Rants and Raves of a Hobbyjogger: First half of October 2023: Double Vacation!

In the early part of the month, my husband and I drove out to Las Vegas for a few days for the 40th Vegas Pride festival (pride is in October in Vegas where it's so hot).

Then we spent a couple days enjoying the landscape of the West on the drive back.

The weekend after that, we took the kids to witness the ring of fire eclipse in Albuquerque and see the Balloon Fiesta.

Workouts for the first half of the month were:

10/01 - Barbell overhead presses
10/02 - 30 minutes exercise bike
10/03 - Bodyweight toe squats & captain's chair leg raises (ab-crunch focus)
10/09 - 5.3 miles with 2600+ ft gain
10/11 - 10.2 miles
10/12 - 30 minutes row machine & standing lat pull-downs

Plus a lot of walking around during vacation, etc!

***

For our Vegas vacation, we got a predawn start on the drive.

We got to witness a lovely sunrise somewhere near the Colorado/Utah border.

We arrived in Vegas and saw the sights and sounds of the city at night, and saw the Pride parade (which is also at night).

The next day was the Pride Festival. We shopped and checked out the vendors and the entertainment.

The next afternoon, we visited Red Rock Canyon Conservation area.

I instantly fell in love with this place.

We toured the Calico I area.

This part of the park has unique sandstone rocks that are red and white striped. In places, the layers have eroded separately, creating really interesting and picturesque waves, crevasses and caves.

I was super impressed with this park, but the sun was beginning to set so we had to finish the remainder of the loop drive.

The evening drive through the desert was so lovely. We opened the windows and I could hear the synchronized chirping of crickets.

The desert was singing to me!

The air was cool and fresh and smelled faintly of sage. What an amazing evening.

I was so impressed with the park, and we had time before heading out the next day, so we returned.

This time, we got to see the desert tortoises by the visitor center!

Alex gave me the chance to do a little more challenging route on my own while he explored the rock outcroppings.

Turtle Head Peak stands out tall in the center of the Red Rock Canyon. This would be the perfect goal for the day!

Turtle Head Peak stands prominently on the right hand side of the photo.

I climbed past these interesting red-and-white formations that I believe are called the Calico Tanks, and then the layered white sandstone formations.

The desert seemed to open up to a big field beyond the rock outcroppings.

Then, Turtle Head Peak stood alone, clearly ahead of me.

Whispy clouds above Turtle Head Peak.

After crossing the desert meadow, the next part of the trail gets very steep and full of scree and loose slabs of rock.

I love this kind of terrain, and spent some time just climbing. I was falling in love with the Mojave desert.

After the steep scree gully, the trail comes to a saddle. At this point, you come around the ridge and begin to ascend on the main flank of the mesa.

Behind me, there was a view of the Spring Mountains.

The climb continued rather mildly for the last section, with some twisted junipers hanging onto the final summit ledges.

And then I was on top!! The panorama was impressive!

There was a view of Las Vegas, very little and far in the valley below.

There was a steep drop to the Calico Hills rock formations below. These giant formations were dwarfed from the summit.

The sun dipped in and out of the whispy clouds. I could see the road of the scenic drive clearly snaking through the lowlands, with the mountains rising beyond.

The breeze was refreshing and I loved the feeling of being on top of the world, at the very edge of the mountain.

But soon it was time to go. The whispy clouds made the day a little cooler as I began descending.

I came back to the area called the Calico Tanks, and got some cool shots of the afternoon shadows playing on the rocks, with the blue desert sky above.

What a fun mini-adventure that was just perfect for vacation.

After I returned to the trailhead, we got on the road towards home.

We took our time on the drive back, and the next day, we drove through Colorado National Monument.

My favorite part was the massive valley that looks like the Grand Canyon, except totally dry.

We made it home in time to reset for a few days before our next trip. This time our kids were going too (we didn't take them to Vegas).

We were all headed to New Mexico to witness the annular solar eclipse and Balloon Fiesta!

The balloon liftoff begins at sunrise, with waves of balloons taking off back-to-back.

After 10 am or so, the maximum of the annular eclipse began.

It did not go completely dark, although the light did seem noticably dim. But the cold was the most significant thing. It was still very chilly, like the sun didn't have an opportunity to really heat the atmosphere up (as it didn't.)

After the eclipse, we made the short drive back to Santa Fe.

I love the architecture of the square and the downtown area. We toured many of the galleries, as it was Saturday and most were open.

We stayed the night in Santa Fe and went to see the original Meow Wolf display the next day.

Having already been to the one in Denver, I still enjoyed the Santa Fe exhibit quite a bit.

It is psychedelic and full of florescent colors and geometric patterns. It reminds me of the vibrant colors that are often characteristic of Santa Fe artists.