Daytrip - Bellagio’s Conservatory & Botanical Garden

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Connie and I recently I made another pilgrimage to Bellagio’s Conservatory and Botanical Garden, titled “Chinese New Year, Year of the Dog”. The Conservatory at the Bellagio Casino starts the 2018 season with the Chinese New Year exhibit featuring traditional designs of the celebration, even though the actual Chinese New Year doesn't begin until Feb. 8, 2016. In addition to many of the normal Chinese New Year items such as I-Ching coins, Ding pots, hanging Chinese Lanterns, figurines of Chinese children and the ever gorgeous flowers, there are 18 beautiful dogs celebrating the "Year of the Dog".

Daytrip - Kingman, Arizona

On 01/25/2018 Bob Croke, Jim Herring and I took a trip to Kingman, Arizona. Though it is impossible to see everything in a single day, we did visit some of the more popular places of interest: the Mohave Museum of History and Arts, the Arizona Route 66 Museum, the Route 66 Electric Vehicle Museum, Locomotive Park, the Amtrak Depot, the Model Railroad Museum, and Mr. D'z Route 66 Diner. Here are links to the places we visited. Hope you enjoy.

The Powerhouse Visitor Center and the Route 66 Electric Car Museum
The Amtrack Depot and Model Railroad Museum
The Mr. D'z Route 66 Diner

This page provides information on the town of Kingman -  Kingman Arizona - Summary Page

Jim Herring's Dog - Scooter

Whenever Jim go's away we "house sit" Scooter. This is where he sleeps at our house.

Terrazza Park

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This page last updated on 01/30/2018

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Description: Henderson's newest park, at a cost of more than $5 million, Terrazza Park is located at 1992 Galleria Drive near Lake Las Vegas. It has a basketball court, open turf area, picnic areas and access as a trailhead with access to the Wetlands Connector Trail and Clark County Wetlands Park (Fig. 02).

01/31/2018 Visit Notes: Bob Croke, Harvey Smith and I decided to walk this morning along the Las Vegas Wash from the Terrazza Park. We met about a mile and a quarter west of Terrazza Park, at the Wells Trailhead (Fig. 02), also located off of the newly paved Galleria Drive (04). This trailhead provides a parking lot, restrooms, shaded picnic areas and a short walk through the desert scrub habitat that leads you to a hilltop viewing area with benches (Fig. 04). This scenic overlook (Fig. 05) high above the Las Vegas Wash, provides enjoyable vistas of Las Vegas. Near the eastern end of the Clark County Wetlands Park, trails to the west and east connect to the Wetlands Park loop trail, as well as the River Mountains Loop trail. Over the years this property has been severely damaged by erosion from the Las Vegas Wash and they are doing a lot of planting in an effort to prevent soil erosion. We left one car here so we wouldn't have to hike the same trail back.

We then drove to the Terrazza Park and began our hike (Fig. 06). If you walk east of the parking lot you pass a small waterfall area (Fig. 07) on the way to a heavy steel grate (Fig. 08) where the wash appears to disappear into the two tunnels that run under Lake Las Vegas on its way to Lake Mead. Read more about the wash and Lake Las Vegas here ... Lake Las Vegas and Las Vegas Wash. We then walked back up the wash to the park.Back at the park we began our hike by heading west toward the steel bridge that crosses the wash (Fig. 01). (notes con't below)
                                 

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Hike notes continued:  As we walked across the bridge, the noise of the water running over the stones in the wash was extremely loud. There were even a few birds perched on the edge of the stones (Fig. 10). We walked until we reached a man-made falls (Fig. 11). Refer to the map in Figure 2. We then backtracked across the bridge and hiked the Wetlands Loop South trail up the wash to the  to the Wells Trailhead. Though this was not an overly interesting hike, we did see many birds and ducks (Fig. 12), a couple of great blue herons, and spotted a couple of wild coyotes (Figs. 13-15). I guess the coyotes were the highlight of the day. We then retrieved the car at the Wells Trailhead and drove back to Terrazza Park and had a picnic lunch. All toll we walked over 3 miles. All it all, it was a beautiful sunny day in the upper 50's. 
                                         

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Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument (TUSK) - Trip Notes for 02/21/2018

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This page last updated on 02/22/2018

(Fig. 01)

Directions: There are three commonly recognized entrance locations for the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument; refer to the "future  kiosk" (in red) on the map in (Fig. 02). When looking for the area of the area of the 1962-63 "Big Dig", a four-month intensive study chronicled by National Geographic, this 1,000 plus acre site is represented as the verticle hatched rectangle on the map in (Fig. 02). It is east of Decatur and north of Horse Drive. The intersection of Aliante Parkway and Horse Drive is the best location for entering the area of the archaeological site containing several parts of the trenches dug during the "Big Dig" and the original camp site.

(Fig. 02)

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02/21/2018 Trip Notes: Today, Bob Croke, Jim Herring, Ron Ziance, and I drove to the Aliante Pkwy location to enter the Tule Springs Archaeological Site in the TUSK National Monument in search of the trenches dug during the "big dig" (Fig. 01). The picture in (Fig. 01) beneath the sign was taken at the corner of Aliante and Horse Drive looking due north. The sides of the road in this area are fenced and marked "TUSK" as the boundary of the national monument in an effort to prevent people from taking off road vehicles onto the site. (Fig. 03).  The view in (Fig. 01) was taken at this location looking out into TUSK. To read more about this national monument go to ... Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument (TUSK) - Summary Page. In 1933, quarry workers unearthed a pile of bones from a mammoth. The site became known as "Tule the Baby Mammoth." This discovery led to the Tule Springs expedition, led by paleontologist Fenley Hunter of the American Museum of Natural History. During the "Big Dig" of the 1963-64 They had one of the world's largest bulldozers dig nearly two miles of trenches in search of fossils (Fig. 04). Though they were originally quite deep, some of them were subsequently partially filled in. The location of this trench can be seen on (Fig. 05). Then, in 2004, it is said that almost 10,000 fossils were removed from the southern portion of the area and curated in the San Bernardino County Museum in California. Of the thousands of fossils that have been excavated within the now Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, probably the most recognized fossil is the tusk of a Columbian Mammoth (Fig. 06). The map below is an aerial view of the area we hiked (Fig. 05); the area where the "big dig" occurred. As we entered the monument, we headed out across the barren Las Vegas Wash in a north westerly direction (Fig. 07). (Con't below)

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Trip Notes Continued: From this point we weaved our way across the wash (Figs. 08-10). Once we reached the power line we turned west until we encountered what we thought look liked a large trench (Fig. 11) facing north. Turning and heading south (Fig. 12) we eventually came to the entrance of a crumbling trench that had signs on both signs saying "No Entry". At the very end of this long trench we came upon a grouping of shells and snails (Figs. 13 & 14). On the hike back to our starting point I passed a Desert Tortoise burrow that seemed to be several deep (Fig. 015). Though we didn't see any fossils, it was a pleasant hike. We're looking forward to maybe hiking this area again with a knowledgeable guide in the near future.

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Return to ... Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument (TUSK) - Summary Page.

Floyd Lamb Park - Trip Notes for 02/12/2018

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This page last updated on 02/18/2018

(Fig. 01)

Directions: Floyd Lamb Park is located at the north end of town at 9200 Tule Springs Rd, Las Vegas. From the Stratosphere Casino head northeast on Las Vegas Blvd about 3 miles and turn left onto US-93/95 north. Bearing left, stay on 95 north towards Ely/Reno. Travel about 15 miles and take the Durango Drive exit, exit 93. Turn right onto N. Durango Dr. Go about 1.5 miles and turn right onto Brent Lane. Brent Lane becomes Tule Springs Road and takes you to the entrance of the park. Distance from the point of origin is about 20 miles and takes about 30 minutes.

Description: Floyd Lamb is a pleasant and pretty place to throw out a picnic blanket or reel in a rainbow trout. In a city filled with palms and desert landscape, the park's grass lawns, 4 stocked ponds, hundreds of cottonwood trees, picnic areas, barbecues, scenic paths and volleyball and horseshoe facilities on 2,040 acres, it looks a little out of place in the Mojave metropolis of Las Vegas (Fig. 01). The grounds are filled with hundreds of ducks and geese (Fig. 02), dozens of beautiful peacocks, and more than two dozen Pygmy Rabbits (Brachylagus idahoensis). Those with a Nevada fishing license can fish in any of the park's ponds but are limited to three fish per person. Visitors can also explore Tule Springs Ranch, one of the best examples of Pleistocene paleontologic sites in western North America. Tule Springs was visited by large prehistoric mammals in an era when the southern Nevada area was much cooler and wetter. Fossil remains of extinct mammoths, bison, horses, camels, giant sloths and other animals have been found in Tule Springs.

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In later years Tule Springs served as a watering hole for Indians and prospectors who traveled across Nevada. In 1916, John Herbert (Bert) Nay was the first non-Indian to file for water rights. As he acquired more property at Tule Springs, he built a blacksmith shop and a storage room. The property remained vacant until prospector Jacob Goumond purchased the land. He took advantage of Nevada's changing divorce laws and set up a dude ranch for prospective divorcees. Tule Springs also was a self-supporting ranch. One hundred acres was set aside for alfalfa and cattle; other animals were raised and sold, as well as several vegetable varieties. Its many functional wooded buildings still exist. Goumond's granddaughter inherited the ranch when he died in 1954. She sold it to a group of businessmen who formed the Tule Springs Investment Company. They leased out the ranch until the city of Las Vegas bought it in 1964. It was converted into a city park and renamed in honor of state Sen. Floyd Lamb.

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02/12/2018 Trip Notes: Even though I have visited this park more than a half dozen times, this is the first time I've come for a 'picnic' in the winter. Today, Jim Herring, Blake Smith Connie and myself decided to have a picnic in the park. It was sunny and near 70, but the winds made it feel colder. The picture in (Fig. 03) above, show where we picnicked. Looking out across the lake is the view we enjoyed while we ate (Fig. 04). The lake was filled with nearly a hundred American Coots (Fig. 04). To read more ... American Coot - (Fulica americana). After lunch I started throwing out some bread. They swam in from everywhere and starting fighting each other like they hadn't eaten for months. Their efforts to grab the bread created a very loud trashing sound. I titled the picture in (Fig. 05) "Free for All".  Jim, Blake and I then took a walk around the park while Connie sat in the sun at the picnic area reading her book. (Notes con't below)

(Fig. 04)

(Fig. 05) Title: Free for All

Notes Continued: As we walked we circled two of the main lakes. As usual here we encountered a variety of geese and ducks including Greylag Geese (Fig. 06), Canada Geese (Fig. 07), Snow Geese and more, many "hunkered down" due to the winds (Fig. 08). Even the winter views of the trees, void of any leaves made for some nice pictures (Figs. 09 & 10). At the far end of our walk we encountered more than two dozen peacocks (Figs. 11 & 12), most nestled in the shrubs and small trees. (Notes con't below)

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Notes Continued: Finally we came upon the area where the rabbits habitat. These are Pygmy Rabbits (Brachylagus idahoensis) (Fig. 13). The small rabbits have short ears and a snub nose. The pygmy rabbit is believed to be one of only two Leporids (a family of mammals that include rabbits and hares), in Northern America that digs its own burrows. There main habitat is Northern Nevada and Utah up into Montana. To read more ... Pygmy Rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis). The first time I encountered these on a visit two years ago there were only about four of them. Today we counted nearly 15 (Fig 14). We then made back to Connie and our picnic area for the ride home (Figs. 15 & 16).

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Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)

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This page last updated on 03/30/2018

(Fig. 01)

Picture Notes:  The picture in (Fig. 01) was taken along a hike in the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument. Because it is still somewhat winter, they are all brown and pretty much dried out. Come spring and summer they will turn green and can actually begin to flower similar to that shown in (Fig. 02). For more on this hike and location go to ...  Tufa Beds Trails (TUSK) - Trip Notes for 03/28/2018.

Description:  The Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii), a.k.a. Claret Cup, Mojave Mound Cactus, Kingcup Cactus, Strawberry Hedgehog Cactus, and mound cactus, usually is a mound-shaped plant to about 1-1/2-feet tall and composed of several, stout, upright stems to about 3 feet in diameter. Stems rarely solitary. Its stem surface are ribbed, without tubercles. The spines are about 3-inches long, spreading, usually more or less straight, flat; usually reddish-brown with white margin; radial spines 6-14. The flowers bloom late spring to early summer. A solitary flower emerges from the side of the stem near the top and is funnel-shaped, reddish-purple to magenta, 2 to 3-inches diameter; anthers yellow. Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus is a fairly common component of vegetation communities on gravelly and rocky soils along washes, rocky ridges, and upper bajadas and moderate slopes into the lower mountains in the Lower Sonoran life zones.
                             

(Fig. 02)