ADVENTURES IN THE ERC PART 7 ( OR SO)

 

 

 

Since Saturday is our "P" day, often the other three sisters and I go on sight-seeing outings.   Sister Splain has been here the longest and all the three have already seen many of the sights, but they have a "bucket" list of things to see before they each go home.  Although we don't go out every Saturday, we have seen a number of interesting sights.  The first Saturday I was there, we went to the Las Vegas Spring Preserve.  It was really interesting and even interactive with lots of history, an animal habitat, a large museum of Nevada (with a wonderful display of meticulously made clothing--these craft displays are changed periodically), a fantastic café, a trail system and "railroad" ride for tourists over a large acreage, and the most notable botanical garden in Nevada.  Since the visitor tickets were very expensive and the season passes were only $10 more, I opted to buy one, thinking I could come on my own to "hike" on the trails.  I was frustrated when I was told later (after I helped everyone get in for less than half price) that we all have to be together and I am not supposed to go alone. Plus, the others said they probably not want to do again (!!). However, I was just granted permission to go there to hike alone,  so I will look forward to doing that soon.  In the last few weeks we have gone to other places of interest.  Sister Splain took me to the Red Rock Canyon area I had heard so much about!  Both Sister Clark and Sister Houseman stayed home, the two of us took a picnic and drove the whole circle that goes through the area.  We stopped at all the rock formations and walked along some of the trails for a short distance.  It was, as the Spring Preserve, lovely in a deserty sort of way--the rocks were really impressive.  Unfortunately, it won't be a good option for me, because it is much farther away than I was told and it involves a very high fee for out-of-state cars every time you come (there is only one road that circles the area and it starts and ends at the fee station!)   Sister Splain and Sister Houseman also took me to the Valley of Fire one Saturday, and it was quite interesting, too.  Because of Sister Houseman's hip arthritis, we didn't hike very far or much, but it was quite fun.  We had a nice picnic in the shade of the canyon in a slightly hidden area and drove over the whole very vast land.  Again, there is one road that goes through the area and few that access the road.  We were going to go to another spot to see the big-horned sheep come down, but there had been an accident (motorcycle) ahead and the only road was closed.  We had to go all the way around and north to the freeway to go home, but we had so much fun in Overton, a tiny town with a big ice cream shoppe!  We got our ice cream and sat on the benches facing the street, three missionaries sitting in a row!!   All four of us also had a trip to the strip last week.  We went to Caesar's Forum which was really neat, but the best was the Bellogio (sp?) where they had the most beautiful display for fall ever.  It was huge and covered with fall flowers, pumpkins, trees, fountains, a little bridge, etc.  We went in to the ice cream shop and enjoyed one of the best-tasting (and expensive!) ice cream cones I have tasted.  We also drove (forever) to a movie theatre (in a casino--it seems, everything here is) to see the Saratov Approach, excellent and thought-provoking, and spent what seemed like hours in a shopping mall (I'm just not a fan of "shopping" or "malls".  We are also planning to go to a number of other places of interest (like Hoover Dam) in the future.  As soon as I can learn how to download pictures from the computer, my email, and my camera, and how to edit this blog to fit them in, I will put a few pictures about some of these and other events.