I have always wanted to travel the American Southwest. The red rocks, the hot desert weather, and the vastness of untouched earth intrigued me and my need to photograph such beauty. My hubby and I had the chance to spend a week in Nevada in March 2015 and instead of spending all our time in the dark, smokey casinos of the Las Vegas strip, we set out on a 7 day adventure touring the most gorgeous national parks this country has to offer. March served as a ‘shoulder’ season for this area as the weather was mild, in the high 50’s to mid 60’s and sunny but the parks and south of the Las Vegas strip were fairly empty. If you plan on doing a trip like this, I would suggest March as a great time to go. I packed my winter coat, thermals, jeans, these comfy hiking shoes, sweatshirts, and these wool socks to keep warm in the high altitudes that we had planned to hike and our gear served us well for the time of season.
The first park we hit up as soon as we landed at Las Vegas airport and in between our check in time at our hotel was Valley of Fire State Park in Moapa Valley, NV, which is about a 45 minute drive from the airport. You’ll pay a small entrance fee and be provided a map of the park. Simply follow that map to whichever stops you want to make. As the oldest state park in Nevada, this place was the epitome of what you would think the deserts of the Southwest would look like – large, red rock formations that you can climb, hiking trails through small canyons, and awesome natural arches. As you’ll see, we stripped down from our hoodies to our t-shirt/tank top as it had gotten to about mid 70’s. We only spent about 3 hours here but you can easily spend a full day or more exploring the entire park. Enjoy our travel photos from Valley of Fire!
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All images are Copyright 2015 Diana Bellack Photography – All rights reserved.
My handy dandy tripod helped capture this awesome photo of my and my love!
It was 1pm and the moon was out and showing off in between this arch rock
Ryan found his new man cave
All images are Copyright 2015 Diana Bellack Photography – All rights reserved.
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The American Southwest is truly a national treasure, home to the most surreal and beautiful landscapes in the country. Some of my best adventures have taken place here!