Valley of Fire in Nevada

Part of how Amazing Guy enticed me to come on his annual trip to Vegas was the chance to spend part of or all of one day on a photo tour of a Nevada desert.

To say I'd been looking forward to this part of the trip would be an understatement. I was practically salivating at the prospect of trasping through rocks and sand, photographing cacti, rocks and big skies. A friend came along although I think she came because AG was worried I would be lonely. How can I be lonely with my camera?

The tour guide, Chance, picked me and our friend up at 7:00 am. Now, does anyone else think of Abba's Take a Chance on Me at this point of the story? Chance didn't find my pop culture reference all that funny. Nor did he think the other couple's comment about taking a chance in Vegas was funny either.

After the 45+ minute drive down Interstate 15 we were in the Valley of Fire, a Nevada state park. I was shocked at how few people were there. It was an inspiring place. The valley is made of petrified sand dunes. There are ancient, Native American petroglyphs - carvings on the side of rocks.

So sit back, click the slide show below and enjoy the 60+ photos I'm particularly proud of. Out of the 400+ photos I took in about four hours. And if you sit through the entire thing you'll get a treat - the red snakeskin cowboy boots will make an appearance. With a certain person wearing them. Doesn't that entice you?

And you can see some of the photos even larger at Looking Into.

One last photo-related item - fair Brillig has nominated Jenn and my joint photo site - Looking Into - for a 2008 Bloggie Award. Go to http://2008.bloggies.com/ and nominate us!