Off the Beaten Trail

 We've had a few family adventures recently. In February when Alex had a rare Saturday off, we went to see the Hoover Dam from the new bypass bridge. The bridge was built to divert traffic from right next to the dam so it makes for a quicker trip over the Nevada/Arizona border. You have to park and then hike up a few flights of stairs then walk a ways, but the view from the bridge is spectacular and you can get a history/engineering lesson along the walk if you stop to read the signs.
While passing through Boulder City I noticed the sign for the Southern Nevada Railroad. It's a short train ride but it has open windows so you can see the highway. Why not take a train  ride on a sunny Saturday afternoon? It's not too fast and not too slow. There is also a railway museum you can visit, but we didn't.


Waiting to board the train.

It looks like Alex is getting "beamed up."

For spring break in April we wanted to go out of town, but not spend much money. My aunt suggested we go to our family's ranch. The ranch is fun, but would it still be fun without the cousins? Of course! Our family was the only one there except for Uncle Mick. He told us that there were some petroglyphs down the road. We explored a part of the area that I had never been to in my life, but we didn't find the petroglyphs. We rode the four wheelers into the hills and found the little cemetery where some of the original pioneer settlers were buried. I was especially touched by the graves of little children. It made me want to hug my own children and be grateful that we don't have the same trials.

 One of the days of our vacation we left the ranch and drove up towards Panaca in search of the "moon caves." There is a place called Cathedral Valley State Park and the sandstone hills have been eroded by wind and water to create these interesting formations. That was a fun little hike.

 On the way home from the ranch we pulled off the road to visit the trilobite fossil site. There's a bunch of shale and if you look closely you will see fossils in the rocks. We bought home a backpack full of fossils, but no pictures so you'll have to take my word for it.

I have been going to Boulder City and the ranch for my whole life, close to forty years and I never realized that there were such interesting things around if we just go off the beaten trail.