Kaleb also had a science fair project for school testing a couple of his cool airplane designs to see which designs flew the furthest and the longest.
Other than that, just the usual funtimes around the house.
Showing posts with label Lake Mead. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lake Mead. Show all posts
Friday, May 21, 2010
2010 February
February included a family bike ride on President's Day to one of our favorites: the historic railroad trail.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Desert Princess
Miki and I are HEROES! Yep, we got vouchers to take a free cruise at Lake Mead on the Desert Princess in exchange for our blood. Thanks United Blood Services and Lake Mead Cruises! It was a nice sunny day at the lake with plenty of wind. We cruised from the Las Vegas Boat Harbor to Hoover Dam and back. Cruise time is about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The Desert Princess has a full bar and concessions aboard, which was a little too pricey for our budget. We found a quiet, shady spot on the first level at the bow of the boat for some quiet conversation and beautiful scenery.
The Hoover Dam bypass bridge is ready to add the keystone section to the arch in preparation for its end of 2010 opening. I would count on 2011 sometime with as many delays it has seen so far. Projected cost is $240 million. It will span just over a quarter mile section of Black Canyon when complete. As many times as we have experienced delays driving across the dam, we are looking forward to its completion.
Unfortunately, the gentle breeze we were hoping for turned downright gusty a majority of the cruise. Miki had slipped her flip-flops off for just a couple of minutes before I saw them go flying past me like two pidgeons dodging the front bumper of my truck. I dove, but was only able to catch one as it hit the railing and momentarily rested on the deck before continuing its slide toward the edge. The other one was long gone the way of the lake. Some lucky fish will be enjoying a free foam flip-flop this evening. We spent the rest of the cruise laughing together and trying to figure out how we were going to get Miki off the boat and back to the truck. Luckily the dock was not hot, so Miki bare footed it to the edge of the rocky parking area. I then gave her a piggyback the remaining hundred plus yards to the truck, only to find as we were pulling out of the parking area that my cell phone was then missing from my belt. Knowing that it went missing during the piggyback, we quickly turned the truck around and searched the piggyback path. Nothing. I ran into the pay desk and it was there, turned in by a good samaritan.
We then caught lunch at the A&W in Boulder City on the way back home. All-in-all we had a fun date. It made for a great story to tell the kids over dinner.
Follow the link below to follow along with our pictures and see the boat route as captured by the handy-dandy GPS watch:
The Hoover Dam bypass bridge is ready to add the keystone section to the arch in preparation for its end of 2010 opening. I would count on 2011 sometime with as many delays it has seen so far. Projected cost is $240 million. It will span just over a quarter mile section of Black Canyon when complete. As many times as we have experienced delays driving across the dam, we are looking forward to its completion.
Unfortunately, the gentle breeze we were hoping for turned downright gusty a majority of the cruise. Miki had slipped her flip-flops off for just a couple of minutes before I saw them go flying past me like two pidgeons dodging the front bumper of my truck. I dove, but was only able to catch one as it hit the railing and momentarily rested on the deck before continuing its slide toward the edge. The other one was long gone the way of the lake. Some lucky fish will be enjoying a free foam flip-flop this evening. We spent the rest of the cruise laughing together and trying to figure out how we were going to get Miki off the boat and back to the truck. Luckily the dock was not hot, so Miki bare footed it to the edge of the rocky parking area. I then gave her a piggyback the remaining hundred plus yards to the truck, only to find as we were pulling out of the parking area that my cell phone was then missing from my belt. Knowing that it went missing during the piggyback, we quickly turned the truck around and searched the piggyback path. Nothing. I ran into the pay desk and it was there, turned in by a good samaritan.
We then caught lunch at the A&W in Boulder City on the way back home. All-in-all we had a fun date. It made for a great story to tell the kids over dinner.
Follow the link below to follow along with our pictures and see the boat route as captured by the handy-dandy GPS watch:
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| Lake Mead - Desert Princess Cruise |
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Saturday Stroll
Last Saturday Miki helped work a roadshow booth at Costco, so the kids and I went on a little hike at Lake Mead NRA. Just below Lake Las Vegas where the wash runs into Lake Mead is the Wetlands Trail. It's one of the only hikes in Las Vegas where you can hike along running water, but since it is mostly urban runoff it carries an "urban" odor and color with it too.
Afterward, we picked up a Little Caesars pizza and headed to the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve, where we ate lunch and continued our walk around Pond 3 to see many kinds of birds. The "cooler" weather with partly cloudy skies was perfect for getting outdoors.
Of course we stopped by Costco on the way home to check in on Mommy. Click the link below to see the highlights.
Afterward, we picked up a Little Caesars pizza and headed to the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve, where we ate lunch and continued our walk around Pond 3 to see many kinds of birds. The "cooler" weather with partly cloudy skies was perfect for getting outdoors.
Of course we stopped by Costco on the way home to check in on Mommy. Click the link below to see the highlights.
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| Lake Mead Wetlands Trail & Henderson Bird Preserve |
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Natural Bridge Hike
This morning we gave the kids the option to forego our usual Saturday bike ride for a hike, to which they enthusiastically agreed. We headed south this time to Nelson, NV to hike to a natural bridge. This area is still part of the Lake Mead NRA, but lies south of Hoover dam along the Colorado River. A natural bridge is similar to a natural arch except that it is formed by water erosion as opposed to wind erosion. You can actually see the arch if you look carefully at the Google imagery (35°43'36.74"N, 114°49'7.37"W: look for the shadow spanning the wash). This is a good 1.0 mile hike each way with a tiny bit of thigh-high rock scrambling on the trail. This destination is tucked away at the bottom of a wash with some neat rock formations, plenty of oak shrub, a spring, great vistas of Boulder City and Nelson, as well as a small glimpse of the Colorado River.
We had a baby rattlesnake cross my path today between Karter and I. Baby rattlers are about 10 inches at birth. This one was about 12-13 inches long and I could only see maybe two little rattles on the tip of its tail. The snake was about 3 feet from Karter and heading his way when I spotted it as I was about to step near it. We were in a small space between the rocks and I realized I couldn't get around the rattler to get to Karter, so I frantically called to Miki, who was in front of Karter, to pull him clear of its path. Karter did a great job of standing very still, probably frozen from me raising my voice suddenly. Miki swooped Karter up while the baby snake quickly hid under the rock not to be seen again. Karter decided after this that he never wants to step on a snake and had me carry him past that spot on the way back out.
This time we packed a lunch that we ate in the shade of the natural bridge while we enjoyed the cool breeze. Of course the "tired" starts to kick in on the way back, but we made it back home to enjoy a short nap followed by Saturday chores. It was a fun time! Now maybe I should probably start thinking about getting ready to plan to possibly go about getting some studying done for my upcoming economics test. Can't wait!
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| Natural Bridge Hike |
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Cottonwood Spring
Karter and I decided to go on a hike Friday while everyone else was in school. We went to Cottonwood Spring in Lake Mead National Recreation Area (NRA). (36°12'9.94"N, 114°38'36.93"W). Have I mentioned I love my new Garmin GPS watch? Comparing to Google Earth imagery, I can see some of the positions were off by as much as 80 feet, which is unusually high.
The Cottonwood Spring hike is an easy, 1.24 mile journey each way. Along the journey, we saw some pretty plants, petrified ripples, some cool rocks, mini narrows, a recently expired trantula, an old watering basin, and the spring. There are some aquatic fossils there too, supposedly, but we could not find them. There are a couple large cottonwood trees at the spring that looked very dormant. There was water just below the surface an seen by a small hole maintained by animals for watering. Follow along by viewing the photo album below.
Again, all the photos are geotagged so you can see the approximate locations of the photos.
The Cottonwood Spring hike is an easy, 1.24 mile journey each way. Along the journey, we saw some pretty plants, petrified ripples, some cool rocks, mini narrows, a recently expired trantula, an old watering basin, and the spring. There are some aquatic fossils there too, supposedly, but we could not find them. There are a couple large cottonwood trees at the spring that looked very dormant. There was water just below the surface an seen by a small hole maintained by animals for watering. Follow along by viewing the photo album below.
Again, all the photos are geotagged so you can see the approximate locations of the photos.
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| Cottonwood Spring |
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Redstone Safari
Kaleb's friend, Ethan, invited Kaleb and I to go hiking with he and his dad for his birthday activity. We went to the Redstone Dunes in Lake Mead National Recreation Area (NRA). (36°14'32.29"N, 114°30'57.01"W). I put my new Garmin GPS watch to good use.
The Redstone Dunes are petrified sand dunes that have eroded differentially to create some spectacular caves, holes, pockets, youngster labyrinths, and other neat formations. Along the journey, I saw many rock formations that resembled animals and other creatures. Follow along our safari and see if you can pick out the animals we saw by viewing the photo album below. Feel free to leave comments on the photos of what you think we saw on our safari!
Note that there is a map that goes with the photos showing the approximate locations of these formations. If you decide to go on safari yourself, let me know and I'll send you the exact path of our travels (1.4 miles) since you'll have to be mildly adventurous and get off the beaten path and explore a little to see the rare and exotic species we located. Better yet, if you're serious about a mini-safari, let us know and we'll plan a customized adventure the whole family (both of our families) will enjoy...compliments of your adventure guide, Kaleb, who can guarantee that these critters will not be roaming too far from where we found them!
The Redstone Dunes are petrified sand dunes that have eroded differentially to create some spectacular caves, holes, pockets, youngster labyrinths, and other neat formations. Along the journey, I saw many rock formations that resembled animals and other creatures. Follow along our safari and see if you can pick out the animals we saw by viewing the photo album below. Feel free to leave comments on the photos of what you think we saw on our safari!
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| Redstone Safari |
Note that there is a map that goes with the photos showing the approximate locations of these formations. If you decide to go on safari yourself, let me know and I'll send you the exact path of our travels (1.4 miles) since you'll have to be mildly adventurous and get off the beaten path and explore a little to see the rare and exotic species we located. Better yet, if you're serious about a mini-safari, let us know and we'll plan a customized adventure the whole family (both of our families) will enjoy...compliments of your adventure guide, Kaleb, who can guarantee that these critters will not be roaming too far from where we found them!
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