red rock canyon.

Published on by Quandie

I am not your typical Vegas tourist.  If my mom didn’t live nearby, I’m sure I would never go there.

That being said, there are things you can do in the Las Vegas area that don’t involve gambling, drinking or bright lights.

One of my favorites is hiking in Red Rock Canyon, which is only about 25 miles from the Vegas Strip.

Red Rock offers something for every fitness level.  You could do some serious rock climbing, you could bring a bike (there are mountain bike trails, or you could just ride on the road), you can hike a 14 mile trail, you can hike a 1/2 mile trail, or you could just enjoy the scenic 13 mile loop through the park from the comfort of your vehicle.

My sister and I were looking forward to doing some longer hikes, however I managed to trip over a step on my mom’s patio the day before and injure my foot.  That sort of put a damper on the hiking.  We still managed to do several short hikes though, and we still enjoyed the beautiful desert scenery.

It was interesting to see the sandstone quarry where huge chunks of sandstone were cut out of the Calico Hills from 1905 to 1912.

The cost to transport the huge blocks of sandstone ended up being too costly to make a profit so after 7 years they gave it up.

We also checked out the petroglyphs.

They estimate that these petroglyphs are around 800 years old.  I have no idea what kind of message they were trying to convey, but it is fascinating to see them.

Our final stop was the Red Spring Boardwalk.

The purpose of the boardwalk is to keep people from walking directly on the grasses that grow near the spring and damaging that delicate ecosystem.

It was easy to see how different this area looked compared to the more dry areas of Red Rock Canyon.

And sure enough, there was even some water trickling down from the spring.

And even a little bit of green!

The next time you’re in Vegas, I totally recommend getting away from the glittering lights on the strip and checking out some nature instead.

Now, if you’ve followed me for long, you know that I always like to pick up a little something on my travels to give away here on the blog.  I know, it’s been a while since I’ve been able to travel, so you’ve probably all forgotten that I like to do this!

All I managed to pick up this time around was a magazine at the airport, but I’ve added a few other things to the prize that have a sunny desert sort of feel to them.

So in addition to the magazine, I’m including some Dixie Belle paint in Putty (a good desert hue), Haint Blue (not quite the color of that desert sky, but a pretty pale blue none the less), some Mud, a jar of the new Silk paint in Sun Kissed, some Easy Peasy spray wax, some Howdy-Do hemp seed oil and finally one of the new Dixie Belle La Petite brushes.  This brush works really beautifully for getting into some tight corners.  I’m not sure I would use it to paint, but it’s fantastic for waxing.

The rules:  Simply leave a comment on today’s blog post to have your name thrown in the hat to win.

Your comment must be left on this blog post, not on Facebook or Instagram.  You are not required to follow my blog, although it would be awesome if you did!

I will randomly draw the name of a winner for today’s prize from all of the comments left on this post by Sunday, March 14, 2021 at the stroke of midnight (U.S. Central time).

The fine print: no purchase necessary, you must be 18 years of age or older to win, void where prohibited by law, the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning, approximate retail value of prize is $150, if the prize is not claimed by Friday, March 19, 2021 another name will be drawn at random to win, blah, blah, blah.

As always, thanks to Dixie Belle for providing the items I am giving away.  Good luck!

102 thoughts on “red rock canyon.”

  1. Your post reminds me that traveling will be back in our futures soon. I need to see other parts of the country before I get too old! and I would love to try the new Silk paint by Dixie Belle – I think I would love using it. Thanks for the post!

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    1. I know what you mean Karen. At my age, I want to get out and see as many places as I can. Time’s a-‘wasting. By the time we get to our next trip to Europe (our cruise booked for this coming fall has been canceled and our booking pushed out to fall of 2022) it will have been 4 years since our last one, the cruise on the Adriatic that we took in 2018. Four years! That’s crazy.

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  2. Love your blog Linda. Hopefully traveling will be in all of our futures. I am still trying to get up the nerve to try
    Redoing a piece of furniture.

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  4. For someone who loves to travel I’m sure this has been a long year for you. Hoping we are on our way back to normal – whatever that may be! Great giveaway!

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  5. You take the most beautiful photos. I bet you could make the hovels look like a wonderful place to visit. I’m sorry to hear you hurt your foot and couldn’t go on a great hike, but it sure looks as if you still got to see some amazing things.
    Thank you very much for the opportunity to win some much-needed paint goodies! (All paint goodies are much-needed! LOL!) have a wonderful weekend with Mr. q!

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  8. I’m glad that you were able to visit your mom- it’s been hard to be separated from loved ones through this difficult year. I always love whatever you share on your blog but I’m curious how your booth performed through Covid time.

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    1. Well, I don’t technically have a ‘booth’. I sell on consignment at a shop and I just bring things in when I have them, which is lucky because if I had an entire booth it would have been empty for big chunks of 2020. Fortunately for me, the owners of the shop are very forgiving because I have been a terrible vendor this year. I’ve been extremely hit or miss with bringing things in (I’m always a little bad, but worse than ever this past year). With most of the neighborhood garage sales and thrift stores shut down last summer, I didn’t have a chance to stock up on vintage finds. The number of furniture pieces I painted also dropped dramatically for 2020. I wasn’t comfortable doing Craigslist transactions for a chunk of the year, it just didn’t feel like something to risk Covid for. All of that being said, the things I did find mostly sold quickly, there just wasn’t much of it. It’s fortunate that this is just a hobby for me and not my bread and butter!

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  9. Red Rock is very pretty but I preferred (it’s been years since I’ve been there) to hike to Ethyl M’s candy factory. Beautifully made chocolates with amazing flavors! There are also really pretty gardens at the candy factory and many different birds that this Georgia girl had never seen. Hope your foot heals quickly.

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    1. LOL, you are girl after my own heart Linda (and you have the right name too). We love going to Ethyl M’s! My favorite are the lemon satin creme dark chocolates. Sounds like an odd combo, but they are delicious! I’ve always enjoyed checking out the cactus garden too. We didn’t make it there this trip, although we did talk about going. Maybe that’s just as well, I’m still trying to lose the 10 lbs I’ve gained during Covid!

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  14. The lemon in the dark chocolate are pillows of pure love! I think it’s the slight zing of the lemon that makes them my fav, too. Don’t worry about the weight if you’re happy during this mess. We’ll all get through it together and lose whatever we’ve gained:)

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  15. Living on the East coast most of my life, I have always been intrigued by the beautiful landscapes of the West. Thank you for sharing the lovely photos. I will add Red Rock Canyon to my list. I will skip right past the lights of Las Vegas.

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  16. Funny, my husband and I just got back yesterday from Red Rock Canyon. It certainly is beautiful! A bummer for us, we had snow mixed with rain while there. Oh well 🤷‍♀️
    Love your blog and pictures!

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    1. Were you there on Thursday? I heard they had quite a bit of rain (well, for a desert anyway) and colder temps that day. It was 70 and sunny when we were there. I guess that desert weather can be quite changeable!

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  17. I’ve hiked Red Rock – really nice place for all kinds of hikers. We flew to Vegas a few years ago for a quick hiking trip, rented a nice big van for the fam – went to Zion for a day (beautiful!!!) and visited Hoover Dam. Was too short of a trip to get to another national park, and loved what we were able to see in our little time there. Did a bit of touring some of the little towns along the way. Never stepped into the chaos of Vegas. Thanks for sharing your trip with us! Great reminder of all the wonderful this great big country of ours offers!

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  18. I love hiking but have never hiked in that kind of area. It looks beautiful! Hope you’re foot is feeling better soon. An accident had me not walking for months, still not 100% but trying. My partner now has a bad knee. I’m sure we’d be easy to spot! 😄
    Almost threw out an old metal bucket the other day in cleaning out my barn when I remembered all your beautiful recycle posts and snatched it back up and put in my project pile. 😍

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  23. Like you I’m not attracted to the glitz of Vegas. Thanks for sharing a “natural” place to visit in that area. It is good to be out doing a bit of traveling again. Thanks for keeping us inspired during our journey through the long dark tunnel!

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  26. Once again, thanks for the mini travelogue! It’s not likely that I will ever go there, but it’s always fun to see the diversity in this country’s landscape. Thanks for continuing your blog. It’s an inspiration!

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  27. Always so nice to hear about your travels. I love to visit Vegas for all the reasons! Did you get to Hoover Dam? That’s on my to do list next visit! Thanks for the great giveaway!

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