07-05-2010
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Return to the Painted Desert: PART I
I started my vacation by flying to Las Vegas, rented a car there and took a flight over the Painted Desert, then we traveled to Death Valley, Yosemite, San Francisco, Big Sur, Majave Desert and then returned to the Painted Desert. If you did not see the Painted Desert from the air please follow this link:
http://maartenventer.xanga.com/tags/thepainteddesert/
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Las Vegas - a view of the Strip as Las Vegas Boulevard is known
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Colors abound in the Painted Desert
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It all depends on the light
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Celebrating the Light Fantastic...
Comments (16)
It's beautiful, Maarten! That's about as close as I ever want to get to the strip - lol! I love #5 and #6 -- and #9 is perfect! Interesting patterns in #11, too.
@slmret -
Thank you Janet. I love the strip although I don't have a bank account there, the architecture is amazing and the guys who do the lighting on those buildings do an incredible job. Anyway, I love the deserts around Las Vegas: Death Valley, Grand Canyon and Mojave Desert are all jewels in my book. I just wish you could see some of them larger than I can display them on Xanga.
oh my oh my ... each one is a master!!! spectacular!!!
@windupherskirt -
Thank you Denise, that is very kind of you. Thank you for the rec also.
I would love to see these photos in a larger format too! I'm really just glad to see them at all as I'm back in the area where I do not have a good signal. Sometimes things will load and sometimes not. I'm looking into getting a booster that 'may' cure the problem. These are lovely photos. I like #2 the best - the mountains seem to be miles and miles from the landscape in the foreground. Peace
@shellisland -
Hi Mary Sue, I really hope get to solve the problems with a booster.It's tough when pages load slowly. Thank you for always have the time to visit.
@MaartenVenter - Unfortunately I go into instant sensory overload in Vegas -- can't wait to leave! But I guess I have to agree that the architecture is pretty impressive. And I do agree that the deserts around it are wonderful, filled with so much life and color that many people never see! I'm glad to know that you enjoy them as much as I. And you have wonderful photos to take back to Australia, too, when you go!
@slmret -
Yes, I will have many photos and memories of the western deserts. Do you know what the geological feature is called that forms a cone (pinkish in this case) such as the small one in #3? I have seen a few of them in Australia and a few of the here as well. They are so beautiful and I badly wanted to go closer to this one but I would have to hike very far.
@MaartenVenter - It's called a cinder cone. They are typically found near/on/around volcanoes, and are the remains of small fountains of lava at vent holes. They vary in size (there'a a nice little one in #4, too, in front of the dark formation), and sometimes have truncated tops.
@slmret -
Thanks Janet, I don't want to argue the subject but please look at #8. The white cone. It is more like a Mesa is turning into several cones with no lava in sight.
@MaartenVenter - Agreed -- I'll leave that one to the geologists! I have seen cinder cones out in the middle of nowhere -- and there's a lot of earthquake stuff in #8, too (that slopey hill on the right is typical quake geology) -- must have been a cataclysmic complex event of some type there!
@slmret -
Can you imagine the forces required to do that job? I would love to see it from closer up.
@MaartenVenter - Somehow I think I'd rather be far, far away - lol !!! But if you'd really like, you can come back to CA and visit the Salton Sea or Calexico -- they had 2 more quakes on the order of 5.0 magnitude today! I'm beginning to really wonder if we're gearing up for a 'big one'! In about 1965, I experienced an 8. (if I remember correctly) earthquake in Seattle -- afterwards, you could see spots where the earth had slipped upwards a couple of inches -- pretty interesting stuff.
You sure do make me want to go see these places for myself! Nicely done photos.
@craftea -
I am very happy that these photos are making you want to go there yourself. If you do then contact me for some pointers. At least I can share the places I visited. I really wish I knew Janet before I visited California. She would have been able to point out the all the great places saving me a lot of time having to discover only a few for myself.
No kidding. I've read some of your exchanges with Janet and have been impressed with her depth of knowledge of the area.
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