Outdoors in Vegas

Immediately after taking my board exam and before annual calibrations (ie crazy weekend work hours) began, we had a few weekends off to have some fun.  The first free day we had, we went out to Lake Mead to rent a jet ski and explore.  Lake Mead is formed by the Hoover Dam and is the largest man-made lake in the US with 500+ miles of shoreline.  It's also a very short drive (or bike ride) from our house. 

Because we're Floridians and used to lakes being dark and murky, we are amazed every time we see the bright blue waters of Lake Mead.  The day we jet skied was HOT (as were most days here during the summer months) so we stayed cool by driving super fast and jumping in frequently.  We had the greatest time exploring the "narrows" which are skinny paths with rock walls on either side hundreds of feet high and canyons at every turn where people park their boats and hang out for the day. 

The views were incredible. 

We also managed to make it all the way up to the Hoover Dam.  It was one of the best days we've had and I want to take every summer visitor on a similar exploration!

hoover dam from the water

Another weekend, our planned camping trip to Bryce Canyon got stormed out so we turned to a local Las Vegas park instead: Red Rock Canyon.  The park is just on the other side of the Valley and includes a 13 mile scenic loop drive with tons of hiking trails at every point. 

We were never quite able to find the trail we planned on taking so we instead just spent a few hours exploring.  It was completely gorgeous and I'm so excited to get back out to other parts of the park!

field of crazy cactuses cacti

Before moving here, I never realized all of the awesome sights to see so close to our house!  Luckily, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous recently and we plan on cramming as much into our upcoming weekends as possible!