Tuples and Attributes

This day started with another trip to the Side Track restaurant, which, fortunately for me, was open for breakfast on Friday (as well as Saturday and Sunday). It did not disappoint, and I headed out for my morning with a nice protein fix.

First stop: Cathedral Gorge State Park. There is a nice visitor center here where I was finally able to buy my annual senior pass to Nevada State Parks. Better late than never. Of all the state parks I visited, this was the only one where I saw an actual park employee. The other parks all had fee stations, but you can’t buy annual passes at those. In the parks I was in earlier, I resorted to leaving a note in the windshield giving my phone number and saying I wanted an annual pass. It never came to that, however.

Here’s the blurb from the park’s site:

Cathedral Gorge State Park is located in a long, narrow valley in southeastern Nevada, where erosion has carved dramatic and unique patterns in the soft bentonite clay. The park’s beauty began with explosive volcanic activity that, with each eruption, deposited layers of ash hundreds of feet thick. Great walking trails abound for exploring the cave-like formations and cathedral-like spires that are the result of geologic processes from tens of millions of years ago. A photographer’s dream, the park offers stunning views of the scenic canyon and visitors can enjoy hiking, picnicking, camping and nature study. https://parks.nv.gov/parks/cathedral-gorge

If you have kids, you most definitely should go here with them. It is full of “slot” canyons for them to explore with little risk of them getting lost or hurt (same for us grown-ups). The “canyons” are all short, but you can go from one to another to another to another . . .

The view from Miller Point is supposed to be very nice, but unfortunately the road to it has been closed for months. I thought maybe I would hike up to it instead, but the trail was closed too. Once I saw the number of steps that would have been involved, I figured that was just as well. You can just make out some of the steps in this photo:

I very much enjoyed my brief visit here and would definitely go back, especially when they get the road to Miller Point open.

Beaver Dam State Park was the last of my planned sites to visit. It is 28 miles down a dirt road from US 93, eastward, almost to the Utah border. The park did not have much in the way of signage and I did not find many of the places that were listed on the map. An example of the type of problem: the map lists campgrounds “A” and “B” but the signs at the site itself only lists the campgrounds by names.

So, although I never did find any of the listed hikes, I did find one of the main sights I was hoping for on this trip: autumn foliage:

I got back from Beaver Dam State Park in the early afternoon. I had booked my motel room for two nights, but I realized I was only 2-1/2 or 3 hours from home. I called the kennel, and they could have Brindy bathed and ready for me by six, so I took off for Henderson.

Naturally, after all the hours on empty roads, I hit a major accident the minute I got into North Las Vegas. Turned the radio back on and rejoined civilization. Picked up the dog and was home before seven.

I had planned this trip to coincide with the “anniversary” of my little stroke last year which happened just before I was supposed to go on a long trip by myself. Although I had been on a cruise in June with a friend, I just felt the need to do something on my own and (with my doctor’s blessing) I am so glad I did it; I had a wonderful time and got a lot of confidence back. I want to explore more of Nevada soon: after all, I don’t want to let that annual state park pass go to waste!