Spring Mountain Visitor Gateway

Northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada, lies Mt. Charleston – a gorgeous peak with an outstanding lodge at the top overlooking the Spring Mountain range.  This new center just opened up at the base of the mountain range, and it’s a beauty.

If ever you go to Mt. Charleston please stop here and support their efforts.  It’s amazing.

Monument dedicated to all the local Native American tribes.  In the background you can see where they are beginning to create trails.

Even a Cold War Memorial.  An incredible place.  Highly recommend it.  Working to get back into the blogging world once more.  Bear with me.

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Jonas

No ice.  No snow.  No sleet.  Just rain and an audacious north wind that blew foam and sand about and froze my fingers.  Looking south toward the condos sadly named Ocean Dunes.  Sadly, because there are no more dunes to protect said condos and there haven’t been for some time.  The city offered the owners land across the street from the beach to rebuild but the owners rejected that deal.  Now, they are about to tumble into the sea.  Morons.

Looking north towards the pier.  Storms in the Atlantic have chopped up the beach over the past couple of years.  The beach nourishment project should begin soon and we’ll have beach again, but this is what a normal beach does.  Storms take away, and the beach grows back during the summer.  Well, unless houses and condos and whatnot are built too close and the dunes are compromised….then all bets are off.

I’ve never witnessed this much erosion before.  Standing beside the dunes, they are way over my head.  Standing next to the cliff, peering closely into the chopped off sand, one can see tiny rivers of roots tenuously holding what’s left of the dune in place.

Can’t wait to walk down the beach and see what’s left AFTER Jonas.  Truthfully, most of this erosion was caused by Hurricane Joaquin.  Jonas is just adding to it.  Well, Joaquin’s presence in the Atlantic held another storm on top of us for days causing flooding and erosion.

An Unexpected Hiatus

I just noticed my horizon isn’t straight.  Huh.  Well, I still like this image and I’ll straighten it later.  Maybe.  I mean….the beach houses are straight so I just didn’t notice it.  Sometimes horizons are just wonky.  I mean, see how the clouds are sweeping upward?  It just all kinda flows.  And that pink makes my mouth water.  But I digress.  This post is for my father who passed away January 7th.  He was a radio seaman in the Navy and served in the Pacific fleet.  His career continued with the Army at Redstone Arsenal Missile Command.  The pastor who spoke at the service truly touched my soul with his words.  He shared this poem for my father, which I will in turn share with you.

Crossing the Bar, by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;

For though from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar

  I love you, dad.