Of course, we get together at Pirate's Cove to ride, not to act like eleven-year-olds on our first trip to Disneyland (we're all far too mature for that). So here's a bunch of pictures of everybody showing off their stuff.
Giving the tourists a little something more for their money.
Full disclosure, I had what for me felt to be a pretty darn good run, but I will post the picture so you can see how far I have to go!
Everybody tired of the old pictures? Yeah, me too.
A couple weeks ago we were invited to Pirate's Cove. If you're one of the few people we haven't bored to tears with our stories, Pirate's Cove is a house/houses/compound... whatever, where some of our foiling friends get together to ride and hang out at the house. It's an amazing place and this time we actually got some decent pictures, although you really can't do it justice. It's just something you have to see to believe.
This first picture is the main house and upper pool, taken from the driveway/courtyard entrance area.
From farther away, another look at the main house. Our room is the upper floor to the left in this picture.
One of dozens of interesting displays, this is the deck of the big pirate ship. When you step down onto the deck, it tilts gently back and forth, which is pretty entertaining the first time you step on it. Ok, it's entertaining for everybody else, anyway. Once you pass the tilting deck, you can look down on part of the water slide and the lower pool.
How awesome is it to have your own water slide?
Another shot of the upper pool and what may be the world's largest bean bag chair.
One of my personal favorite parts of the house, the upper hot tub overlooking the lake.
The big pirate ship, water slide exit and lower pool complete with rope swing.
This overlooks the new area which is still under construction. When completed, this will include a tamer water slide for the kiddies and a wave pool. You guys all have your own wave pools, right? At the bottom right of the picture you can see the lower hot tub and the bow of the big pirate ship.
The view from our room.
The entrance to the water slide.
The lower pool.
Another picture of the water slide exit and lower pool with hot tub in the background.
The mast of the smaller pirate ship, which is actually pretty much just the mast. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures, but we had a serious diver there this time doing all kinds of crazy dives off the mast.
So that's some of Pirate's Cove, hope you enjoyed the pictures!
These pictures are pretty bad, but I'm posting them to prove I'm not making stuff up. A couple of weeks ago we looked out back and saw a hawk sitting in the tree. I grabbed the camera and tried a couple of shots, but Mr. Hawk is very shy and took off as soon as I tried to get to where I could see him. The "best" of that batch is this first picture, which gave me enough to figure out that he is probably a Sharp-shinned hawk, although they are almost indistinguishable from a Cooper's hawk. The Sharp-shinned are more common, so I'm playing the odds. Both hawks are attracted to bird feeders, especially in the winter, and not because they like birdseed. We've inadvertently set up a different kind of bird feeder, I guess.
The picture is so lousy I'd kind of forgotten about it until this morning. I looked out back and our hawk was back. Same drill, I was able to get away with cracking the door open and taking a couple of pictures, but as soon as I started moving to try and get a better view, he was gone. I hate to admit it, but yes, I refilled the bird feeder so maybe he'll be back tomorrow morning.
It's a posting frenzy! I am trying to catch up here, people.
Last Sunday, dark and early, we headed out to Valley of Fire State Park, via Northshore Road in Lake Mead NRA. Now, photography people are big on sunrises and sunsets. Anyone who has ever watched one or the other can figure this one out: The light is softer, hits things in interesting ways and often has a reddish or yellowish tint that makes for great pictures. If you know what you're doing. I, quite simply, don't and it shows. Not much to show out of this batch, I need to go back to my books and figure out how to get the lighting right.
Some pictures of rock patterns came out ok, but I dunno, it's pictures of rocks. I may work on some of these at some point, but on the other hand a little may go a long way.
Some of the petroglyph pictures also came out ok, but it's kind of the same problem as the rocks. It's interesting, but seriously, how many pictures do you need to see to get the idea?
So we got three good pictures out of the deal. Eh, it's not like I get paid for this either way, you know? Anyway, here are the first two. These were actually taken near Lake Mead, just after this fellow ran across the road ahead of us. I don't think I would have spotted him otherwise, they really blend into the desert.
This was really the only closeup that turned out decent. The light was pretty, but there wasn't really enough of it for a camera hanging out the window of a truck pulled off the road. Oh well, at least we got one good shot.
Last but not least, the glowing tree. This was in Valley of Fire, near Mouse's Tank. The sun was hitting it just right and it looked like it was glowing. I'm not actually as thrilled with this one downsized for posting, it's lost a lot of detail, but you can at least get the idea.
All in all we had a fun trip. Sometimes finding out what we don't understand about the camera yet is the best we can hope for out of any given outing. It's all a learning experience anyway, and there's nothing wrong with having an excuse to spend a day in a really beautiful place.
A few weeks ago we went to the recently-opened Las Vegas Springs Preserves. This spring is pretty much the reason that Las Vegas exists at all. Not that legalized gambling hurts, don't get me wrong. But people had to come here in the first place before somebody could say, "You know, we want to make a living here, but the climate is less than ideal for ranching and large scale farming is right out. Gambling, hookers and easy divorces is the way to go!"
Thus the Las Vegas Springs and its newly opened Preserve, about two miles of walking trails, interactive exhibits and desert demonstration gardens (unfortunately featuring some frankly weird art). Back in the day, this was an oasis in the middle of the desert and I'm pretty sure this is where the Native American snowbirds invented Bingo. When the pioneer-types came along they stopped here as well, and eventually the springs supplied a railroad stop and the young town of Las Vegas. Eventually gambling, neon and Elvis made Las Vegas what it is today, but to get there required more water than the springs were able to produce, so that's when they invented Lake Mead.
The Preserve is nice, even if it feels a little raw yet from the recent construction. The building site for the Nevada History Museum contributes to the not-quite-settled-down effect, as do areas marked for future restoration. For now, the high point for us was a bush full of hummingbirds. I believe these are female Rufous hummingbirds. They must have been migrating south for the winter, but if you look at these pictures, you can see our pictures look an awful lot like the females/juveniles in these pictures.
The first picture is just for fun, it's obviously way out of focus, but in an interesting way, I thought. Kind of a Monet hummingbird.
The rest of these are just shots that I thought turned out well. Hummers are HARD to catch!
Help! Mr. Flower is eating my head!!
Coincidentally, the evening we got home from Death Valley, we had both a cactus blooming and fantastic light. Some days you get lucky.
Time to finish up the Death Valley series. Not too much commentary here, these pictures are from the Keane Wonder Springs, one of the primary reasons the Keane mine was able to operate and even profit. It's not much water and it stinks of sulfur, but in this climate people weren't too picky.
The trail from the mine to the spring is easy to find, you just follow the old pipeline. In about a mile, you come to the spring that provided enough water to process the ore at the mill and pretty much think "Huh. Really??" because it doesn't look like much. The old well, shown in this first picture, gives a good idea of how this was possible; most of the water from the spring remains underground. Note how well secured the well is. This isn't a good place to let your attention wander.
This picture looks up at the spring from below, near the well (or death trap, if you prefer). Not real fancy, is it?
The views from here, like from the mine, are spectacular. This picture looks pretty much west across the valley from the spring.
This one looks north from the same area. You can just see the sand dunes near Stovepipe Wells, up towards the top right of the picture.
A closer picture of the spring, showing some of the mineral deposits left behind. The sign in the upper right of the picture says something like "Danger! Open mine shafts!" This whole area is pocked with prospecting holes, and again, you kind of want to watch your step. I'm pretty sure if you break a leg out here they just shoot you.
Again, a close up. The mineral deposits are just about as colorful as the grass. Quite possibly part of the dull plant life around the spring was just the time of year. I would guess you'd get both more water and more color in the spring.
Not the greatest picture, but I liked the shadow. This crow came over several times to check us out, actually swooping over us while I tried desperately to put a more appropriate lens on the camera. Once I finally got that done, the crow decided we neither dead nor all that interesting after all and flew away.
