In March/April, 2020, Mark and I spent 45 days sheltering in place, in our small camper, at Nellis Air Force base, in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was my first visit to Las Vegas. The city shut down, like everywhere else in the world, but we were able to explore (without crowds) Red Rock Canyon, Valley of Fire, Lake Mead and Spring Mountain National Recreation areas, Mount Charleston and the Vegas Strip. I thought it was a magical place. The only “must see” we couldn’t get to at the time, because of closures, was Hoover Dam. As soon as we got settled on this visit, priority one was to see the dam. With that mission accomplished we have tried to revisit a lot of the places we went three years ago but it is surreal how different and crowded everything is. You have to get a reservation to drive through Red Rock Canyon now and the quiet, deserted Strip I remember, from three years ago, is unrecognizable to the congested reality of the neon city today. I’m not saying we haven’t enjoyed our stay. In hindsight it just seems like Mark and I were sort of like time travelers, in 2020, seeing the area (after The Strip shut down) more in keeping with what the name Las Vegas actually means. The city was named, in 1829, by Rafael Rivera, a Spanish trader traveling to California. He was most impressed, on his visit, by the area’s natural springs and wild desert grasses, thus the name Las Vegas; literally translated, The Meadows….such a far cry from the attractions today, that make Las Vegas one of the most visited cities in the country.
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