Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada
We spent the last 3 nights at this amazing park.  It is definitely at the top of the list for the WOW factor.
We had beautiful weather (in the 80's) so did most of our exploring in the morning and walks at night and a lot of reading and relaxing in the afternoon.  It was the most unusual camp ground ever as the sites were just sort of nestled in a valley around the rocks.

You could climb the rocks in some areas.  Some kids and people climbed a lot higher than we did and even at night we could see their flashlights.  The place filled up every day and we were glad that we got there early as there weren't many spots left.

 The flowers looked so pretty with this red sandy backdrop.  This is a Dune Primrose, the larvae of sphinx moth feed on its leaves.

Desert mallow.  These pretty orange flowers were out in full force.

Look - mother nature made these "clay pots" complete with plants!

The park had lots of trails and interesting areas to explore.  This spot was particularly loaded with petroglyphs.  We climbed up nearly 100 stairs to get to this spot and the view along the way and from the top was awesome.
In another spot there were huge big petrified logs.  Hard to imagine that there was once a forest here.

The sheer size of the rocks, plus the amazing color and different formations was almost unbelievable.  We had to keep asking ourselves if we had possibly taken a wrong turn and landed on a different planet.

 We liked this one because it looks like a dog.

 This was our favorite spot on the hike, it was beautiful walking in this little tunnel between the rocks.

This was a really amazing loop trail.  It wasn't really that long but the sand was deep and fine and it gave you a good work out.  Also some spots were really steep and rocky.

It was interesting hiking here as the sand was fine and deep.  In most spots it was beautiful red and in the one above a creamy color.  Some spots, like in the next 3 pictures, the rocks were many colors. 

One night we sat out and watched the nearly full moon rise.  As it rose it cast a shadow on the other side of the little valley we were in.  It was really awesome to see how it lit up the rocks.

We saw lots of antelope ground squirrels and lizards.  This lizard had the longest tail ever, and seemed to have a lot of different colors.

We met some interesting people in the campground as well.  We talked to a retired couple from Wisconsin about their winter travelling.  They have been going to Mexico for the winter for a number of years.  I think it is worth reading up on, it sounded amazing and not as dangerous as we keep hearing about on the news.
Last night we met a young man named Mannie and his family.  As there was no electricity in the park his mom asked if we could turn on our generator as Mannie needs to plug in a machine as part of his breathing treatment for asthma.  I would guess he was about 7 years old and was such a sweet little boy.  Then a lady came over and asked if we would share our spot with them.  The spots are large and have a pad as well as a tent pad.  She was pretty upset as they had driven from ST. George Utah and she had spent the day packing for her family (4 kids) and there were no spots.  We agreed so of course our last night was a little more lively than the other 2, but I am glad they will be able to enjoy their weekend as they took over our spot when we left.
  We also got asked to use our can opener and another guy asked Don if he could cut a piece of wire for him as the other guy told him that we had "everything. "
We also met an interesting son and father who were camping in a homemade tent on top of a metal trailer. They had been to this park before and knew a lot about Utah as well so it was nice to get some pointers.
http://parks.nv.gov/parks/valley-of-fire-state-park/

On the way from Vegas to Valley of Fire the valley was full of joshua trees.  The flowers I took pictures of from Laughlin were from yucca trees (not joshua as I had originally published)  The joshua trees get a similar flower just not as large.


"You do not need a parachute to skydive.  You only need a parachute to skydive twice."

Laughlin, Part 2
I decided to post this in 2 parts as there are a lot of pictures and judging from the amount of time it is taking to save - better safe than sorry.

 Lizard and Petroglyph!

There were so many different kinds of lizards scurrying about underfoot at the canyon.

When your hair is the color of the rocks is it time to get some lady clairol???

 The path was sandy in some spots, steep and sandy in others and just plain rocky and barely navigatable (is that even a word?) in others.  It was almost like a maze as you pick your way around and through the rocks.

This is a little spot where the water was pooling.  At certain times of the year there are more waterfalls and water is plentiful through here.  You can tell by the smooth rocks that water has rushed through this area.  It was so quite and peaceful in this spot.  Hard to describe how you could almost sense the people that used this place as a spiritual area.  We both just stood and looked at how beautiful and interesting it was and we hesitated to leave.

 The rock was so sculptured in some spots .

Almost looks like someone made this the way the rocks fell, it was quite a ways up and we weren't really sure how they even put the petroglyphs on that rock.

 

Don and I called this duck bill rock

And this one is monkey

As we enjoyed the serenity of this beautiful canyon a fellow, who was sitting on a rock reading a book started talking to us.  Turns out he is an orinthologist.  We learned some interesting facts about birds, I could have stayed all day and just talked to him.  He works in Nevada going to sites before they destroy habitat to see what nests and birds are in the area.  I thanked him for that and he laughed and said not too many  engineers and construction crews were that happy to see him.

 This is a view of the Colorado river again near the dam.

The previous 4 pictures are from along the river behind the casinos right in Laughlin.

 A block or two across the desert behind our campground is this beautiful golf course, I think these were coots.

there were a lot of yellow headed black birds there too.  I never realized what a strange call they have.  Sort of a cross between a parrot and an ape in distress.

 Heh - told you I was glad to get outside.  This sand was so nice, and I could not resist.

 I wonder who made these pretty little tracks?  There were no other human tracks until I got there

Was a really fun day!