Because my hysterectomy kept us from taking a summer vacation, Jeff had a week that he either had to take before the end of the year or else lose those days. And because he doesn’t believe in staycations, we decided to travel the week between Christmas and New Year’s somewhere that wouldn’t have too many people since we’re still very COVID-conscious. Off to the desert we went on Christmas Day. We arrived without hiccup in Las Vegas, our hub for southwest travel, checked into our hotel, and found supper at one of only two places open, Buffalo Wild Wings, where we both ordered burgers to go.
Sunday morning, we went to see the Seven Magic Mountains art installation about 20 minutes outside of the city. It’s meant to be a critique of the artificiality of Las Vegas, set as it is in a vast wilderness. The trash and broken glass left behind by off-road partiers around the site only added to the impression that people tend to dirty up just about everything we touch.
We then went to worship with the South Valley Church of Christ, where the preacher summed up the year in that congregation’s life. He reiterated that no matter what was happening in the world, the “gates of Hades” would not prevail against the church.
After getting lunch from Raising Cane’s chicken, we went for our timed entry to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area’s Scenic Loop. There were a lot of people there, so we mostly stayed in the car except for a few minutes taking pictures at overlooks.
We did only one short hike to see some petroglyphs, which I was afraid would create problems with my heel later because it was a little rough than I expected.
In taking in the rugged beauty, I wondered aloud if the first people in the area thought it was beautiful, or if they were so focused on survival that they hurried through because it’s so inhospitable. Jeff figured it was the latter: our fascination with it comes from our unfamiliarity with anything outside our concrete and asphalt everyday lives.
We then headed to our room for the night at K-7 Bed and Breakfast, a fairly rustic place attached to a pizza restaurant. After supper we placed a pickup order at the Pahrump Wal-Mart for picnic lunch items for the week. One of the workers bringing out our order engaged in small talk with Jeff, who said we were on vacation. The guy said incredulously, “In Pahrump?!” It shows how middle-of-nowhere the town is, which is kind of how I like it. I asked Jeff to pull over on a backroad on our way back to our room, and he turned off all the car lights so I could see a sky full of stars like I haven’t done in a long time.