Travels Without Charley: Enjoying Steinbeck's America: 2/12 Clark County Wetlands Park, NV

I'm baaaack!!!!!!!! I was sitting on the evening of February 12th, getting ready to post on my blog, when my computer screen completely went grey. I tried restarting it, but nothing. I then noticed that the lid of my laptop did not close properly, which was very strange. A quick visit to Best Buy's Geek Squad the next day confirmed that my battery had been fried and needed to be replaced. Unfortunately, Best Buy did not keep a supply of HP batteries and they had no time to order one for me, but they referred me to a source which directed me to Amazon. It took almost a week to get the new battery, but I had gotten warnings about trying to install it myself since I had to completely open my laptop case.

Anyway, the battery arrived, and I got an appointment with a Best Buy in Tucson, where I had gone by then, and got it installed for no charge. Whew!

All I can tell you is that living without a computer is frustrating. I could check email and a few websites on my cell phone, but the tiny screen was difficult to read, so I had basically two full weeks of cold turkey not being able to access my schedule or other documents for the entire time. Luckily, nothing was disturbed or deleted, and I am now moved on from Tucson and ready to try to catch up with my posts.

I do back up my laptop about every couple of months on an external hard drive I carry with me, and periodically switch that hard drive out with other ones I keep in a couple of safety deposit boxes.

So, I want to share with you something I discovered after visiting the Las Vegas area several times over about 8 years. Not that I like Las Vegas, but it is near two of my favorite campgrounds, which I have just posted about--Valley of Fire State Park and Willow Beach Marina along the Colorado River south of Hoover Dam. And that is, believe it or not, THERE IS AN ACTUAL WETLAND AND NATURE RESERVE RIGHT ON THE EDGE OF THIS VERY DRY AND DESERT CITY!

I discovered this wetland a couple of years ago, but did not have much time to visit it, so I was happy to be able to go back there twice in this month. It is huge and really impressive, so I strongly encourage you to take time for a walk here if you ever find yourself in Las Vegas. It's on the southeast side of the city, not too far from Henderson, NV.

There is a large and very impressive visitor center, which includes spaces for educational programs, exhibits, and a gift shop.

Just a sample of the exhibits here that explain how this area became a wetlands in such a dry desert. Basically, Las Vegas is in a valley, and it has always had a river running through it, so the wetlands is very old.

Even if the visitor center is closed, there is this display, plus some paper maps at the entrance.

This view shows you how close the city of Las Vegas is to these wetlands.

And there are at least two large pond areas that give ducks and other water birds a place to rest and eat before continuing their journeys. This is the pond on the west end of the wetlands.

Another nice thing is that most of the trails are paved. There is also a convenient rest room that is open from dawn to dusk, even when the visitor center is closed.

The ponds are connected by tiny streams of flowing water.

It had rained heavily the day before I took these photos, and I can attest to this particular pathway to the ponds on the west side of the wetlands being very slippery. I did not fall, but I had to grab the wooden railings a couple of times.

I am pretty sure this is really a black-capped sparrow.

This pond is on the east end of the wetlands.

I am not sure what they were constructing, but this area is the group camping area.

I noticed these fairly recent plantings in several area. Not sure if they were planting grasses or shrubs or whatever, but clearly they are working to restore some parts of the wetlands.