year we flew from California to attend our son's graduation in Indiana, celebrate Christmas, helped him and his wife move to DC, then drove to West Point for New Years and some play in the snow with grand kids.  After about three weeks, we flew back to California.  That was a nice length for winter.

So this year we flew to north NY to spend Christmas and a New Years trip to West Point.  There was a skiff of snow when we arrived on the  19th.  This is what it was like on the 21st.  Of course By had to make a snowman.  It was heavy, wet snow so it packed well.

 

 Above is what their tree out front looked like after the first snow storm and then below after the second storm on Christmas and more snow with some drifting on Wed. night.

This is his snowman now.

They are on the right side of the duplex.

By and his new cross country skies, fist time out.

With coming here I can get my fix of cold and snow, reminding me of my childhood, and then after three weeks go back to warmer climes.  That is about the right length of winter.

Travel/Road Signs

I have been trying to get this posted, but due to first no internet and then slow interned that wouldn't upload pictures, it is much later now.  But here it is.


As we were traveling south we saw lots of desert, sage brush, and open spaces.  We also came across this sign.  Can you make out what the sign did say?  We thought it was pretty funny.

 

There were several old trees here with some very rough bark.  I knew that you would have liked this Susan, so this is for you.

 

  

In case you couldn't read the sign above it said Extraterrestrial  Highway.  If you would like to know how it got this name you can check it out here https://www.google.com/search?q=extraterrestrial+highway+sign&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

New Woman

The other day B came home with a new woman.

This one only uses one crutch.

This one showers without a stool.

This one gets in and out of the truck without a step stool.

This one even looks different......
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Thanks, Good, and Bad

Sometimes one is not sure why things happen the way they do.  It is almost like when things are going well, that isn't good, and when they are bad it turns out good.  That could be said about past happenings for me.

To start, our son and daughter-in-law, W and C were looking for a small home, not one almost the size of the one he grew up in.  However, they ended up buying one like the latter.  So then they were wanting to get it painted so that they could move in.  That may seem bad, but we were there and able to help them.  That may sound good, but on the second day of our help, I fell and broke my arm and leg.  Now that may sound as bad as it felt, but I received some excellent care.  Upon discharge from rehab I had a place to go.  Remember that a fore mentioned home.  It only had three steps for a wheel chair ramp to go up and over.  And the house was such that a wheel chair could get around in it.  One can not understand what a blessing this was for me unless they have been in a similar situation.  Now that was bad and good.  We had joked with C about living across the street from your in-laws, not guessing that we would be living under the same roof.  If they had not chosen that home, thing may have been different, in fact, this whole story may have been different.

I want to thank each and every person who helped and supported me in one way or the other through this.  I thank those who sent me cards and gifts, for those who helped me when I couldn't help myself; for having dessert before the main course when ice cream was brought by W and C; for a computer to have in my room at rehab, for phone calls; and for visits, by G, M, and Mundchin as well as others.  I thank my husband for all the things he did and is still doing for me as I mend.  Thanks to the part that each of  you have played in helping me through this.  And thanks to our Heavenly Father who looks after each of us, helping bad or unpleasant things turn out well.