Land Life in the Desert

It doesn't take long to settle back into life on land. We don't miss the long morning treks to the toilets and showers, and doing the laundry is pretty easy. Jumping in the car to head to the grocery or hardware store is a snap. Instead of boat chores, there are house chores to attend to, but they're not all that time-consuming, so we're spending our time on other things. David is studying for his Nevada Master Electrician's Exam and I'm working on our 2016 IRS returns. I've also just volunteered to be on the planning committee for an upcoming high school class reunion. On a friend's recommendation, we're looking into some free on-line courses that might be fun. All take up a considerable amount of time and we're enjoying the change of pace.

We do appreciate the long morning walks around the Stallion Mountain Golf Course. We've got a pleasant routine of waking in the morning around 5:30, having a cuppa, checking the morning temps in Vegas and Chesapeake, reading the news (always alarming lately) and then heading out for our walk. The paved walk around the golf course is about 3.5 miles long and if we head out before sunrise, we miss the early morning golfers. I particularly enjoy seeing the local animals ... desert cottontails, herons, coots and ducks … they all seem to be waking up then, too. There's a falcon that sits in the same spot everyday, patiently waiting for an opportunity to swoop down on an unsuspecting bunny. Sometimes, we see the resident coyotes trotting along on the hillside, heading for their daytime retreat.

The views of the Strip when the early morning sun reflects off the buildings are quite beautiful. It's hard to imagine while we're enjoying the quiet and peace of our walk, that we're so close to the hustle-bustle of the Strip. It's walkable if we chose to make the trek. Heck, we can see the Linq's High Roller, currently the world's tallest Ferris wheel, from our front yard.

David has planned several outdoor tasks including staining the new raised planters that he and Paul built on our last visit. Mary and Karen are looking forward to planting veggies soon. The backyard irrigation system is complete and with our newly acquired knowledge about native plants, trips to the local nursery have been on the agenda. It's like a scavenger hunt finding just the right plants to achieve our goals of beauty and color combined with low maintenance, xeriscaping and reasonable cost.

We've been up making the rounds of local doctors and dentists for past-due check-ups and physicals, having lab work done and generally catching up on healthcare that we've delayed. The verdict? We're healthy … must be our crazy lifestyle.

We've taken the time to visit a few local places that we've not seen before. This year's Chinese New Year display at the Bellagio was a pleasant hour spent. Our day at the Springs Preserve was outstanding and we plan to return soon and probably buy a membership. We've revisited places we especially enjoy like the Clark County Wetlands Park, one of my favorite places in Las Vegas. We saw a roadrunner there the other day. We plan to head to the Henderson Bird Preserve one morning soon, too.

Added to the agenda, we've recently learned about the China Ranch Date Farm, which is only about 1-1/2 hours away. It sounds interesting, so I've put it on our local “to-see & do” list. I mean, what do we know about dates? Could be a fun, learning experience.

Yes, we're keeping busy. Land life is certainly a different kind of life than we're used to, but we're easily adaptable and, for the most part, we find it enjoyable. It's a relief not worrying about whether the anchor will drag or what the wind is going to do tonight or tomorrow. On the other hand … we've scheduled our return trip to Nine of Cups at the end of February. Can't get too used to this land life nor being anchored in the same spot for too long!

Visiting the Springs Preserve

Ever since we started coming to Las Vegas, the Springs Preserve has been on my “to-see & do” list, but we never seem to make it. The tickets are $17/pp for Seniors and about half price for resident Seniors (that's us). We, however, are Bank of America customers and the first full weekend of every month BOA sponsors “Museums on Us”, free admission to about 150 museums across the country, including the Springs Preserve. We figured it was time to visit. You can tell when you're getting close to the highway exit for the Preserve. The resident critters catch your attention and invite you in.

Built around Las Vegas' original water source, the Las Vegas Springs, the Springs Preserve encompasses about 180 acres of land within sight of the Las Vegas Strip. Owned and operated by the Las Vegas Valley Water district, the Preserve is dedicated to celebrating the history and culture of the Las Vegas Valley and encouraging environmental stewardship. The sprawling facilities offer two museums, galleries, outstanding botanical gardens, interpretive walking trails and so much more … definitely more than we could absorb in a single visit.

We began our visit at the Nevada State Museum. Christopher the Columbian Mammoth greeted us on arrival. We learned about dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals that roamed the Las Vegas Valley tens of millennia ago and we found it fascinating

We wandered through exhibit after exhibit, taking in not only sights, but sounds. From the desert animal cries of coyotes, owls hooting and rattlesnakes hissing to the sounds of miners working their claims and steam trains chugging and slot machines spilling out coins. The history of the Las Vegas Valley was recounted before our eyes … and ears.

We headed to the botanical gardens for a guided tour by the Preserve's volunteer Master Gardeners. We had a mission here. We're in the process of planning the landscaping for our backyard and are, of course, especially interested in native plants and certainly desert tolerant plants. We currently have a rather uninteresting collection of cacti, yucca and aloe in the front yard, and we are searching for a bit more variety in the back. The three tour guides were excellent. I wish we'd brought notebook and pencil, but we did the best we could with our poor memories and photos of plants that would fit well in the yard. Brochures were offered and accepted and ongoing classes and gardening events might well be in our future.

We walked along some of the interpretive trails, listening to mockingbirds sing and watching butterflies and hummingbirds flit about. We ended up in Boomtown 1905, a new exhibit that has just opened featuring a streetscape of Las Vegas at the turn of the 20th century. We took a peek inside the bank and the Wells Fargo stagecoach then progressed down the street to the mercantile, movie theater (showing silent movies), the Arizona Club, the hotel and the train station.

An old operating player piano was being demonstrated at the Arizona Club and the kids were thrilled to take their turns “pumping” out out WWI tunes. Several small houses lined the opposite side of the street and it was interesting to view the period furniture and furnishings.

We never made it to the Origen Museum nor did we tour the galleries nor suss out all the garden art that's placed throughout the grounds. Many trails were left unwalked. Too much to see, too little time, but there's always another day. We'd rate the Springs Preserve an “A” place to visit.

Meteors in the Desert

Every August we vow we'll get up to watch annual Perseid meteor shower and we usually remember to do it some time in mid-late September. We've observed several astronomical events while aboard Nine of Cups. Its a rare night that we don't see a shooting star or two during night watch. Clear nights at sea, away from city lights, are particularly amenable to stargazing. The blood moon eclipse in September 2015 was one such event and we took advantage of it by lying on deck with our pillows to view it. Photos of a slow event on a rocking boat, however, are never easy.

This year we remembered the annual Perseid meteor shower. It was at its peak the other night and we ventured out into the desert to watch the show. We set our alarm for 0245 and the four of us were out the door by 0300. The night was cool, compared to the sweltering 110F+ (45C) temps during the day. The sky was clear, but the loom of the Las Vegas lights occluded our view. We drove north on Interstate 15 about 20 miles, turned off the highway and parked midst the hills. We leaned against the car and gazed up at the stars. The moon had set. Orion was rising and the Pleiades were bright and sparkling. A perfect night in the desert.

The meteor shower was at its peak and shooting stars streaked across the sky in every direction. It was estimated that as many as 200 meteors per hour could be expected to whiz past. We didn't see quite that many, but it was quite the spectacle nonetheless.

According to several sources, the shooting stars are “the result of debris left behind by the Swift-Tuttle comet which passes close to the Earth every 133 years. The comet last passed through our solar system in 1992. As it did so, the Sun’s rays heated its frozen surface and released trillions of small particles.

The Earth passes through this debris once each year. The particles strike the Earth’s atmosphere at speeds of 125,000 mph (200,000 kph) and burn up, creating the dazzling bright streaks.

The Perseid meteor shower has been observed for at least 2,000 years.” How cool is that? Two thousand years ago, people stood and gazed up to watch the show just as we were doing now.